A process for obtaining a material includes a substrate coated on at least one portion of at least one of its faces with a coating including at least one discontinuous metallic thin layer based on silver, on gold, or on any alloy thereof, the or each discontinuous metallic thin layer being encapsulated between at least two dielectric thin layers, and the or each discontinuous metallic thin layer being in the form of periodic geometric patterns, the process including a deposition step then a step wherein the substrate thus coated is made to run opposite at least one laser device emitting a laser radiation focused on the coating in the form of at least one line, the power of the radiation being adapted in order to render the or each metallic thin layer discontinuous by dewetting.

One or more aspects of the disclosure pertain to an article including a film disposed on a glass substrate, which may be strengthened, where the interface between the film and the glass substrate is modified, such that the article has an improved average flexural strength, and the film retains key functional properties for its application. Some key functional properties of the film include optical, electrical and/or mechanical properties. In one or more embodiments, interface exhibits the effective adhesion energy is about less than about 4 J/m.sup.2. In some embodiments, the interface is modified by the inclusion of a crack mitigating layer between the glass substrate and the film.

A method for developing a coating having a high light transmission and/or a low light reflection is provided. The method relates to a process for developing a coating with a high light transmission and/or a low light reflection, where the coating is deposited on a substrate. The coating is deposited as a mixed coating comprising a material A and a material B, where the coating is developed to have a coating thickness profile in which the lowest proportion of the material B is on the substrate surface and the highest proportion of coating material is on the coating surface. The material B is at least partially removed from the coating after deposition of the coating on the substrate.

An antimicrobial article having a substrate, and a coating on a surface of the substrate. The coating includes a silver-containing alkali silicate. The antimicrobial article has an antimicrobial efficacy of greater than or equal to about 90.0% according to EPA Test Method for Efficacy of Copper Alloy Surfaces as a Sanitizer. The coating may further include at least one of a boron-containing compound and an aluminum-containing compound. A method for forming antimicrobial articles includes coating a substrate with a mixture comprising an alkali silicate; curing the coating at a temperature from greater than or equal to about 300 C. to less than or equal to about 620 C. for a duration of greater than or equal to about 15 minutes to less than or equal to about 120 minutes; and contacting the coating with an antimicrobial medium comprising silver nitrate and an alkali nitrate.

The present invention relates to a process for depositing an anti-reflective layer on a transparent flat substrate comprising the steps of providing a liquid coating composition comprising at least one solvent, at least one inorganic oxide precursor, and at least one pore forming agent; applying the coating composition to the substrate; drying the applied coating layer, and curing the coating layer; wherein during drying a gas flow is provided to the substrate at a flow rate of between 0.2 and 6 m/s. The advantage of this process is that defects visible in edge areas of the coated substrate can be significantly reduced.

A method of coating with an aqueous coating composition having a pH <5 of silica nanoparticles having a, average particle diameter of 40 nm, silica nanoparticles having an average particle diameter of 50 nm, and a tetraalkoxysilane. The resulting coatings are substantially uniform in thickness, durably adheres to the substrate, and provides antireflection and or hydrophilic surface properties to the substrate.

The invention relates to a coating composition for making a porous inorganic oxide coating layer on a substrate, the composition comprising an inorganic oxide precursor as binder, a solvent, and a synthetic polyampholyte as pore forming agent. The size of the pores in the coating can be advantageously controlled by the comonomer composition of the polyampholyte, and/or by selecting conditions like temperature, pH, salt concentration, and solvent composition when making the composition. The invention also relates to a method of making such coating composition, to a process of applying a coating on a substrate using such composition, and to such coated substrate showing a specific combination of optical and mechanical properties.

The invention relates to an article comprising a substrate and a nano-porous coating, wherein the reflectivity of the article is less then 2%, and whereby the amount of sodium measured in the coating by XPS is less then 1 wt %, and further to a method of making the article.

The invention provides a method of processing glass that involves forming a flexible gel layer on a flexible glass sheet to create a glass-gel sheet; rolling-up the glass-gel sheet into the form of a roll; placing the roll in a dryer; and drying the flexible gel layer so as to form a flexible aerogel layer. Some embodiments provide a glazing unit that includes a glass-aerogel sheet located between first and second panes of the glazing unit, where the glass-aerogel sheet includes a flexible glass sheet and a flexible aerogel layer on the flexible glass sheet. In such embodiments, the first and second panes each have thicknesses that are greater than a thickness of the flexible glass sheet. Other embodiments provide a glass assembly having a flexible aerogel layer on a flexible glass sheet, with the flexible glass sheet being laminated to a glass pane.

The invention provides substrates coated with a hydrocarbon or fluorocarbon layer. The coated substrate has superior properties such as improved hydrophobicity and/or oleophobicity. Also disclosed are methods of making coatings on substrates using atomic layer deposition (ALD) and/or molecular layer deposition (MLD).