• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

The cathode, which is one of the four major components of a lithium secondary battery, is an important component responsible for the energy density of the battery. The mixing process of active material, conductive material, and polymer binder is very essential in the commonly used wet manufacturing process of the cathode. However, in the case of mixing conditions of the cathode, since there is no systematic method, in most cases, differences in performance occur depending on the manufacturer. Therefore, LiMn₂O₄ (LMO) cathodes were prepared using a commonly used THINKY mixer and homogenizer to optimize the mixing method in the cathode slurry preparation step, and their characteristics were compared. Each mixing condition was performed at 2000 RPM and 7 min, and to determine only the difference in the mixing method during the manufacture of the cathode other experiment conditions (mixing time, material input order, etc.) were kept constant. Among the manufactured THINKY mixer LMO (TLMO) and homogenizer LMO (HLMO), HLMO has more uniform particle dispersion than TLMO, and thus shows higher adhesive strength. Also, the result of the electrochemical evaluation reveals that HLMO cathode showed improved performance with a more stable life cycle compared to TLMO. The initial discharge capacity retention rate of HLMO at 69 cycles was 88%, which is about 4.4 times higher than that of TLMO, and in the case of rate capability, HLMO exhibited a better capacity retention even at high C-rates of 10, 15, and 20 C and the capacity recovery at 1 C was higher than that of TLMO. It's postulated that the use of a homogenizer improves the characteristics of the slurry containing the active material, the conductive material, and the polymer binder creating an electrically conductive network formed by uniformly dispersing the conductive material suppressing its strong electrostatic properties thus avoiding aggregation. As a result, surface contact between the active material and the conductive material increases, electrons move more smoothly, changes in lattice volume during charging and discharging are more reversible and contact resistance between the active material and the conductive material is suppressed.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.250-255
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• 2011

In this study, by using the polymeric membrane separation process, the $CO_{2}/CH_{4}$ separation and $H_{2}S$ removal from biogas were performed in order to $CH_{4}$ purification and enrichment for the fuel cell energy source application. Fibers were spun by dry/wet phase inversion method. The module was manufactured by fabricating fibers after surface coating with silicone elastomer. The scanning electron microscopy(SEM) studies showed that the produced fibers typically had an asymmetric structure; a dense top layer supported by a porous, sponge substructure. The permeance of $CO_{2}$ and $CO_{2}/CH_{4}$ selectivity increased with pressure and temperature. Mixture gas with increasing pressure and temperature, removal efficiency of the $CO_{2}$ and $H_{2}S$ were decreased while concentration of $CH_{4}$ was increased up to 100%. When retentate flow rate was increased with the decreasing of pressure and temperature the $CH_{4}$ recovery ratio in retentate side was increased while the $CH_{4}$ purity in retentate side was decreased.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.106-110
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• 2006

If drugs are made from nanoparticles, their formulations can be more effective than the conventional ones. Especially, water insoluble drugs having low absorption rates into our body could show improvement in their adsorption and bioavailability by decreasing their particle sizes to nanometers. In this study, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and various sugars were employed as stabilizers for the nanoparticles of a water insoluble drug, Itraconazole. Nanoparticles were successfully produced by the wet slurry process for five days. Then, spray drying converted the aqueous dispersions into dry powders, and the redispersibility of dried nanoparticles into water was investigated. The effects of temperature, pressure, and flow rate were studied to understand the importance of processing variables on redispersibility. It was found in particle size analysis that nanoparticles containing sugars have better redispersibility than those without sugars. Additionally, the mainly spherical morphology of dried nanoparticles was identified by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy).

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2012

In order to develop electroless-plated Nickel Phosphate (Ni-P) as a contact material for high efficient low-cost silicon solar cells, we evaluated the effect of ambient thermal annealing on the degradation behavior of interfacial adhesion energy between electroless-plated Ni-P and silicon solar cell wafers by applying 4-point bending test method. Measured interfacial adhesion energies decreased from 14.83 to 10.83 J/$m^2$ after annealing at 300 and $600^{\circ}C$, respectively. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis suggested that the bonding interface was degraded by environmental residual oxygen, in which the oxidation inhibit the stable formation of Ni silicide phase between electroless-plated Ni-P and silicon interface.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2009

Polyimide which is the glassy polymer has high chemical resistance, thermal stability and high mechanical property. In this study, the polyimide hollow fiber membranes were prepared by the dry-jet wet phase inversion in order to investigate the permeation porperties of the $H_2S$ and $CH_4$. The morphology of prepared hollow fiber membranes and their permeation behaviors of $H_2S$ and $CH_4$ before and after silicon coating were evaluated. The permeance of $H_2S$ and $H_2S/CH_4$ selectivity increased due to plasticization with increasing the feed pressure. The permeance of KSM03b and selectivity of KSM03d were highest among the three type membranes used this experiments. The permeance decreased but the $H_2S/CH_4$ selectivity increased with increasing the air gap. The permeance reduced after silicon coating. However, the selectivity increased and the selectivity of KSM03d was 275 at 7 atm.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 1995

This study was carried out to remove the iron and impurities usmg hydrocyclone and HGMS for recycling of sludge from the granite stone cutting and polishing industrγ in the basic of chemi떠1 analysis and minerallogical investigation. This sludge consist of 70.9% $SiO_2$ 13.6% $Al_2O_3$ and It also contained 2.52% of $Fe_2O_7$ and 0.29% of $TiO_2$, as a main impurities to decrease the whiteness. As the result of hydrocyclone experiment, It was very good condition that are 100~150 g/l of sludge amount, 2.0~ 2.5 mm of underflow nozzle size, and 1.2~1.6 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$ of pressure for 85% sludge product with the $-37{\mu}\textrm{m}$ size. $Fe_2O_3$ and $TiO_2$, contents by treatment of HGMS were decreased with 0.65% and 0.07% each at 10,000 gauss of magnetic field strength, and addih$\upsilon$n of Sodium tripolyphosphate as a dispersant was effected to get low grade F Fe,Ol and TiO, concentrate. PhYSIcal properties of this stone sludge product were showed 58.5% of whiteness, 1 13.4% of firing shrinkage and 3.0812 $\textrm{m}^2$/g of specific surface area.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.58-68
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• 2024

