• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.210-217
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• 2022

Boron(B) is a rare resource used for various purposes such as glass, semiconductor materials, gunpowder, rocket fuel, etc. However, Korea depends entirely on imports for boron. Considering the global boron reserves and its current production rate, boron will be depleted on earth in 50 years. Thus, a process including proper adsorbent materials recovering boron from seawater is demanded. This research proposed carbonized nanofibers prepared from electrospun PAN(polyacrylonitrile) mats as promising materials to adsorb boron in aqueous solution. First, the mechanism of boron adsorption on carbonized nanofibers was investigated by DFT(density functional method)-based molecular modeling and the calculated energetics demonstrated that the boron chemisorption on the nitrogen-doped graphene surface by a two-step dehydration is possible with viable activation energies. Then, the electrospun PAN mats were stabilized in air and then carbonized in an argon atmosphere before being immersed in the boric acid aqueous solution. Analytically, SEM(scanning electron microscopy) and Raman measurements were employed to confirm whether the electrospinning and carbonization of PAN mats proceeded successfully. Then, XPS(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) peak analysis showed whether the intended nitrogen-doped carbon nanofiber surface was formed and boron was properly adsorbed on nanofibers. Those results demonstrated that the carbonized nanofibers prepared from electrospun PAN mats could be feasible adsorbents for boron recovery in seawater.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.671-679
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• 2010

The geometrical parameters and binding energies of the benzene ion-water complex [$C_6H_6^+-(H_2O)_n$(n=1-5)] have been investigated using ab initio (MP2) and density functional theory (DFT) with large basis sets. The harmonic vibrational frequencies and IR intensities are also determined to confirm that all the optimized geometries are true minima. Also zero-point vibrational energies have been considered to predict the binding energies. The predicted binding energy of 8.6 kcal/mol for $C_6H_6^+-(H_2O)$ at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory is in excellent agreement with recent experimental result of $8.5{\pm}1$ kcal/mol.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.217-221
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• 2012

Over the last decade, performances of low temperature fuel cells are substantially improved by developing highly active Pt-M alloy catalysts. The electrochemical stability of those catalysts, however, still does not meet the commercial grade for fuel cells to be long-term power sources of electrical vehicles. To unveil a major mechanism causing such weak durability, we extensively utilize ab-initio computations on nano-scale Pt-Co alloy catalysts and analyze thermodynamically the most stable structure as a function of compositional variation. Our results indicate that there is a certain feature governing the particle distribution of a specific alloy element on the nano-scale catalysts, which aggravates the electrochemical degradation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.87.1-87.1
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• 2017

High functional catalyst to efficiently produce clean and earth-abundant renewable fuels plays a key role in securing energy sustainability and environmental protection of our society. Hydrogen has been considered as one of the most promising energy carrier as represented by focused research works on developing catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from the water hydrolysis over the last several decades. So far, however, the major catalysts are expensive transition metals. Here using first principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations we screen various pyrites for HER by identifying fundamental descriptor governing the catalytic activity. We enable to capture a strong linearity between experimentally measured exchange current density in HER and calculated adsorption energy of hydrogen atom in the pyrites. The correlation implies that there is an underlying design principle tuning the catalytic activity of HER.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2015.03a
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• pp.156-162
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• 2015

나노입자의 특성과 기능은 bulk 물질과 달리, 나노 입자를 이루는 원소의 종류 뿐만아니라 크기와 모양에도 밀접한 연관이 있다. 이를 계산화학적으로 예측할 수 있다면 나노입자의 합성과 응용에 큰 도움이 될 것이다. 본 연구에서는 일정한 크기의 은 나노입자의 구조를 계산한 뒤, 바깥쪽의 두 원자 층을 무작위로 섞은 뒤 다시 구조최적화 계산을 거쳐 다양한 나노입자들의 구조를 찾았다. 이렇게 구해진 구조들의 에너지를 계산하고 원자를 하나 떼어낼 때의 에너지를 계산하여 응집 에너지를 구해 경향성을 분석해 보았다. 더 나아가, 나노입자를 이루는 각 원자 층의 개수가 하나 더 커질 때 필요한 에너지를 계산하여, 원자 하나당 평균을 내어 분석해보았다. 본 연구에서는 병렬화 된 밀도범함수이론 계산 프로그램을 이용해 100개가 넘는 입자의 계산이 가능하다는 것을 확인했고, 은 나노입자의 크기가 증가함에 따라 원자 하나가 추가되는 경우와, 원자 층 하나가 추가되는 경우의 그래프를 보고 경향성을 분석하였다. 이는 다른 화학적 환경에 있는 은 원자의 에너지를 계산하여 각각의 환경에서의 은 나노 입자의 크기를 예측하는 계산하는 데 초석이 될 것이다.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2015.03a
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• pp.388-391
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• 2015

