• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2019

Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells using binder free $TiO_2$ paste for low temperature sintering are developed. In this paste a small amount of titanium gel is added to a paste of $TiO_2$ nanoparticle. Analysis of titanium gel paste prepared at $150^{\circ}C$ shows that it has a pure anatase phase in XRD and mesoporous structure in SEM. The formation of the titanium gel 1-2 nm coated layer is confirmed by comparing the TEM image analysis of the titanium gel paste and the pristine paste. This coating layer improves the excited electron transfer and electrical contact between particles. The J-V curves of the organic binder DSSCs fabricated at $150^{\circ}C$ shows a current density of $0.12mA/cm^2$ and an open-circuit voltage of 0.47 V, while the titanium gel DSSCs improves electrical characteristics to $5.04mA/cm^2$ and 0.74 V. As a result, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the organic binder DSSC prepared at low temperature is as low as 0.02 %, but the titanium gel paste DSSCs has a measured effciency of 2.76 %.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.1473-1476
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• 2008

Doping the nanoparticles of Pd, p-$BaTiO_3$, $SiO_2$ and MgO into LCs alters their physical properties such as $K_{ii}$, $\Delta\varepsilon$, ${\Delta}n$, $\gamma_1$ and $T_{NI}$. Except for $K_{33}$, all these parameters decreases and thus bring the reduction of operating voltage and/or response times.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.411-419
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• 2004

Titania particles are widely used as a photocatalyst to treat various contaminants in air and water. Titania particles were formed by vapor-phase oxidation of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) in a tube furnace between 773 and 1,273 K. The effect of process variables such as furnace temperature, flow rate of carrier air, and flow rate of sheath air on powder size and phase characteristics was investigated using a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The size distribution of synthesized titania particles was characterized with mode diameter and peak concentration. The mode diameter ranging from 20 to 80 nm decreased with increasing flow rates of sheath air and carrier air, and increased with increasing furnace temperature. The peak concentration increased with increasing flow rates of sheath air and carrier air The best synthetic condition for high production rate can be derived from the experimental data set represented by mode diameter and peak concentration. The crystal structure of synthesized titania particles was found to be anatase phase, ensuring high photocatalytic potential.

• Mycobiology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.383-391
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• 2020

Use of nanoparticles (NPs) in several commercial products has led to emergence of novel contaminants of air, soil and water bodies. The NPs may exhibit greater ecotoxicity due to nano-scale dependent properties over their bulk counterparts. The present investigation explores the effect of in vitro supplementation of TiO₂, silica and silver NPs on radial growth and ultrastructural changes in the hyphae and spores of two mushroom genera, Ganoderma lucidum and Volvariella volvaceae. A concentration dependent decrease in radial growth on NP amended potato dextrose agar medium was recorded. However, in comparison to control, there was decrease in radial diameter on supplementation with TiO₂ NPs while an increase was recorded for silica and silver NPs amendments as compared to their bulk salts at same concentrations after 48 h of incubation. Optical microscopy studies showed decrease in the number of spores while increase in spore diameter and thinning of hyphal diameter on NPs supplementation. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of fungal growth showed presence of deflated and oblong spores in two fruiting strains of Ganoderma while Volvariella exhibited decreased sporulation. Further, hyphal thinning and branching was recorded in response to NP amendments in both the test mushrooms. Enhancement of protein content was observed on NP compared to bulk supplementation for all cultures, concentrations and hours of incubation except for TiO₂ NPs. Likewise, bulk and NP supplementations (at 100 mg L^-1) resulted in enhanced laccase activity with occurrence of laccase specific protein bands on SDS-PAGE analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.261-261
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• 2013

The smart design of nanocatalysts can improve the catalytic activity of transition metals on reducible oxide supports, such as titania, via strong metal-support interactions. In this work, we investigatedtwo-dimensional Pt nanoparticle/titania catalytic systems under the CO oxidation reaction. Arc plasma deposition (APD) and metal impregnation techniques were employed to achieve Pt nanoparticle deposition on titania supports, which were prepared by multitarget sputtering and sol-gel techniques. APD Pt nanoparticles with an average size of 2.7 nm were deposited on sputtered and sol-gel-prepared titania films to assess the role of the titania support on the catalytic activity of Pt under CO oxidation. In order to study the nature of the dispersed metallic phase and its effect on the activity of the catalytic CO oxidation reaction, Pt nanoparticles were deposited in varying surface coverages on sputtered titania films using arc plasma deposition. Our results show an enhanced activity of Pt nanoparticles when the nanoparticle/titania interfaces are exposed. APD Pt shows superior catalytic activity under CO oxidation, as compared to impregnated Pt nanoparticles, due to the catalytically active nature of the mild surface oxidation and the active Pt metal, suggesting that APD can be used for large-scale synthesis of active metal nanocatalysts.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2009