Critical minerals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium, are known as materials for cathodic active materials of lithium ion batteries. The consumption of the minerals is expected to grow with increasing the demands of electric vehicles, resulting from carbon neutrality. Especially, the demand for LIB (lithium ion battery) recycling is expected to increase to meet the supply of nickel, cobalt and lithium for LIB. The recycling of EOL (end-of-life) LIB can be achieved by leaching EOL LIB using inorganic acid such as HCl, HNO₃ and H₂SO₄, which are regarded as hazardous materials. In the present study, the potential use of MSA (Methanesulfonic acid), as an alternative lixiviant replacing sulfuric acid was investigated. In addition, leaching behaviors of NCM black mass leaching with MSA was also investigated by studying various leaching factors such as chemical concentration, leaching time, pulp density (P/D) and temperatures. The leaching efficiency of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), lithium (Li), and manganese (Mn) from LIB was enhanced by increasing concentration of lixiviant and reductant, leaching time and temperature. The maximum leaching of the metals was above 99% at 80℃. In addition, MSA can replace sulfuric acid to recover Ni, Co, Li, Mn from NCM black mass.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.269-277
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• 2022

With the recent development of the biological enzymatic reaction industry, lactic acid (LA) can be mass-produced from biomass sources. In particular, a catalytic process that converts LA into acrylic acid (AA) is receiving much attention because AA is used widely in the petrochemical industry as a monomer for superabsorbent polymers (SAP) and as an adhesive for displays. In the LA conversion process, NaY zeolites have been previously shown to be a high-activity catalyst, which improves AA selectivity and long-term stability. However, NaY zeolites suffer from fast deactivation due to severe coking. Therefore, the aim of this study is to modify the acid-base properties of the NaY zeolite to address this shortcoming. First, base promoters, Ca ions, were introduced to the NaY zeolites to tune their acidity and basicity via ion exchange (IE) and incipient wetness impregnation (IWI). The IWI method showed superior catalyst selectivity and stability compared to the IE method, maintaining a high AA yield of approximately 40% during the 16 h reaction. Based on the NH₃- and CO₂-TPD results, the calcium salts that impregnated into the NaY zeolites were proposed to exit as an oxide form mainly at the exterior surface of NaY and act as additional base sites to promote the dehydration of LA to AA. The NaY zeolites were further treated with KOH before calcium impregnation to reduce the total acidity and improve the dispersion of calcium through the mesopores formed by KOH-induced desilication. However, this KOH treatment did not lead to enhanced AA selectivity. Finally, calcium loading was increased from 1wt% to 5wt% to maximize the amount of base sites. The increased basicity improved the AA selectivity substantially to 65% at 100% conversion while maintaining high activity during a 24 h reaction. Our results suggest that controlling the basicity of the catalyst is key to obtaining high AA selectivity and high catalyst stability.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.391-396
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• 2016

The absorption efficiency of amine $CO_2$ absorbent (KoSol-5) developed by KEPCO research institute was evaluated using a 0.1 MW test bed. The performance of post-combustion technology to capture two tons of $CO_2$ per day from a slipstream of the flue gas from a 500 MW coal-fired power station was first confirmed in Korea. Also the analysis of the absorbent regeneration energy was conducted to suggest the reliable data for the KoSol-5 absorbent performance. And we tested energy reduction effects by improving the absorption tower inter-cooling system. Overall results showed that the $CO_2$ removal rate met the technical guideline ($CO_2$ removal rate : 90%) suggested by IEA-GHG. Also the regeneration energy of the KoSol-5 showed about $3.05GJ/tonCO_2$ which was about 25% reduction in the regeneration energy compared to that of using the commercial absorbent MEA (Monoethanolamine). Based on current experiments, the KoSol-5 absorbent showed high efficiency for $CO_2$ capture. It is expected that the application of KoSol-5 to commercial scale $CO_2$ capture plants could dramatically reduce $CO_2$ capture costs.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.121-135
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• 2012

Soil dispersion and heavy metal leaching with two heavy metal-contaminated soils were studied to derive the optimal dispersion condition in the course of developing the remedial technology using magnetic separation. The dispersion solutions of pyrophosphate, hexametaphosphate, orthophosphate and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) at 1 - 200 mM and the pH of solutions was adjusted to be 9 - 12 with NaOH. The clay content of suspension as an indicator of dispersion rate and the heavy metal concentration of the solution were tested at the different pHs and concentrations of the dispersion solution during the experiment. The dispersion rate increased with increasing the pH and dispersion agent concentration of the solution. The dispersion efficiency of the agents showed as follows: pyrophosphate > hexametaphosphate > SDS > orthophosphate. Arsenic leaching was sharply increased at 50 mM of phosphates and 100 mM of SDS. The adsorption of $OH^-$, phosphates and dodecysulfate on the surface of Fe- and Mn-oxides and soil organic matter and the broken edge of clay mineral might decrease the surface charge and might increase the repulsion force among soil particles. The competition between arsenic and $OH^-$, phosphates and dodecylsulfate for the adsorption site of soil particles might induce the arsenic leaching. The dispersion and heavy metal leaching data indicate that pH 11 and 10 mM pyrophosphate is the optimum dispersion solution for maximizing dispersion and minimizing heavy metal leaching.