A method of making a coated article is described comprising providing an inorganic substrate and coating the substrate with a coating composition. The coating composition comprises a plurality of siloxane nanoparticles dispersed in an organic solvent. A portion of the nanoparticles comprise the reaction product of a first alkoxy silane compound having a first organofunctional group and a second organofunctional group of a second compound and the reaction between the first and second organofunctional groups form an organic linking group. The method further comprises drying the coating composition and heating the coated substrate to volatilize the organic linking groups thereby forming a porous surface layer on the inorganic substrate. In another embodiment an article is described comprising an inorganic substrate, such as glass, and a porous inorganic (e.g. silica) surface layer having an average pore size of less than 30 nm. Also described are coating compositions and methods of making a nanoparticle coating compositions.

An electronic device may have transparent structures. The transparent structures may include a transparent member such as a transparent button member, a transparent member that serves as a display cover layer, a transparent member that covers a sensor such as a touch sensor, or other transparent member. The transparent member may have an inner surface that is covered with an opaque masking layer that is free of materials that discolor upon light exposure and that is formed from a layer of polymer and light-scattering inclusions such as solid particles, hollow microspheres, porous particles, and voids. A protective layer such as an inorganic layer may be formed over the polymer layer. A fingerprint sensor, touch sensor, or other structures may be attached to the opaque masking layer using a layer of adhesive.

The present disclosure provides a member having a porous layer containing particles and having a low refractive index and high film strength and a coating liquid for forming a porous layer containing particles, wherein the porous layer contains a plurality of silicon oxide particles bound by an inorganic binder and at least one acid.

A method for forming thin film layer having micro-voids therein. The method proceeds by dispersing micro-particles over the surface of a substrate. The micro particles are made of sublimable material. Then the thin film layer is formed over the surface, so as to cover the particles. The thin film is then etched back so as to expose the particles at least partially. The material of the particles is then sublimed, e.g., by heating the substrate, thereby leaving micro-voids inside the thin film layer. The micro voids can be filled or remain exposed to generate textured surface.

A glass sheet includes a glass including SiO.sub.2 and B.sub.2O.sub.3 and at least one coating applied in at least one region of at least one side of the glass sheet. The at least one coating includes at least one binder including SiO.sub.2 and at least one pigment. The at least one coating includes less than 500 ppm of Bi.sub.2O.sub.3 and/or less than 500 ppm of ZnO and/or less than 500 ppm of B.sub.2O.sub.3 and/or less than 500 ppm of an alkali metal oxide, based in each case on weight.

In a hydrophilic member including a structure in which a photocatalytic TiO.sub.2 layer and a porous SiO.sub.2 layer are stacked on a surface of a base material, easy forming of the porous SiO.sub.2 layer so as to be thin and have a uniform film thickness distribution that enables the porous SiO.sub.2 layer to cover an entire surface of the photocatalytic TiO.sub.2 layer, and enhancement in durability of the porous SiO.sub.2 layer are enabled. A photocatalytic TiO.sub.2 layer is formed so as to have a density of 3.33 to 3.75 g/cm.sup.3 (preferably 3.47 to 3.72 g/cm.sup.3, more preferably 3.54 to 3.68 g/cm.sup.3) on a surface of a base material. As an outermost surface layer, a porous SiO.sub.2 layer is formed on the photocatalytic TiO.sub.2 layer in such a manner that the porous SiO.sub.2 layer has a film thickness of no less than 10 nm and no more than 50 nm.

Articles having poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and silica nanoparticle multilayer coatings are provided. More specifically, the articles include a substrate and a multilayer coating attached to the substrate. The multilayer coating includes a silica layer that is the outermost layer, the silica layer containing acid-sintered interconnected silica nanoparticles arranged to form a continuous three-dimensional porous network. The multilayer coating also includes a PVA layer disposed between a surface of the substrate and the outermost silica layer. The PVA and silica nanoparticle coatings can be used on a large variety of substrates and tend to be resistant to impacts, scratches, wet abrasions, soil and fog.

There is provided a coating composition comprising nonspherical nanoparticles; spherical nanoparticles; optionally hydrophilic groups and optional an surfactant; and a liquid medium comprising water and no greater than 30 wt % organic solvent, if present, based on the total weight of liquid medium, where at least a portion of the nonspherical nanoparticles or at least a portion of the spherical nanoparticles comprises functional groups attached to their surface through chemical bonds, wherein the functional groups comprise at least one group selected from the group consisting of epoxy group, amine group, hydroxyl, olefin, alkyne, (meth) acrylato, mercapto group, or combinations thereof. There is also provided a method for modifying a substrate surface using the coating composition and articles made therefrom.

A greenhouse glazing, including a glass substrate with a first surface containing a first coating and a second surface containing a second coating. The first surface is an air-side face of the glass substrate and the second surface is a tin-side face of the glass substrate, and the second surface is textured prior to a deposition of the second coating in such a way that a roughness parameter Rsm is at most 155 m. The first coating on the first surface contains a nano-porous silica layer having a thickness between 80 and 150 nm and a transparent conductive oxide located between the nano-porous silica layer and the first surface of the glass substrate. The second coating on the second surface contains a nano-porous silica layer having a thickness between 80 and 180 nm.

Initial film layers prepared from tin(II) chloride spontaneously generate open cavities when the initial film layers are thermally cured to about 400 C. using a temperature ramp of 1 C./minute to 10 C./minute while exposed to air. The openings of the bowl-shaped cavities have characteristic dimensions whose lengths are in a range of 30 nm to 300 nm in the plane of the top surfaces of the cured film layers. The cured film layers comprise tin oxide and have utility in gas sensors, electrodes, photocells, and solar cells.