The development of coatings using combinatorial/high throughput methods: a review of the current status

Combinatorial chemistry is a relatively new experimental methodology developed by academics and researchers in the pharmaceutical industry to reduce the time and cost associated with drug development. Basically, combinatorial chemistry involves the rapid synthesis and evaluation of large numbers of compounds in parallel using robotics, rapid analytical instrumentation, and data management software. More recently, the principles of combinatorial chemistry have been applied to materials development, and interest in this area is increasing rapidly. This interest can be attributed to the potential for obtaining a major competitive advantage by implementing a combinatorial approach. This document provides an introduction to combinatorial materials science and provides a review of efforts aimed at developing combinatorial workflows for coating development. While the application of combinatorial methods to coating development is still in its infancy, full combinatorial workflows have been developed within a few different organizations.