• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.32-36
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• 2021

This study was investigated in carbon diffusion behavior of laser-carburized TiZrN coating layer and the changes of mechanical properties. The carbon paste was deposited on TiZrN coatings, and the laser was irradiated to carburize into the coatings. The XRD peak corresponding to the (111) plane shifted to a lower angle after the carburization, showing the lattice expansion by doped carbon. The decreased grain size implied the compression by the grain boundary diffusion of carbon. The XPS spectra for the bonding states of carbon was analyzed that carbon was substitute to nitrogen atoms in TiZrN, as carbide, through the thermal energy of laser. In addition, the combination of sp2 and sp3 hybridized bonds represented the formation of an amorphous carbon. The cross-sectional TEM image and the inverse FFT of the TiZrN coating after carburizing were observed as the wavy shape, confirming the amorphous phase located in grain boundaries. After the carburization, the hardness increased from 34.57 GPa to 38.24 GPa, and the friction coefficient decreased by 83 %. In particular, the ratio of hardness and elastic modulus (H/E) which is used as an index of the elastic recovery, increased from 0.11 to 0.15 and the wear rate improved by 65 %.

• 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.

• Clean Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.123-128
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• 2005

Among various metal oxides semiconductors, $TiO_2$ is the most studied semiconductor for environmental clean-up applications due to its unique ability in photocatalyzing various organic contaminants, its chemical inertness, and nontoxicity. $TiO_2$, however, has a few drawbacks to be solved such as reactivity mainly working under ultraviolet irradiation (${\lambda}$ < 387 nm) and electron - hole recombination on $TiO_2$. In this study, to extend the absorption range of $TiO_2$ into the visible range and enhance electron - hole separation, we synthesized platinum (Pt) deposited $C-TiO_2$. The presence of Pt as an electron sink has been known to snhance the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and induce the thermal decomposition. The characterization of as-synthesized $Pt-C-TiO_2$ was performed by Transmission Electron Microscopic (TEM), the Brunuer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method, X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), UV-vis spectrometer (UV-DRS), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). In order to estimate the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized materials, the photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). In order to estimate the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized materials, the photodegradation experiment of an azo dye (Acid Red 44; $C_{10}H_7N=NC_{10}H_3(SO_3Na)_2OH$)was carried out by using an Xe arc lamp (300 W, Oriel). A 420 nm cut-off filter was used for visible light irradiation. From the results, Pt-deposited $C-TiO_2$ showed a far superior phothdegradation activity to Degussa P25, the commercial product under the irradiation of visible light and enhanced photocatalytic activity of visible-working $C-TiO_2$. This is a useful result into the application for the purification system of dye wastewater using visible energy of sun light.