Natural Ingredients in Functional Coatings—Recent Advances and Future Challenges

In recent decades, coating materials have gained researchers’ interest, finding applications in different areas such as antimicrobial coatings for biomedical applications, coatings for increasing the shelf-life of commercial products, or coatings for the conservation of cultural heritage artifacts. The use of new types of coating materials based on natural ingredients can lead to the removal of harmful chemicals and contribute to the development of materials having different and promising properties. New challenges can appear both in the production process, as well as in the case of final application, when coating materials must be applied on various supports. The present review paper aims to be a critical discussion regarding the possibility of using natural ingredients as functional coatings, and to prove that the same material can be used in different fields, from the biomedical to environmental, or from cultural heritage protection to the food and cosmetic industries. The paper is based on the newest published studies, and its main goal is to be an inspiration source for researchers, in order to create more functional and applicable composite coatings in specific fields.