Aluminum alloy AA7075-T6 is most commonly used in the aircraft and automotive industries. Due to the presence of intermetallic particles, AA7075-T6 is susceptible to localized corrosion in chloride solutions. In the present work multilayer hybrid sol-gel coatings, based on silane precursors 3-glycidyloxypropyl(trimethoxysilane) (GPTMS) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), were used to protect AA7075-T6 from corrosion. To enrich the barrier properties of the coating, SiO 2 nanoparticles were added to the GPTMS/TEOS sol-gel solution. Inhibition and a self-healing effect were achieved by doping Ce(NO 3 ) 3 in the coating. A multi-layer system was applied on the substrate composed of a first layer doped with Ce(NO 3 ) 3 and the second, undoped sol-gel layer. The addition of cerium increases the lifespan of hybrid sol-gel coating and has a role in self-healing if it is locked within the first layer of the multilayer coating. The self-healing effect was confirmed by immersion of unscribed and scribed coated substrates in 0.1 mol/L NaCl by using the immersion test, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with chemical analysis. Due to increasing demand for light-weight metals to reduce fuel consumption and, consequently, CO 2 emission, aluminum alloy AA7075-T6 is very attractive in automotive and aircraft industries. In addition to its low density, its advantages are high strength-to-weight ratio and good mechanical properties.1-3 However, due to the presence of zinc and copper intermetallic particles, AA7075-T6 readily undergoes localized corrosion, which limits its use in more aggressive environments. Chromate conversion coatings (CCCs), which were used for decades as providing the most effective corrosion protection of aluminum alloys, are limited, in the European Union. 4 Many surface treatments have been proposed to replace CCCs, the sol-gel process being one of the most promising and environmentally friendly. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In hybrid sol-gel coatings, which combine inorganic and organic compounds, the inorganic compound provides mechanical support, while the organic compound adds to flexibility and decreases treatment temperature. 8,[12][13][14][15] Hybrid sol-gel coatings achieve protection of underlying substrate by acting as barrier coatings. Addition of silica nanoparticles (SiO 2 ) into sol-gel coating has been reported to additionally increase the barrier effect by increasing the coating thickness, density and reinforcement. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Still, if these coatings do not contain corrosion inhibitors they lack the ability to inhibit the corrosion process once it commences, i.e. they do not show active inhibition ability resulting in a self-healing of the coating.To obtain an active corrosion protection, corrosion inhibitors can be incorporated into sol-gel coating. According to Hinton et al., 24,25 4 and insoluble CeO 2 , which acts as a protective barrier to oxygen and lowers the cathodic activity by hindering the ...