Black coatings are deposited at low temperature in order to enable the functionalization of thermosensitive substrates, such as epoxy-based carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). The direct liquid injection metalor-ganic chemical vapor deposition of Co oxide films is performed with the dicobalt octacarbonyl precursor, Co 2 (CO) 8 , in the temperature range 50°C-160°C, on Si substrates, first. Films morphology can be described by a dense sublayer on which the typical "cauliflower" microstructure grows, with a large amount of voids and open porosity. We obtain nanocrystalline CoO in the deposition temperature range 50°C-125°C, and nanocrystalline (CoO + Co 3 O 4) above 125°C. The bulk composition of the films is Co(45)O(45)C(10). Over the deposition temperatures tested, films processed at 125°C repetitively show the lowest reflectivity in the visible range. An important role in the optical reflectivity is attributed to the carbon content, although it is not possible to dec-orrelate microstructural changes from the carbon elimination in calcination experiments. Finally, we reproduce the above-mentioned results with success on CFRP substrates, and demonstrate the applicability of the process on thermosensitive composite parts with results comparable to the state-of-the-art in the visible range.