본 연구에서는 탄소로 이루어진 그래핀과 붕소와 질소의 합성물인 h-BN을 적절하게 섞어, 밴드갭(band gap)의 변화를 범밀도함수이론(DFT)을 통하여 설계하려고 한다. 본 연구에서 태양전지의 가장 높은 효율을 가지기 위한 밴드갭 1.2eV 가지는 모델을 설계하려고 한다. Armchair 방향으로 B와 N을 도핑을 하여 width에 따른 Nanorribbons 형태를 만들어 밴드갭(band gap)의 변화를 살펴 볼 것이다. 그래핀과 h-BN을 각각 고정시키며 다른 한쪽의 width를 늘리면서 밴드갭(band gap)의 변화도 살펴 볼 것이다. 그래핀와 h-BN의 비가 5:3일 때 1.14eV로 가장 1.2eV에 비슷하게 나왔고 3:5일 때 1.12eV로 그 다음으로 가장 가까운 결과를 얻을 수 있엇다. 또한 비슷한 밴드갭을 가지더라도 그러한 원자 구조가 얼마나 안정적인지를 알기 위해 cohesive 에너지를 계산 할 것이다. 이러한 결과로 인해 태양에너지 연구에 큰 이바지를 할 수 있다.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2016.03a
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• pp.330-332
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• 2016

수소 발생 반응 촉매는 주로 백금(Pt)족 물질로 만들어져왔으나, 그 높은 가격과 희귀성으로 인해 이를 대체할 촉매의 개발이 요구되고 있다. 그중에서 주목받는 물질이 판상 $MoS_2$인데, 순물질로써의 $MoS_2$는 오직 모서리 부분만이 촉매로 기능하며 표면은 안정하여 촉매로써 기능을 하지 못한다는 한계가 있었다. 따라서 $MoS_2$의 표면도 촉매로 기능하여 보다 효율적인 촉매가 될 수 있도록, 자연계에 비교적 풍부한 원소들로 Mo원자를 치환해 보고 평면 스트레인을 줌으로써 표면이 촉매로 기능할 수 있는 조건을 밀도 범함수 이론에 근거해 계산해 보았다. 그 결과, Ge로 치환되고 -10% 스트레인이 걸린 $MoS_2$의 표면이 촉매로 기능할 수 있는 조건을 만족시켰다. 한편 Ge로 치환된 샘플에 수소를 흡착시켰을 때, 치환된 원자와 수소 원자가 반발력을 나타내는 듯한 현상이 관찰되었다.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.139-142
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• 2000

We present results based on FLAPW local spin density(LSD) calculations of double perovskite structure oxide L $a_2$MnFe $O_{6}$ . The total energy calculations with various spin structures show that this material has a stable ferromagnetic spin configuration. The ionic state of transition metals depend on the spin configuration $_Mn^{4+}$ and F $e^{2+}$ for ferromagnetic structure, M $n^{3+}$ and F $e^{3+}$ for ferrimagnetic structure). It is explained by super exchange interaction between transition metals. The calculated magnetic structure is well matched with recent experimental result.ult.t.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.387-394
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• 2010

The theoretical calculations for $B_nH_n$, $B_nH_{n+1}$, $B_nH_{n+2}$ (n = 3-6) have been considered at the B3LYP level of theory with the 6-311G$^*$ basis set. The optimized geometries, harmonic vibrational frequencies, and binding energies are evaluated to elucidate the thermodynamic stability and spectroscopic properties. The harmonic vibrational frequencies for the molecules considered in this study show all real numbers implying true minima and the binding energies are corrected using zero-point vibrational energies (ZPVE). The binding energies and average energies due to increasing of BH monomer are predicted.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2007

The oxazole plays an important role in the binding of lexitropsin to the guanine-cytosine base pair from minor groove of DNA. The geometry optimization is performed with DFT calculations for the two possible conformations of the protonated oxazole. The proton affinities are calculated at B3LYP level of theory with 6-31G* basis set for the optimized geometry. It is found that the proton affinites of the conformations in which the oxazole nitrogen is the protonation center are greater than that of the conformations in which the oxazole oxygen is the protonation center. This result is in good agreement with molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) contour map. The proton affinities are also studied for various substituted oxazoles with the electron-donating and -withdrawing groups to estimate substitutent effect on the proton affinity at the hydrogen bonding site of the oxazoles. it is shown that the electron-donating substituents increase the proton affinity of oxazole, while the electron-withdrawing substituents decrease it.