Biography
Uğur Ünal received his Ph.D. from the Applied Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, at Kumamoto University, Japan in 2004. He worked as a postdoctoral associate at the same department between 2004 and 2007. Then, he joined the Koc University Chemistry Department in 2008. He received the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology scholarship and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellowship awards. His current research interests are 1) Synthesis and applications of 2D layered materials, 2) photocatalytic energy conversion 3) electrocatalytic energy conversion 4) understanding the charge transfer mechanism at the catalyst surface. Ugur Unal serves as the director of Koc University Surface Science and Technology Center (KUYTAM) and he is also the head of the chemistry department.
Presentation
High entropy alloys (HEAs), defined as alloys containing five or more principal elements in equal or near-equal atomic percentages have gained remarkable attention over the past two decades owing to their excellent mechanical and tribological properties. Their distinctive behavior arises from four core effects: the high entropy effect, severe lattice distortion, sluggish diffusion, and the cocktail effect, which collectively yield property combinations unattainable in conventional alloys. High-entropy alloys (HEAs) and related high-entropy nitrides/oxides offer a versatile materials platform for next-generation functional coatings. Unlike conventional alloy coatings, HEAs use multiple principal elements to generate chemically complex solid-solution, amorphous, or nanocrystalline structures with tunable hardness, corrosion resistance, oxidation stability, wear resistance, hydrophobicity, and thermal durability.
Recent studies show that magnetron sputtering is especially suitable for producing dense HEA thin films, while reactive sputtering enables nitride and oxide derivatives with enhanced mechanical and chemical stability. These properties are highly relevant for glass surfaces exposed to abrasion, humidity, thermal cycling, and chemically aggressive environments. In thin-film form, HEA films tend to form solid solution and amorphous states with hardness far exceeding that of traditional films. For example, DC-sputtered Ti1.5ZrTa0.5Nb0.5Hf0.5 HEA coatings have demonstrated dense, uniform structures with strong substrate adhesion and hardness superior to the underlying material, alongside corrosion rates as low as 0.50 × 10−3 mm/year mm/year in saline solution. In this presentation, I will review synthesis, structure, property relationships in HEA coatings, with emphasis on sputtered metallic, nitride, and oxide films, and discuss their potential integration with glass for protective, durable, and multifunctional surfaces. By connecting HEA design principles with scalable coating technologies, this work highlights a promising route toward advanced glass products for energy, architectural, automotive, and specialty applications.