Versatile Zirconium Oxide (ZrO₂) Sol-Gel Development for the Micro-Structuring of Various Substrates (Nature and...

Zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) is a well-studied and promising material due to its remarkable chemical and physical properties. It is used, for example, in coatings for corrosion protection layer, wear and oxidation, in optical applications (mirror, filters), for decorative components, for anti-counterfeiting solutions and for medical applications. ZrO₂ can be obtained as a thin film using different deposition methods such as physical vapor deposition (PVD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD). These techniques are mastered but they do not allow easy micro-nanostructuring of these coatings due to the intrinsic properties (high melting point, mechanical and chemical resistance). An alternative approach described in this paper is the sol-gel method, which allows direct micro-nanostructuring of the ZrO₂ layers without physical or chemical etching processes, using optical or nano-imprint lithography. In this paper, the authors present a complete and suitable ZrO₂ sol-gel method allowing to achieve complex micro-nanostructures by optical or nano-imprint lithography on substrates of different nature and shape (especially non-planar and foil-based substrates). The synthesis of the ZrO₂ sol-gel is presented as well as the micro-nanostructuring process by masking, colloidal lithography and nano-imprint lithography on glass and plastic substrates as well as on plane and curved substrates.