Emerging Low-Cost and Eco-Efficient Strategies for Thin Film Fabrication and Processing

The field of materials science is rapidly advancing toward more sustainable and accessible approaches to materials synthesis and processing, particularly in the realm of thin films. Traditional thin film deposition and processing methods—such as physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and atomic layer deposition (ALD)—while offering excellent control and performance, often demand high capital investment, specialized infrastructure, and significant energy consumption. This limits their adoption in resource-limited contexts and hinders the widespread manufacturing of advanced devices in developing economies. Recent research has sought alternatives that reduce equipment complexity, energy input, and environmental impact while maintaining or improving film quality. Emerging evidence shows that solution-based processing, spray pyrolysis, electrodeposition, and other hybrid approaches can deliver comparable performance outcomes under more sustainable and scalable conditions. Nonetheless, gaps remain in achieving consistent film uniformity, reproducibility, and compatibility across different substrates and materials systems.This Research Topic aims to advance the understanding and development of low-cost, sustainable, and scalable thin film deposition and processing methodologies for materials of technological relevance. It seeks to explore how innovative deposition routes can yield high-quality films suitable for functional devices, including photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics, sensors, coatings, and energy storage systems. The ultimate goal is to identify methods that combine environmental responsibility with industrial scalability, contributing to a circular materials economy. Core questions include how alternative processing conditions influence microstructural, electrical, and optical properties, and what design strategies can optimize films for targeted performance criteria across diverse application fields.To gather further insights into the frontiers of sustainable materials processing, this Research Topic welcomes theoretical, experimental, and applied contributions examining thin film deposition across all material classes and device types. Submissions should focus on the design, optimization, and validation of low-cost deposition or processing techniques. Within the defined bounds of material sustainability and scalability, we encourage works addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Enhancement of film homogeneity, adhesion, and morphological control• Energy-efficient and minimal-step deposition routesReduction of environmental and carbon footprints in film processing• Process simplification, solvent optimization, and waste mitigation• Integration of low-cost techniques into device architectures (e.g., photovoltaics, sensors, flexible substrates)• Modeling and simulation of thin film growth under sustainable processing conditions• Life cycle analysis and technoeconomic assessments of scalable thin film fabrication Topic editors: Miguel Angel Santana-Aranda, Muhammad Ali Butt Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81513/emerging-low-cost-and-eco-efficient-strategies-for-thin-film-fabrication-and-processing