Smart coatings are specially designed films that have predefined characteristics, which enable them to sense and respond to various external and internal situations. Smart coatings are manufactured from programmable materials with various physical, chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties. These materials have the ability to respond to variations in light, pressure, heat, and chemical factors. Smart coatings are also used in the transportation industry as anti-biofouling agents, which results in prolonged asset life, reduced corrosion damage, and reduced maintenance costs.

Increasing demand for customization in sensing and repair abilities has led to the growth of smart coatings market in military and automotive industry. Smart coatings can improve a system’s efficiency by reducing inspection time, equipment downtime and maintenance costs. The outcomes of using smart coating also include a reduced necessity for maintenance of corroded areas coupled with prolonging the life of components and assemblies prepared from corrosive materials.

Smart Coatings Market Taxonomy

On the basis of type of sensing, the global market is classified into:

Ionic strength

pH

Temperature pressure

Surface tension

Magnetic field

Mechanical forces

On the basis of product type, the global market is classified into:

Self-heating

Self-healing

Anti-corrosion

On the basis of number of layers, the global market is classified into:

Single layer

Multi-layer

On the basis of end-use industry, the global market is segmented into:

Construction

Military

Healthcare

Automotive

Aerospace

Consumer electronics

In healthcare industry, smart coatings are used as microbial coatings for preventing diseases. Anti-corrosion coatings are used in sensing causes of corrosion and inhibiting corrosion. This is achieved by enabling pH activated release of self-healing capability and triggering multifunctional microcapsules in smart coatings. Self-healing coatings are used in the aerospace and automotive industry to repair scratches and detect damages in engines. Smart coatings are also used in cellphones and computers for protection against scratches and improving the resistance against chemical effects and dirt. In healthcare industry smart coatings are used in drug delivery agents.

Smart Coatings Market Outlook – Requisite for Robust Materials for Artificial Intelligence Expected to Boost Demand

Increasing demand for improved products in the automotive, military, and aerospace industry is one of the major factors boosting growth of the smart coatings market. Asia Pacific is one of the major contributors in the smart coatings market globally. This is mainly attributed to the booming automotive industry and increasing investments in defense activities in emerging economies such as India and China. The total defense budget of India was US$ 34.53 billion, and government initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ is expected to fuel growth of manufacturing units in the country. The defense manufacturing unit of make in India has numerous foreign investors such as Airbus, Pilatus, BAE India Systems, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing India, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., and Dassault Aviation SA.

High price is one of the restraining factors for the smart coatings market globally. Developing a wide array of products to meet the current demand is one of the key strategies adopted by the major market players in the smart coatings industry. Research and development is carried on to manufacture smart coatings, which is expected to generate protectable intellectual property (IP), and this is projected to increase the area of application of smart coating. Smart coatings are also being developed for application as oil-filtering materials to provide complete separation of oil and water in an oil rig. Some of the companies operating in the global smart coatings market are Balcony Systems Solutions Ltd, Nanoshell, Research Frontiers, Inc., New Energy technologies, Cima Nano tech., Ancatt Inc., and Debiotech SA.

Key Developments

Major institutes are focused on conducting R&D activities related to smart coatings. For instance, in August 2019, researchers from University of Ferrara reported improvement in bronze corrosion protection with the inclusion of 5-mercapto-1-phenyl-tetrazole into β-cyclodextrin for entrapment in silane coatings.

In June 2018, researchers from University of Perugia reported development of nanofibril-based thin films with heat-responsive wrinkled states for smart food packaging by combining saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast extract with regenerated silk.

In June 2018, researchers from National Centre for Metallurgical Research, Spain, reported synthesis of hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles for smart corrosion protection.