• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.277-281
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• 2009

Superhydrophobic $SiO_2$ thin films were successfully fabricated on a glass substrate by sol-gel method. To fabricate $SiO_2$ thin film with a high roughness, $SiO_2$ nano particles were added into tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) solution. The prepared $SiO_2$ thin film without an addition of $SiO_2$ nano particles showed a very flat surface with ca. 1.27 nm of root mean square (RMS) roughness. Otherwise, the $SiO_2$ thin films fabricated by using coating solutions added $SiO_2$ nano particles of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 wt% showed a RMS roughness of ca. 44.10 nm, ca. 69.58 nm, ca. 80.66 nm, respectively. To modify the surfaces of $SiO_2$ thin films to hydrophobic surface, a hydrophobic treatment was carried out using a fluoroalkyltrimethoxysilane (FAS). The $SiO_2$ thin films with a high rough surface were changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic surface after the FAS treatment. Especially, the prepared $SiO_2$ thin film with a RMS roughness of 80.66 nm showed a water contact angle of $163^{\circ}$.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.432-438
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• 2013

We report a contact angle goniometer that can be easily assembled and used in high school and general chemistry experiments. It consists of an LED flash, a sample stand, and a camera fixed on an optical bread board, and the sample area is covered to block light from outside with a box with holes on both sides. ImageJ, free image analyzing software and a JAVA plugin (Drop_analysis) were used to determine the contact angle of liquid drop resting on solid surface. The contact angles of various liquids were successfully measured on various surfaces. The solid surface energies have also been determined using the Owen-Wendt method from the contact angles of $H_2O$ and $CH_2I_2$. The results reasonably agree with the previously reported values, showing the surface characteristics and modification as well as the dispersive and polar contributions. These contact angle goniometer and method for determination of the contact angle and surface energy can be applied to observation of various surface properties including wettability, hydrophilicity, and water repelling. Students can learn how the surface properties are related to the intermolecular interactions and gain experience about the equilibrium between the related forces, optics, and mathematical derivations.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1721-1725
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• 2010

This paper reports the fabrication of geometry-controlled carbon microneedles by a backside exposure method and pyrolysis. The SU-8 microneedles are a polymer precursor in a carbonization process, which geometries such as base diameter, spacing, and aspect ratio can be controlled in a photolithography step. Using this fabrication method, highly reproducible carbon microneedles, which have high aspect ratios of more than 10 and very sharp nanotips, can be realized. The quartz surface with carbon microneedles becomes very hydrophilic and its wettability is adjusted by carrying out the silane treatment. In the carbon microneedle array ($3\;{\mu}m{\times}3\;{\mu}m$), the contact angle is extremly enhanced (${\sim}180^{\circ}$); this will be advantageous in developing low-drag microfluidics and labs-on-a-chip as well as in other bio-applications.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.332-339
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• 2021

Recently, due to concerns about the depletion of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases, the importance of hydrogen energy technology, which is a clean energy source that does not emit greenhouse gases, is being emphasized. Water electrolysis technology is a green hydrogen technology that obtains hydrogen by electrolyzing water and is attracting attention as one of the ultimate clean future energy resources. In this study, the surface properties of the porous transport layer (PTL), one of the cell components of the proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), were controlled using a sandpaper to reduce overvoltage and increase performance and stability. The surfaces of PTL were sanded using sandpapers of 400, 180, and 100 grit, and then all samples were finally treated with the sandpaper of 1000 grit. The prepared PTL was analyzed for the degree of hydrophilicity by measuring the water contact angle, and the surface shape was observed through SEM analysis. In order to analyze the electrochemical characteristics, I-V performance curves and impedance measurements were conducted.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.312-318
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• 2013

Poly vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membranes were hydrophilized using polyethylenimine (PEI) and p-xylylene dichloride (XDC), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly (acrylic acid -co- maleic acid) (PAM) mixed solutions by varying the concentration of PAM were coated onto PVDF membrane surface. The surface coating was verified by the observation of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the permselective characteristcs of the resulting composite membranes were tested for 90 wt% aqueous ethanol solution by the pervaporation technique. The effects of the corsslinking agent concentraion, the temperature of feed solution, and the reaction temperature on the flux and separation factors were measured. Typically, the flux, $1,480g/m^2hr$ at the reaction temperature $100^{\circ}C$, PAM 3 wt%, feed temperature $70^{\circ}C$ was obtained, on the other hand, for the separation factor, ${\alpha}_{W/E}=82$ at the conditions of the reaction temperature $100^{\circ}C$, PAM 15 wt% and feed temperature $25^{\circ}C$ was shown.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.256-261
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• 2009

