Smart coatings for intelligent surfaces

The manufacturing of intelligent surfaces according to examples in nature is an important research topic for the near future. Nowadays several coatings exist which are able to adapt their properties to environmental conditions. Prominent examples are windows with switchable transmission or self-cleaning surfaces based on photocatalysis. Novel thin films exhibiting excellent tribological as well as sensoric properties open new paths for the future design of driving components. Examples are diamond-like carbon films which can be used as extremely hard force sensors. They are able to detect and influence the state of surfaces under mechanical load. There is a huge variety of potential applications for such sensors.