Scanning microscopy has been greatly developed and widely used in the past 80 years and is currently playing an important role in exploring the microscopic world. Generally speaking, scanning microscopy has developed in two directions: scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Scanning electron microscopy has already become a general analytical tool to observe the surface morphology of various matters since it was invented in the 1930s. SEM allows scientists and engineers to not only study viruses and DNA but also build microcircuits on computer chips. Scanning probe microscopy was subsequently developed in the 1980s to investigate surfaces with atomic resolution. SPM can serve scientists and engineers observing individual atoms and manipulating them to build new structures with novel properties.

Surface engineering is a multidisciplinary field that combines physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, and mechanical engineering. Metals, polymers, and ceramics can achieve novel properties via various surface modification techniques such as electrochemical deposition, laser cladding, and plasma treatment. Comprehensive and simultaneous information can be acquired via scanning microscopy to reveal the fundamental aspects of physics, chemistry, and biology at surfaces. Thus, the utilization of scanning microscopy in surface engineering provides many opportunities to improve current surface modification processes and understand associated mechanisms.

The aim of this special issue is to provide an excellent platform for physicists, chemists, biologists, materials scientists, and engineers to share and disseminate recent applications of scanning microscopy in surface engineering. This issue welcomes both experimental and theoretical studies and accepts high-quality articles containing original research articles as well as review articles.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Synthesis, characterization, and applications of thin solid films
• Fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces on engineering materials
• Surface design of nanomaterials related to photochemical catalysis, pollution remediation, and energy storage and conversion
• Corrosion, oxidation, and wear phenomena at surfaces of engineering materials
• Interactions between biomaterials and their outside environments (including in vitro and in vivo investigations)