• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2024

In this study, a carbon coated hollow silicon (HSi/C) composite material was prepared for anode material of high-capacity lithiun-ion battery. Hollow silica (HSiO₂) was synthesized by the Stöber method with CTAB (N-Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide). The HSi/C anode composite was manufactured by carbon coating after magnesiothermic reduction of HSiO₂. The physical and electrochemical characteristics of the prepared anode materials were investigated based on CTAB amount. In the FE-SEM analysis, it was found that the HSiO₂ particle size increased as CTAB amount decreased, but shell thickness decreased. The HSi/C composites exhibited high initial discharge capacities of 1866.7, 2164.5 and 2188.6 mAh/g with various CTAB ratios (0.5, 1.0, 1.5), respectively. After 100 cycles of charge-discharge, 0.5-HSi/C demonstrated a high reversible capacity of 1171.3 mAh/g and a capacity retention of 70.9%. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was employed to analyze the impedance characteristics, and it revealed that 0.5-HSi/C showed more stable resistance characteristics than HSi/C composites with other CTAB amount over 20 cycles.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.262-268
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• 2024

In this study, the MXene/Si composite was prepared by electrostacic assembly with 2-dimensional structured titanium carbide (MXene) and nano silicon for anode material of high-performance lithium-ion battery. Ti₃C₂T_x MXene was synthesized by etching the Ti₃AlC₂ MAX with LiF/HCl, and the surface of nano silicon was charged to positively using CTAB (Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide). The MXene/Si anode composite was successfully manufactured by simple mixing process of synthesized MXene and charged silicon. The physical and electrochemical properties of prepared composite were investigated with MXene-silicon composition ratio, and the surface of electrode after cycles was analyzed to evaluate stability of the electrode. The MXene/Si composites demonstrated high initial discharge capacities of 1962.9, 2395.2 and 2504.3 mAh/g as the silicon composition ratio increased to 2, 3 and 4 compared to MXene, respectively. MXene/Si-4, which is MXene and silicon ratio with 1 : 4, exhibited 1387.5 mAh/g of reversible capacity, 74.5% of capacity retention at 100 cycles and high capacity of 700.5 mAh/g at high rate of 4.0 C. As the results, the MXene/Si composite prepared by electrostatic-assenbly could be applied to anode materials for high-performance LIBs.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.88-96
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• 2024

Lithium metal has garnered attention as a promising anode active material thanks to its high specific capacity, energy density, and the lowest reduction potential. However, the formation of dendrites, dendritic crystals that arise during the charge and discharge process, has posed safety and lifetime stability challenges. To resolve this, our study has introduced a novel separator design. This separator features a composite coating of vapor-grown carbon fiber, a conductive material in nanofibers, and silver. We have meticulously studied the impact of this innovative separator on the electrochemical properties of the lithium metal anode, unveiling promising results. To confirm the synergistic effect of VGCF and Ag, a separator with no surface treatment and a separator with only VGCF coated on one side were prepared and compared with the Ag-VGCF-separator. In the case of the bare separator, the Li metal surface is covered with dendrites during the initial charge and discharge process. In contrast, both the VGCF-separator and the Ag-VGCF-separator show Li precipitation inside the conductive coating layer coated on the separator surface. Additionally, the Ag-VGCF-separator showed a more uniform precipitate shape than the VGCF-separator. As a result, the Ag-VGCF-separators show improved electrochemical properties compared to the bare separators and the VGCF-separators.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.513-517
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• 2013

We investigated the properties of impregnated activated carbons, a commercial adsorbent for the individual protection equipment, and examined CO adsorption and oxidation to $CO_2$. The surface area, pore volume and pore size were measured for four commercial samples using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller/Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BET/BJH), and atomic compositions of the sample surface were analyzed based on SEM/EDS and XPS. Impregnated activated carbons containing Mn and Cu for fire showed the catalytic CO oxidation to $CO_2$ with a high catalytic activity (up to 99% $CO_2$ yield), followed by the CO adsorption at an initial reaction time. On the other hand, C: for chemical biologial and radiological (CBR) samples, not including Mn, showed a lower CO conversion to $CO_2$ (up to 60% yield) compared to that of fire samples. It was also found that a heat-treated activated carbon has a higher removal capacity both for CO and $CO_2$ at room temperature than that of untreated carbon, which was probably due to the impurity removal in pores resulted in a detection-delay about 30 min.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 1993

A miniature size electrostatic induction motor has been fabricated and studied with emphasis on the role of the surface resistivity, the relative dielectric constant and the charge relaxation time constant of the rotor surface materials and the rotor liner materials, which, however, control the surface charge induction and relaxation on the rotor material surface and the field intensity between the rotor and the stator of the motor. It is found that the surface resistivity and/or the relative dielectric constant, and the charge relaxation time constant of the rotor surface material enfluenced significantly to motor speed controlled by the surface charge induction and relaxation on the rotor surface depending on the applied voltage and/or frequency changing. The resistivity of the rotor liner material is also found to be effected to the motor speed greatly by control of the field intensity between the rotor and the stator and of the surface charge distribution of the induced charge on the rotor. As a result, a maximum no load rotor speed of the motor tested was about 5500 rpm at the applied voltage of 4.5 kV and the frequency of 220 Hz for the case of the rotor surface material of $BaTiO_{3}$ 80% in the resin binder layered on the copper-foil rotor liner material.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.406-414
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• 2015

