• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.117-117
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• 2007

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.15 no.2 s.46
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• pp.96-106
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• 2006

Among several different hydrogen production technologies, solar hydrogen system for water splitting is the only clean and sustainable energy supplier. Hydrogen production by water-splitting utilizing solar energy has attracted considerable interest since the pioneering work of Honda and Fujishima in 1979, who discovered that water can be photo-electrochemically decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen using a semiconductor ($TiO_2$) electrode under UV irradiation. Most efforts to utilize solar ray lead to explore visible responding photocatalysts, PEC cells and other fusion technology like bio-photocatalytic conversion. In this paper, photon utilization technologies for water splitting have been briefly reviewed except solar thermal utilization technology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.676-676
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• 2013

무기물 양자점을 광감응 염료로 사용하는 경우 양자점의 사이즈 조절만으로 밴드갭을 조절할 수 있어 광학적 특성 조절이 용이하며, 유기 염료보다 광흡수 능력이 뛰어난 장점을 가진다. 특히 카드뮴 계열의 CdS, CdSe 양자점을 순차적으로 증착하여 사용하는 경우 가시광 전 영역을 효율적으로 흡수, 이용할 수 있어 광전기화학 셀의 광전극으로 사용 시 높은 성능을 기대할 수 있다. 하지만, 카드뮴 계열 양자점의 경우 광전기화학 셀로의 구동에 있어 안정성이 낮은 문제점이 있으며, 이는 양자점에 남아있는 정공이 관여하는 양자점 부식 반응으로 인한 것이다. 본 연구에서는 보다 안정적이면서도 고효율의 광전기화학적 수소생산 시스템을 위해, CdSe/CdS 양자점 감응형 ZnO 나노선 광전극에 IrO2 촉매물질을 증착하였다. CdSe/CdS 양자점이 가시광 전 영역을 흡수하며, ZnO 나노선 구조를 통해 생성된 광전자를 효율적으로 포집하여 높은 광전류 특성을 기대할 수 있다. 나아가 산소생산용 조촉매로 많이 사용하는 $IrO_2$ 촉매 물질의 추가증착을 통해 양자점에서 생긴 정공을 빼 줌으로서 정공이 관여하는 양자점 부식 반응을 방지할 수 있다. 실험결과 촉매물질의 증착 이후 광전류 생성 특성 및 수소생산량이 증가하였으며, 안정성 또한 상당히 향상된 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2021

A solar water battery is a system that generates power using solar energy. It is a combination of photoelectrochemical cells and an energy storage system. It can simultaneously convert and store solar energy without additional external voltage. Solar water batteries consist of photoelectrodes, storage electrodes and counter electrodes, and their properties and combination are important for the performance and the efficiency of the system. In this study, we tried to find the effect that changing the components of solar water batteries has on its system. The effects of the counter electrode during discharge, the kinds of photoelectrode and storage electrode materials, and electrolytes on the solar energy conversion and storage capacitance were studied. The optimized composition (TiO2 : NaFe-PB : Pt foil) exhibited 72.393 mAh g-1 of discharge capacity after 15 h of photocharging. It indicates that the efficiency of solar energy conversion and storage is largely affected by the configuration of the system. Also, the addition of organic pollutants to the chamber of the photoelectrode improved the battery's photo-current and discharge capacity by efficient photoelectron-hole pair separation with simultaneous degradation of organic pollutants. Solar water batteries are a new eco-friendly solar energy conversion and storage system that does not require additional external voltages. It is also expected to be used for water treatment that utilizes solar energy.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.227.2-227.2
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• 2010

본 연구에서는 양극산화된 $TiO_2$ 전극(anodized tubular $TiO_2$ electrode, ATTE)을 수소제조용 PEC(Photoelectrochemical)시스템에서 광어노드와 기존의 백금전극을 대체하고 $H^+$ 환원능을 향상시키기 위하여 엔자임(Pyrococcus furiosus, Pfu)을 고정화한 후 캐소드로 동시에 활용하였으며, 엔자임 고정을 위한 crosslinker 종류 및 금속담지 여부, ATTE 길이를 통한 수소발생양에 미치는 영향을 연구하였다. ATTE 표면과 엔자임의 amine group의 연결을 위하여 heterobifunctional crosslinker로써 사슬 길이가 상대적으로 짧은 Sulfo-SDA가 유리하였으며, 금속담지의 경우 짧은 튜브의 경우 1% 내에서 효과가 증진되었으나 긴 튜브의 경우는 오히려 광전류 및 궁극적으로 수소발생속도에 불리하게 작용하였다. 또한, 튜브 길이가 긴 ATTE가 짧은 ATTE 보다 수소발생양에서 더욱 효율적임을 알 수 있었다. 텅스텐산화물 담지의 가시광감응에의 담지 효과는 예비 실험 결과로 나타나지 않아, 추가적인 연구가 필요한 것으로 판단된다.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.33-38
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• 2020

In the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, GaN is one of the most promising photoanode materials due to high stability in electrolytes and adjustable energy band position. However, the application of GaN is limited because of low efficiency. To improve solar to hydrogen conversion efficiency, we introduce a Cobalt Phosphate (Co-pi) catalyst by photo-electrodeposition. The Co-pi deposition GaN were characterized by SEM, EDS, and XPS, respectively, which illustrated that Co-pi was successfully decorated on the surface of GaN. PEC measurement showed that photocurrent density of GaN was 0.5 mA/㎠ and that of Co-pi deposited GaN was 0.75 mA/㎠. Impedance and Mott-Schottky measurements were performed, and as a result of the measurement, polarization resistance (R_p) and increased donor concentration (N_D) values decreased from 50.35 Ω to 34.16 Ω were confirmed. As a result of analyzing the surface components before and after the water decomposition, it was confirmed that the Co-pi catalyst is stable because Co-pi remains even after the water decomposition. Through this, it was confirmed that Co-pi is effective as a catalyst for improving GaN efficiency, and when applied as a catalyst to other photoelectrodes, it is considered that the efficiency of the PEC system can be improved.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.113-117
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• 2016

Recently, hydrogen is regarded as important energy in the future, because it is clean and renewable. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) system, which produce hydrogen using water splitting by solar energy, is one of the most promising energy systems because it has abundant energy sources and good theoretical efficiency. GaN has recently been regarded as suitable photoelectrode that could be used to split water to generate hydrogen without extra bias because its band edge position include water redox potential ($V_{redox}=1.23$ vs. SHE). GaN also shows considerable corrosion resistance in aqueous solutions and it is possible to control its properties, such as structure, band gap, and catalyst characteristics, in order to improve solar energy conversion efficiency. But, even if the band edge position of GaN make PEC reaction facilitate without bias, the overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction could reduce the efficiency of system. One of the ways to decrease overpotential is introduction of co-catalyst on photoelectrode. In this paper, we will investigate the effect of manganese dioxide ($MnO_2$) as a co-catalyst. $MnO_2$ particles were dispersed on GaN photoelectrode by spincoater and analyzed properties of the PEC system using potentiostat (PARSTAT4000). After coating $MnO_2$, the flat-band potential ($V_{fb}$) and the onset voltage ($V_{onset}$) were moved negatively by 0.195 V and 0.116 V, respectively. The photocurrent density increased on $MnO_2$ coated sample and time dependence was also improved. These results showed $MnO_2$ has an effect as a co-catalyst and it would enhance the efficiency of overall PEC system.