• Membrane Journal
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-49
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• 2024

Wastewater treatment using membrane bioreactors has been extensively used to alleviate water shortage and pollution by improving the quality of the treated water discharged into the environment. However, membrane biofouling persistently holds back an MBR process by reducing the process efficiency. Herein, we synthesized carbon nanospheres (CNSs) with many hydrophilic oxygen groups and utilized them as an additive to prepare high-performance ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with hydrophilicity and porous pore structure. CNSs were found to form crescent-shaped pores on the membrane surface, increasing the mean surface pore size by about 40% without causing significant defects larger than bubble points, as the CNS content increased by 4.6 wt%. In addition, the porous pore structure of CNS composite membranes was also attributable to the CNS's isotropic morphologies and relatively low particle number density because the aforementioned properties contributed to preventing the polymer solution viscosity from soaring with the loading of CNS. However, too porous structure compromised the mechanical properties, such that CNS2.3 was the best from a comprehensive consideration including the pore structure and mechanical properties. As a result, CNS2.3 showed not only 2 times higher water permeability than CNS0 but also 5 times longer operation duration until membrane cleaning was required.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.359-365
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• 2008

We have fabricated a novel thermo-responsive nanofibrous surfaces by grafting PIPAAm by electron beam irradiation onto poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)(PHBV) nanofibrous mats. The electrospun PHBV nanofiber structures revealed randomly aligned fibers with average diameter of 400 nm. Increased atomic percent of nitrogen was observed on the PIPAAm-grafted PHBV mats after electron beam irradiation determined by ESCA. The amounts of PIPAAm-grafted onto PHBV films were $6.49{\mu}g/cm^2$ determined by ATR-FTIR. The PIPAAm-grafted surfaces exhibited decreasing contact angles by lowering the temperature from 37 to $20^{\circ}C$, while ungrafted PHBV surfaces had negligible contact angle change. This result indicates that PIPAAm surfaces, which are hydrophobic at the higher temperature, became markedly more hydrophilic in response to a temperature reduction due to spontaneous hydration of the surface-grafted PIPAAm. Thermo-responsive nanofibers showed good tissue compatibility. Cultured cells were well detached and recovered from the surfaces by changing culture temperature from 37 to $20^{\circ}C$.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2008

Surface of hydrophobic media was modified to become hydrophilic by ion beam irradiation. Fixed bed biofilm reactors packed with or without surface modification were used to remove organics, nitrogen, and phosphorus from sewage. This system composed of anoxic/oxic cycles to increase the nutrient removal. A cylindrical polyethylene was used as a packing media in this study. With 12 hours of hydraulic retention time (HRT), the reactors with and without surface modification showed 95% and 92% $COD_{cr}$ removal, respectively. Both reactors showed over 95% $COD_{cr}$ removals for a longer HRT of 16 hours. Nitrogen removal ranged 54.8% to 70.2% for the surface modified system and 57.5% to 76.5% for the non-modified system under same condition. Finally, phosphorus removal ranged 59.4% to 69.8% for the surface modified system and 51.3% to 63.4% for the non-modified system under same condition. From this study organics and phosphorus were better removed in using surface modified media and vice versa for nitrogen removal.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.306-310
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• 2007

Characteristics of GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer) mainly determine the gas diffusion and water removal in a cell, thereby changing the performance and affecting durability of PEFC. To optimize the water management and understand the two phase flow in a GDL, it is important to study the behaviors of GDL micro structure under the real operating condition. In the clamped condition of cell, the GDL beneath the rib is more compressed than beneath the channel. Many researches on physical, electrochemical, mechanical behaviors of gas diffusion layer has been conducted. However, changes in surface properties under clamped condition have rarely studied. In present study, the morphology of broken connections of carbon fibers and detachment of PTFE coatings on the fibers were shown from the microscopic observations. In addition, changes in wetting properties of GDL by compression were investigated by using XPS and liquid uptake methods. The hydrophobic characteristics of GDL surface beneath the rib of the flow field plate are changed due to the deformation of micro structure.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2021

The aim of this paper is to improve durability of cement paste by imparting hydrophobicity to the surface and sphere of cement-based materials. A cement paste mixed with a silane/siloxane-based water repellent, and the initial hydration performance, flow performance, and age-specific compressive strength were measured. In addition, the water contact angle, SEM, and XRD before and after surface polishing were measured. When 0.5% of the silane/siloxane-based water repellent was mixed into the cement paste, the compressive strength increased, but the compressive strength decreased as the mixing amount increased by 1.5% and 3.0%. When a silane/siloxane water repellent was incorporated into the cement paste, the hydrophilicity was improved and the contact angle was increased due to hydrophobicity. In addition, the contact angle after surface polishing was found to be larger than the contact angle before surface polishing.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.810-815
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• 2012