In this study, partially fluorinated cation exchange membranes were prepared by direct sulfonation of Poly(VDF-co-hexafluoropropylene) copolymers (PVDF-co-HFP) followed by a casting method for application in the Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI). The structure of sulfonated PVDF-co-HFP (SPVDF) was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) and $^1H$ Nuclear magnetic resonance ($^1H$ NMR) analysis. For quantitative analysis of the chemical composition, the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) was used. The membrane properties such as water uptake, ion exchange capacity and electrical resistance were measured. It was suggested that the optimum direct sulfonation condition of PVDF-co-HFP ion exchange membranes was $60^{\circ}C$ and 7 hours for temperature and duration of sulfonation, respectively. The water uptake of the SPVDF ion exchange membrane was 21.5%. The ion exchange capacity and electrical resistance were 0.89 meq/g and $3.70{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$, respectively. It was investigated that if it is feasible to apply these membranes in MCDI at various cell potentials (0.9~1.5 V) and initial flow rates (10~40 mL/min). In the MCDI process, the maximum salt removal rate was 62.5% in repeated absorption-desorption cycles.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.847-852
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• 2019

In this study, the effect of additives on the performance of aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) using quinoxaline and ferrocyanide as active materials in alkaline supporting electrolyte is investigated. Quinoxaline shows the lowest redox potential (-0.97 V) in KOH supporting electrolyte, while when quinoxaline and ferrocyanide are used as the target active materials, the cell voltage of this redox combination is 1.3 V. When the single cell tests of AORFBs using 0.1 M active materials in 1 M KCl supporting electrolyte and Nafion 117 membrane are implemented, it does not work properly because of the side reaction of quinoxaline. To reduce or prevent the side reaction of quinoxaline, the two types of additives are considered. They are the potassium sulfate as electrophile additive and potassium iodide as nucleophilie additive. Of them, when the single cell tests of AORFBs using potassium iodide as additive dissolved in quinoxaline solution are performed, the capacity loss rate is reduced to $0.21Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}per\;cycle$ and it is better than that of the single cell test of AORFB operated without additive ($0.29Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}per\;cycle$).

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.139-145
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to recover valuable metals from spent batteries using a dry process. We focused on the effect of the smelting temperature on the composition of recovered solid and liquid products and collected gaseous products. After removal of the cover, the spent battery was left in NaCl solution and discharged. Then, the spent battery was made into a powder form through a crushing process. The smelting of the spent battery was performed in a tubular electric furnace in an oxygen atmosphere. For spent lithium-ion batteries, the recovery yield of the solid product was 80.1 wt% at a reaction temperature of 850 ℃, and the final product had 27.2 wt% of cobalt as well as other metals such as lithium, copper, and aluminum. Spent nickel-hydrogen batteries had a recovery yield of 99.2 wt% at a reaction temperature of 850 ℃ with about 37.6 wt% of nickel and other metals including iron. For spent nickel-cadmium batteries, the yield decreased to 65.4 wt% because of evaporation with increasing temperature. At 1050 ℃, the recovered metals were nickel (41 wt%) and cadmium (12.9 wt%). Benzene and toluene, which were not detected with the other secondary waste batteries, were detected in the gaseous product. The results of this study can be used as basic data for future research on the dry recycling process of spent secondary batteries.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.426-438
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• 2023

Lithium-sulfur batteries, recently attracting attention as next-generation batteries, have high energy density but are limited in application due to sulfur's insulating properties, shuttle phenomenon, and volume expansion. This study used an economical and simple vacuum filtration method to prepare a freestanding electrode without a binder and collector. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are used to improve the electrical conductivity of sulfur, where CNT also acts as both collector and conductor. In addition, metal oxides (MO_x, M=Ni, Mg), which are easy to adsorb lithium polysulfide, are added to the CNT/S electrode to suppress the shuttle reaction in lithium-sulfur batteries, which is a result of suppressing the loss of active sulfur material due to the excellent adsorption of lithium polysulfide by metal oxides. The MO_x@CNT/S electrode exhibited higher capacity characteristics and cycle stability than the CNT/S electrode without metal oxides. Among the MO_x@CNT/S electrodes, the NiO@CNT/S electrode displayed a high discharge capacity of 780 mAh g^-1 at 1 C and an extreme capacity decrease to 134 mAh g^-1 after 200 cycles. Although the MgO@CNT/S electrode exhibited a low discharge rate of 544 mAh g^-1 in the initial cycle, it showed good cycle stability with 90% of capacity retention up to 200 cycles. Further, to achieve high capacity and cycle stability, the Ni_0.7Mg_0.3O@CNT/S electrode, mixed with Ni:Mg in the ratio of 0.7:0.3, manifested an initial discharge rate of 755 mAh g^-1 (1 C) and a capacity retention rate of more than 90% after 200 cycles. Therefore, applying binary metal oxides to CNT/S provides a freestanding electrode for developing economical and high-performance Li-S batteries, effectively improving lithium polysulfide's high capacity characteristics and dissolution.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2013

This paper studied surface discharge characteristics by a dielectric constant and diameter of solid dielectrics in $N_2/O_2$ mixture gas. Applied electric field strength at $N_2/O_2$ mixture gas was changed from the dielectric constant and diameter of the solid dielectrics, and insulation performance of the $N_2/O_2$ mixture gas determined surface discharge voltage. In each of the diameter at the solid dielectrics, the surface discharge voltage was increased by lengthening surface distance, whereas increasing rate of the surface discharge voltage was different from gas pressure. Thus, In this paper, main factors of surface discharge are as follows. 1) Insulation performance of $N_2/O_2$ mixture gas, 2) Dielectric constant of solid dielectrics, 3) Surface discharge path. It was clear that the surface discharge voltage depend on the main factors. These results will be applied to useful data for an eco-friendly composite insulation design.