The conventional way of reducing the gloss of coating is to use matting agents such as silica, wax, and fillers. The demerits of these matting agents are sedimentation, poor compatibility, and deterioration of mechanical properties over time. Recent advances in organically modified matting agents and self-matting polymers have addressed these limitations by enabling uniform matte finishes without compromising film integrity. Organically modified silica, functionalized with silane or acrylate moieties, has been shown to deliver lower gloss values in the range of 5–14 gloss units at 60°, in contrast to the typically observed >70 gloss units for conventional high-gloss coatings. Similarly, self-matting polymers, particularly waterborne polyurethane (WBPU) and acrylate dispersions, achieve matte effects through intrinsic micro-roughness during film formation. The gloss value achieved with self-matting acrylic resin synthesized using hydrolyzable silane functionality is 6.3 units at 60°. This review emphasizes distinct techniques for organic modifications of matting agents, synthetic approaches for self-matting polymeric architectures, and their applications in the fields of decorative coatings, industrial coatings, and wood coatings.
