Provided herein is a method of coating a surface. A silicon-based coating composition is coated onto a surface. The silicon-based coating composition comprises polysilazane and polysilane comprising a formula (R1R2Si)n, wherein n is greater than 1, and wherein R1 and R2 are the same or different and are chosen from alkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alkylamino, aryl, aralkyl, or alkylsilyl, which polysilane has a weight average molecular weight of more than 50,000. Also provided are silicon-based coating compositions and cured coatings from those compositions using the provided method.