The cation exchange polymer, poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSSA), was coated onto polyamide (PA) thin film composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Then these membranes were investigated for the model foulants, bovine serum albumin (BSA), humic acid (HA), and sodium alginate (SA) to check whether there are some improvement. The contact angle of PSSA coated PA RO membrane showed $58^{\circ}$ from $78^{\circ}$, the value of PA RO membrane, which confirmed successful hydrophilization. As the operating pressure increased (2, 4, 8 atm for BSA, HA and SA 100 ppm in feed solution), the fouling phenomena was worse for both none- and PSSA-coated membranes. The fouling increased in the order of BSA>SA>HA due to the interactions between sulfonic acid in PSSA and functional groups of foulants. On the other hand more significant fouling reduction was observed in the order of HA>SA>BSA. The photographs of scanning electron microscopy showed the same trend. As a result, there was the improvement of fouling phenomena for the PSSA coated RO membranes, distinctly in the case of HA.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 1998

Enhancement of adhesion between polymer films and metal films are obtained by forming the hydrophilic functional groups on the polymer surfaces by ion assisted reaction which uses ion beam in reactive gas environments. In ion assisted reaction, ion dose, blown gas flow rate and ion energy were changed from $5\times 10^{14}$ to $1\times 10^{17}\textrm{ions/cm}^2$, from 0 to 8 sccm, and 0.3 to 1.2 kV, respectively. Wetting angle of water on polymer films modified by $ Ar^+$ ion without blowing oxygen decreases to ~$40^{\circ}$. Contact angle of water on polymer films modified by $ Ar^+$ ion with blowing oxygen decreases to ~$20^{\circ}$, and the surface free energy increases to ~70 dyne/$\textrm{cm}^2$. However, contact angle of water on polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE) modified by ion assisted reaction increases with ion dose. The adhesion strength of metal film deposited on the polymer surface was investigated. In the case of the metal film deposited on the untreated polymers, the metal films are detached from the polymer surface. While, In the case of the metal film deposited on the polymers treated by ion assisted reaction, the metal films are strongly adhere to the polymer surfaces.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.386-393
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• 2022

In this study, the surface modification of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) nanoparticles by a silane coupling agent, octyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS), was investigated and characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analysis. Both floating tests and contact angle measurements were also conducted to study the effect of OTMS concentration on the hydrophobicity of CaCO₃ nanoparticles. It was found that the active ratio for the CaCO₃ nanoparticles modified by 1 wt% of OTMS was 97.0 ± 0.5%, indicating that OTMS is a very effective silane coupling agent in enhancing the hydrophobicity of the CaCO₃ nanoparticle surface. The most stable foam was generated with 1 wt% of CaCO₃ nanoparticles in aqueous solutions at 1 wt% of OTMS, where the contact angle of water was found to be 91.8 ± 0.7°. It was also found that the most stable emulsion drops were formed at the same OTMS concentration. These results suggest that CaCO₃ nanoparticles modified by a silane coupling agent OTMS are a powerful candidate for a foam stabilizer or an emulsifier in many industrial applications.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2010

Modifying surface of activated carbon for the electrode of EDLC with an organic electrolyte was investigated to improve the electrochemical performance of EDLC by the microwave radiation. Three kinds of activated carbons, prepared activated carbon from petroleum cokes and pitch cokes and commercial activated carbon BP-25, were used for this study. For all investigated activated carbons, hydrophilic functional groups-containing oxygen disappeared from the surface of activated carbon as microwave radiation. And as microwave radiation time was increased, the specific surface area and total pore volume of activated carbons were reduced and average pore diameter were increased. From theses effects, interfacial resistance of EDLC with the modified activated carbon electrode was drastically decreased, and discharge capacitance was increased although the specific surface area of activated carbon was reduced by this microwave radiation.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.3 s.81
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• pp.391-396
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• 2004

Plastic shrinkage crack occurs at the exposed surfaces of freshly placed concrete due to consolidation of the concrete mass and rapid evaporation of water from the surface. This so-called shrinkage crack is a major concern for concrete, especially for flat structures such as pavements, slabs for industrial factories and retaining walls. This study has been performed to obtain the plastic shrinkage and the permeability of hydrophilic poly vinyl alcohol(PVA) fiber reinforced mortar and concrete. Test results indicated that PVA fiber reinforced cement composite showed an ability to reduce the total crack area and the maximum crack width (as compared to plain and polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete). Also, according to the permeability test result, it was found that PVA fiber reinforced cement composite was more reducing than polypropylene fiber reinforced cement composite.