For many large-scale applications of high-temperature superconducting materials, large critical current density ($J_c$) in high applied magnetic fields are required. A number of methods have been reported to introduce artificial pinning centers in $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-{\delta}}$ films for enhancement of their $J_c$. We studied the microstructures and characteristic of $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-{\delta}}$ films fabricated on $SrTiO_3$ (100) substrates with ZnO nanorods as pinning centers. Au catalyst nanoparticles were synthesized on STO substrates with self assembled monolayer to control the number of ZnO nanorods. The density of Au nanoparticles is approximately $240{\sim}260{\mu}m^{-2}$ with diameters of $41{\sim}49nm$. ZnO nanorods were grown on STO by hot-walled PLD with Au nanoparticles. Typical size of ZnO nanorod was around 179 nm in diameter and $2{\sim}6{\mu}m$ in length respectively. YBCO films deposited directly on STO substrates show the c-axis orientation, while YBCO films with ZnO nanorods exhibit any mixed phases without any typical crystal orientation.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.16-19
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• 2014

Anodic self-organized titania nanotube (TNT) arrays have a great potential as efficient electron-transport materials for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Herewith we report the photovoltaic and kinetic investigations for a series of heteroleptic ruthenium complexes (RD16-RD18) sensitized on TNT films for DSSC applications. We found that the RD16 device had an enhanced short-circuit current density ($J_{SC}/mAcm^{-2}=15.0$) and an efficiency of power conversion (${\eta}=7.2%$) greater than that of a N719 device (${\eta}=7.1%$) due to the increasing light-harvesting and the broadened spectral features with thiophene-based ligands. However, the device made of RD17 (adding one more hexyl chain) showed smaller $J_{SC}(14.1mAcm^{-2})$ and poorer ${\eta}(6.8%)$ compare to those of RD16 due to smaller amount of dye-loading and less efficient electron injection for the RD17 device than for the RD16 device. For the RD18 dye (adding one more thiophene unit and one more hexyl chain), we found that the device showed even lower $J_{SC}(13.2mAcm^{-2}) $ that led to a poorest device performance (${\eta}=6.2%$) for the RD18 device. These results are against to those obtained from the same dyes sensitized on $TiO_2$ nanoparticle films and they can be rationalized according to the electron transport kinetics measured using the methods of charge extraction and transient photovoltage decays.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2017

Combustion of ethanol (EtOH) at low temperatures has been studied using titania- and silica-supported platinum nanocrystallites with different sizes in a wide range of 1~25 nm, to see if EtOH can be used as a clean, alternative fuel, i.e., one that does not emit sulfur oxides, fine particulates and nitrogen oxides, and if the combustion flue gas can be used for directly heating the interior of greenhouses. The results of $H_2-N_2O$ titration on the supported Pt catalysts with no calcination indicate a metal dispersion of $0.97{\pm}0.1$, corresponding to ca. 1.2 nm, while the calcination of 0.65% $Pt/SiO_2$ at 600 and $900^{\circ}C$ gives the respective sizes of 13.7 and 24.6 nm when using X-ray diffraction technique, as expected. A comparison of EtOH combustion using $Pt/TiO_2$ and $Pt/SiO_2$ catalysts with the same metal content, dispersion and nanoparticle size discloses that the former is better at all temperatures up to $200^{\circ}C$, suggesting that some acid sites can play a role for the combustion. There is a noticeable difference in the combustion characteristics of EtOH at $80{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ between samples of 0.65% $Pt/SiO_2$ consisting of different metal particle sizes; the catalyst with larger platinum nanoparticles shows higher intrinsic activity. Besides the formation of $CO_2$, low-temperature combustion of EtOH can lead to many other pathways that generate undesired byproducts, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, diethyl ether, and ethylene, depending strongly on the catalyst and reaction conditions. A 0.65% $Pt/SiO_2$ catalyst with a Pt crystallite size of 24.6 nm shows stable performances in EtOH combustion at $120^{\circ}C$ even for 12 h, regardless of the space velocity allowed.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.255-263
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• 2009

The antifungal activity of silver, copper, and titania nanoparticles against fungal spores was investigated. Cladosporium cladosporioides spores were aerosolized and sampled on a solid agar plate using an Anderson impactor. The solid agar plate contained different concentration of nanoparticles ranging from 0 to $500{\mu}g/mL$. Silver and copper nanoparticles were shown to be an effective antifungal agent, while titania nanoparticles were not. Antifungal activity of these effective nanoparticles appeared at $300{\mu}g/mL$ concentration.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.294-294
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• 2010

Over the last decade, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has attracted much attention due to the high solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency up to 10% as well as low cost compared with p-n junction photovoltaic devices. DSSC is composed of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticle electrodes coated with photo-sensitized dye, the redox electrolyte and the metal counter electrode. The performances of DSSC are dependent on constituent materials and interface as well as device structure. Replacing the heavy glass substrate with plastic materials is crucial to enlarge DSSC applications for the competition with inorganic based thin film photovoltaic devices. One of the biggest problems with plastic substrates is their low-temperature tolerance, which makes sintering of the photoelectrode films impossible. Therefore, the most important step toward the low-temperature DSSC fabrication is how to enhance interparticle connection at the temperature lower than $150^{\circ}C$. In this talk, the key issues for high efficiency plastic solar cells will be discussed, and several strategies for the improvement of interconnection of nanoparticles and bendability will also be proposed.