Hydrophilic and transparent $TiO_2$ thin film was fabricated by sol-gel method and the properties of contact angle, surface morphology, and transmittance were measured. In addition, surfactant Tween 80 was used for increasing the hydrophilic property of thin film. When the contents of Tween 80 in $TiO_2$ solution was 0, 10, 30, 50wt%, the contact angles of $TiO_2$ thin film were $41.4^{\circ}$, $18.2^{\circ}$, $16.0^{\circ}$, $13.2^{\circ}$, respectively. Fabricated $TiO_2$ thin film showed the photocatalytic property that decomposed methylene blue and decreased the absorbance of solution after UV irradiation. $TiO_2$ thin films fabricated with the solution of 30 wt% Tween 80 were deposited on glass (bare), antimony tin oxide (ATO), fluorine tin oxide (FTO), indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates, and the contact angle and transmittance of thin film was measured. The contact angles of thin films deposited on four substrates were $16.2\sim27.1^{\circ}$ and was decreased to the range of $13.2\sim17.6^{\circ}$ after UV irradiation, Especially, the thin films coated on ATO and FTO glass substrate showed high transmittance of 74.6% in visible range, respectively, and low transmittance of 54.2% and 40.4% in infrared range, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2015

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an attractive tool in tissue engineering as they have the required potential to treat injured articular cartilage. UV-exposed DTOPV (S-triazine bridged p-phenylene vinylene) is a biocompatible and fluorescent polymer with a hydrophilic surface. Previous studies have demonstrated that the surface wettability and hydrophilicity play critical roles in regulating cell adhesion and proliferation. The objective of this study was to improve the potential of in vitro MSC differentiation into Chondrocytes using DTOPV. MSCs were cultured on two different substrates: (1) tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) as a reference and (2) UV-exposed and patterned DTOPV films. Chondrogenesis of MSCs was induced for two weeks on TCPS and DTOPV in the presence of an induction medium containing transforming growth factor (TGF)-${\beta}3$. Interestingly, the MSCs on TCPS adhered and spread, while those on DTOPV tended to form aggregates within several days. The cells cultured on DTOPV for two weeks had a round morphology, with stronger Safranine O staining of the extracellular matrix than that of the cells cultured on TCPS. Also, Type II collagen gene was significantly expressed in cells induced on DTOPV. These results indicate that chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs proceeds more rapidly on DTOPV than on TCPS. Therefore, in cartilage tissue engineering, DTOPV could be used to induce effective chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.227-231
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• 2010

Super hydrophilic $TiO_2$ thin films with photocatalytic property were successfully fabricated on a glass substrate by liquid phase deposition (LPD). The $TiO_2$ thin film formed nano particles on a surface at $70^{\circ}C$. As an immersion time in $TiF_4$ solution increased, the thickness of thin films gradually increased. $TiO_2$ thin film showed a water contact angel of below ca. $5^{\circ}$ and the transmittance of ca. 75~90 % in visible range. In addition, $TiO_2$ thin film showed the photocatalytic property to decompose methyl orange solution by the illumination of UV light. The surface morphologies, optical properties and contact angel of prepared thin films with a different immersion time were measured by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), UV-Vis spectrophotometer and contact angle meter.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.391-400
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• 2016

In this work, novel thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes are developed via interfacial polymerization on the polysulfone (PS) substrate, using TEOS as the a sol-gel reagent to form hydrophilic interlayer polymer between PS and polyamide (PA). The PS substrate was cast on a very thin polyester nonwoven to reduce membrane resistance. With the incorporation of TEOS (tetraethoxy silane) polymer in the interface between PS and PA, the formed TFC FO membrane exhibits better hydrophilicity and improved water flux, and therefore superior membrane performance. By changing the polymerization sequence of PA interfacial polymerization and TEOS sol-gel condensation, the surface properties and performance of FO membranes are changed significantly. The permeability of FO membranes were estimated using the bench-scale FO test equipment. The distribution of the polysiloxane on composite membrane and morphology are also studied with FE-SEM and EDAX. The PS_PA_TEOS membrane showed highly enhanced water flux (79.2 LMH) but reverse salt flux (RSF) value (7.10 GMH) also increased. However, the flux of PS_TEOS_PA membrane increased moderately (54.1 LMH) without increasing RSF value (1.60 GMH) compare with PS_PA membrane.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.353-357
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• 2011

For the purpose of introducing hydrophilic function to pristine PVDF, pristine PVDF was modified under atmosphere and aqueous vapor by irradiating electron beam (EB). EB dose was varied from 0 to 125 K Gray, respectively. Their changes of chemical composition /structure were observed and evaluated by FT-IR, EDS and DSC. Also, their surface behaviors were evaluated by contact angle. In FT-IR study, it was confirmed that hydroxyl functions were introduced to pristine PVDF. In EDS analysis, mole ratio of F (fluoride) was almost constant (about 33%) in spite of increasing EB dose, meaning that hydroxyl function was introduced via dehydrozenation, not via deflurodination. In DSC study, $T_g$ increased with increasing EB dose, which was reconfirmed that hydroxyl function was introduced via dehydrozenation. $T_m$ increased with increasing EB dose, inferring that the increase in EB dose led to more outbreak of hydroxyl function which led to more enhanced hydrogen bond. In the result of contact angle, pristine PVDF film was $62^{\circ}$ and 125 K Gray-irradiated PVDF film was even $13^{\circ}$. All results showed that pristine PVDF was successfully changed to hydrophilic PVDF.