There is an ever-growing number of developments that aim to bring novel functionalities to polymer-coating systems with nanotechnology being one of them. This article will cover recent advances in the field of smart polymeric structures that are used in protective coatings in terms of stimulus and response, sensing mechanisms, and current or potential applications. Such structures are commonly based on polymers modified through organic or inorganic additives. Emphasis is placed on smart sensors used for detecting the onset of corrosion on polymer coated ferrous and nonferrous substrates. Examples of self-healing and repair through the action of microcapsules are also presented.

The DC resistance of discontinuous non-oriented films of (SN)x has been measured at various electric fields and temperatures. The transition to the superconducting state is found to result in an increased resistance and a simple explanation is put forward in terms of the conduction model which fits the high temperature data. Similar results have been obtained in discontinuous indium films