Provided is an electrically heated catalytic converter including at least a conductive substrate and an electrode member that is fixed to the substrate, in which a protective film is formed on a surface of at least a portion of the electrode member. In the electrically heated catalytic converter, at least a portion of the protective film is formed of Al.sub.2O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, a composite material of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 and SiO.sub.2, or a composite oxide including Al.sub.2O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, or a composite material of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 and SiO.sub.2 as a major component, the protective film has an amorphous structure or a partially crystalline glass structure having a crystallization rate of 30 vol % or lower with respect to the entire portion of the protective film, and a thickness of the protective film is in a range of 100 nm to 2 μm.

The present invention, relates, to a process, for producing structured coatings, in which a coating composition comprising at least one inorganic binder, at least one oxide pigment which, after addition of a mixture consisting of 15 ml of 1 M oxalic acid and 15 ml of 20% aqueous hydrochloric acid based on 1 g of substance, under standard conditions, leads to a temperature rise of at least 4° C., and at least one solvent is applied to a substrate, the resulting coating composition film is partially coated with a photoresist and the substrate coated with the coating composition and the photoresist is treated with an acid, to the structured layers obtainable by the process and to the use thereof.

Described herein are methods for coating a substrate with a photocatalytic compound, and photocatalytic elements prepared by these methods.

The present invention relates to an alkaline aqueous composition on the basis of water glass and organosilanes with non-hydrolysable substituents which have a primary amino group in the substituents, for providing corrosion-protected coatings on metal surfaces which convey good reshaping properties in metal processing. For the desired functionality, the compositions according to the invention contain the organosilane and the water glass in a predetermined ration. The invention further relates to a method for pre-treating metal surfaces using the alkaline aqueous compositions, which method provides excellent results with regard to corrosion protection, varnish adhesion and reshapability, particularly on aluminum and on steel strips provided with aluminum alloy metal coatings.

A composition for forming a silica layer, a method for manufacturing a silica layer, a silica layer manufactured by the method, and an electronic device including the silica layer. The composition for forming a silica layer includes a silicon-containing polymer and a solvent compound represented by Chemical Formula 1:

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A glazing, which may be translucent, includes at least one design, which may be transparent. The glazing includes a substrate having two main outer surfaces, at least one of which is a textured surface, made of a dielectric material having a refractive index n1 and at least a part of the textured surface of the substrate is coated with a sol-gel layer made of a dielectric material having a refractive index n2.

An inorganic polysilazane resin of the present invention has a Si/N ratio (i.e. a ratio of contained silicon atoms to contained nitrogen atoms) of 1.30 or more. The inorganic polysilazane resin having such a high Si content can be produced by, for example, a method in which an inorganic polysilazane compound containing both Si—NH and Si—Cl is heated to react NH with Cl, a method in which a silazane oligomer (polymer) that leaves no Si—Cl bond is synthesized and a dihalosilane is added to the synthesized silazane oligomer (polymer) to perform a thermal reaction, and the like. A siliceous film can be formed by, for example, applying a coating composition containing the inorganic polysilazane resin onto a base plate and then dried and the dried product is then oxidized by bringing the dried product into contact with water vapor or hydrogen peroxide vapor and water vapor under heated conditions.

A method for producing a layer for coating the inner surface of a container and a glass or plastic container obtained by said method, wherein said container is suitable for containing products biocompatible with humans and/or animals. The method includes: forming a solution containing a solvent, water, a molecular precursor comprising alkoxy groups and an acid as a catalyst, mixing said solution to initiate hydrolysis and condensation, applying the resulting solution onto at least one portion of the inner surface of the container, while the solution is in the process of gelling, the resulting applied solution is then dried at a temperature for a predetermined time, before curing. The acid is citric acid, wherein said citric acid is at a concentration of less than 6 mol/l, and in that the solution comprises less than 1.5 units of precursor for each volume unit of acid.

The present invention describes a hybrid multilayer solar selective coating having high thermal stability useful for high temperature solar thermal power generation. The hybrid multilayer solar selective coating of the present invention has been deposited using a novel combination of sputtering and sol-gel methods on metallic and non-metallic substrates, preferably on SS 304 and 321 with chrome interlayer. The hybrid multilayer solar selective coating of the present invention consists of stacks of Ti/chrome interlayer, aluminum titanium nitride (AlTiN), aluminum titanium oxynitride (AlTiON), aluminum titanium oxide (AlTiO) and organically modified silica (ormosil) layers. The chrome interlayer was deposited using an electroplating method, whereas, Ti, AlTiN, AlTiON and AlTiO layers were prepared using a four-cathode reactive unbalanced pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering technique. The ormosil layer was deposited using a sol-gel technique, which provides the enhanced absorptance and improved long term thermal stability in air and vacuum. The present invention provides a hybrid multilayer solar selective coating having absorptance >0.950, emittance <0.11 (SS substrate with chrome interlayer) and long term high thermal stability (in the order of 1000 hrs under cyclic heating conditions at 500° C. in air and 600° C. in vacuum). The hybrid multilayer solar selective coating of the present invention exhibits higher solar selectivity ratio in the order of 5-9 on metal and non-metal substrates. The hybrid multilayer solar selective absorber coating of the present invention has high oxidation resistance, stable microstructure, high adherence and graded composition particularly suitable for applications in concentrating collectors like evacuated receiver tubes and Fresnel receiver tubes useful for solar steam generation.

A multilayer structure including a substrate and a first stack of a layer of SiO.sub.2 and a layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type positioned between the substrate and the layer of SiO.sub.2, in which the layer of SiO.sub.2 and the layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type have thicknesses (e.sub.B, e.sub.A) such that the thickness of the layer of SiO.sub.2 is less than or equal to 60 nm, the thickness of the layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type (e.sub.B) is more than twice the thickness (e.sub.A) of the layer of SiO.sub.2, and the sum of the thicknesses of the layer of SiO.sub.2 and of the layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type is between 100 nm and 500 nm, and in which z is strictly less than the ratio (x+y)/5, and advantageously z is strictly less than the ratio (x+y)/10.