• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.308-313
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• 2014

The effect of electrochemical characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) upon employing multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) on both working electrode and counter electrode were examined with using EIS, J-V curves and UV-Vis absorption spectrometry. When 0.1 wt% of MWCNT was employed in the $TiO_2$-MWCNT composit on working electrode, the energy conversion efficiency increased about 12.5% compared to the $TiO_2$ only working electrode. The higher light conversion efficiency may attribut to the high electrical conductivity of MWCNT in $TiO_2$-MWCNT composite which improves the electron transport in the working electrode. However, higher amount of MWCNT than 0.1 wt% in the $TiO_2$-MWCNT composite decreases the light conversion efficiency, which is mainly ascribed to the decreased transmittance of light by MWCNT and to the decreased adsorption of dye onto $TiO_2$. The MWCNT employed counter electrode exhibited much lower light conversion efficiency of DSSC than the Pt-counter electrode, while the MWCNT-Pt counter electrode showed similar in light conversion efficiency to that of Pt-counter electrode.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2014

Smoke from fire is a mixture of combustion gases and particles which include micro-droplets formed from condensed organic vapors and carbonaceous agglomerates. The inhalation of smoke particles causes adverse health effects, and it is prerequisite for the hazard and risk analysis of the smoke particles to know how they behaviour in the respiratory tract. The characteristics of the absorption and adsorption of toxic gases and the amount and location of the particle deposition within the respiratory tract that determine the adverse health effects are related to the morphology and the size distribution of smoke particles. In the present work, as a preliminary study for the adverse health effects of smoke particles, the morphologies of the smoke particles from combustible materials were investigated for each fire stage: smouldering, well-ventilated flaming, small under-ventilated flaming, fully-developed under-ventilated fire. The steady-state tube furnace method given in ISO/TS 19700 was used for the generation of smoke particles. The fire stages were controlled by changing furnace temperature and equivalent ratio. The morphologies were analyzed by using Transmission Electron Microscope (Bio-TEM) by collecting the particles on TEM grids put on each stage of a cascade impactor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.213-213
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• 2012

It has been known that quantum confinement effect of CdSe nanocrystal was observed by increasing the number of deposition cycle using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. Here, we report on thermally-induced quantum confinement effect of CdSe at the given cycle number using spin-coating technology. A cation precursor solution containing $0.3\;M\;Cd(NO_3)_2{\cdot}4H_2O$ is spun onto a $TiO_2$ nanoparticulate film, which is followed by spinning an anion precursor solution containing $0.3\;M\;Na_2\;SeSO_3$ to complete one cycle. The cycle is repeated up to 10 cycles, where the spin-coated $TiO_2$ film at each cycle is heated at temperature ranging from $100^{\circ}C$ to $250^{\circ}C$. The CdSe-sensitized $TiO_2$ nanostructured film is contacted with polysulfide redox electrolyte to construct photoelectrochemical solar cell. Photovoltaic performance is significantly dependent on the heat-treatment temperature. Incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) increases with increasing temperature, where the onset of the absorption increases from 600 nm for the $100^{\circ}C$- to 700 nm for the $150^{\circ}C$- and to 800 nm for the $200^{\circ}C$- and the $250^{\circ}C$-heat treatment. This is an indicative of quantum size effect. According to Tauc plot, the band gap energy decreases from 2.09 eV to 1.93 eV and to 1.76 eV as the temperature increases from $100^{\circ}C$ to $150^{\circ}C$ and to $200^{\circ}C$ (also $250^{\circ}C$), respectively. In addition, the size of CdSe increases gradually from 4.4 nm to 12.8 nm as the temperature increases from $100^{\circ}C$ to $250^{\circ}C$. From the differential thermogravimetric analysis, the increased size in CdSe by increasing the temperature at the same deposition condition is found to be attributed to the increase in energy for crystallization with $dH=240cal/^{\circ}C$. Due to the thermally induced quantum confinement effect, the conversion efficiency is substantially improved from 0.48% to 1.8% with increasing the heat-treatment temperature from $100^{\circ}C$ to $200^{\circ}C$.

• 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).

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2008

The majority of the described experimental results deal with relatively pure aluminium. Variations were made in the pretreatment of the aluminum substrates and an investigation was performed on the resulting changes in oxide layer composition and chemistry. Subsequently, the bonding behavior of the surfaces was investigated by using model adhesion molecules. These molecules were chosen to represent the bonding functionality of an organic polymer. They were applied onto the pretreated surfaces as a monolayer and the bonding behavior was studied using infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy. A direct and clear relation was found between the hydroxyl fraction on the oxide surfaces and the amount of molecules that subsequently bonded to the surface. Moreover, it was found that most bonds between the oxide surface and organic functional groups are not stable in the presence of water. The best performance was obtained using molecules, which are capable of chemisorption with the oxide surface. Finally, it was found that freshly prepared relatively pure aluminum substrates, which are left in air, rapidly lose their bonding capacity towards organic functional groups. This can be attributed to the adsorption of contamination and water to the oxide surface. In addition the adhesion of a typical epoxy-coated aluminum system was investigated during exposure to water at different temperatures. The coating was found to quite rapidly lose its adhesion upon exposure to water. This rapid loss of adhesion corresponds well with the data where it was demonstrated that the studied epoxy coating only bonds through physisorptive hydrogen bonding, these bonds not being stable in the presence of water. After the initial loss the adhesion of the coating was however found to recover again and even exceeded the adhesion prior to exposure. The improvement could be ascribed to the growth of a thin oxyhydroxide layer on the aluminum substrate, which forms a new, water-stable and stronger bond with the epoxy coating. Two routes for improvement of adhesion are finally decribed including an interphasial polymeric thin layer and a treatment in boiling water of the substrate before coating takes place. The adhesion properties were finely also studied as a function of the Mg content of the alloys. It was shown that an enrichment of Mg in the oxide could take place when Mg containing alloys are heat-treated. It is expected that for these alloys the (hydr)oxide fraction also depends on the pre-treatment and on the distribution of magnesium as compared to the aluminium hydroxides, with a direct impact on adhesive properties.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 1998

To AC impedance study was performed in this study on the interfacial reaction between organic electrolyte and amorphous tungsten oxides thin film, cathodically coloring oxide, prepared by e-beam evaporation method in the 1 M $LiClO_4/PC$ organic solution. The electrochemical reactions at the interface were analyzed by the transient method and the complex impedance spectroscopy. The impedance spectrums showed that the electro-chemical intercalation of lithium cations was consisted of the following three steps; the first step, the charge transfer reaction of lithium cation at the interface between amorphous tungsten oxides thin film and the organic electrolyte, the second step, the adsorption of lithium atom on the surface of amorphous tungsten oxides thin film, and then the third step, the absorption and the diffusion of lithium atom into amorphous tungsten oxides thin layer. The bleaching and the coloring characteristics of amorphous tungsten oxides thin film were explained in terms of thermodynamic and kinetic variables, the simulated $R_{ct},\;C_{dl},\;D$ and $\sigma_{Li}$ by CNLS fitting method. Especially it was found that the limiting values of electrochromic reaction were the molar ratio of lithium, y=0.167 and the electrode potential, E=2.245 V (vs. Li).

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.117-120
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• 2008

As we can see at the oil spill occident on the coast of Taean, the viscosity of the spilled oil becomes thicker as time goes by. It becomes waste oil with the form of tar. It moves to other areas following a tide. When the temperature of the water goes up, the viscosity becomes lighter and forms oil film. It repeats the process spreading to and polluting extensive areas where the tide reaches. People have used hand nets to collect waste oil of tar at the sea. But it is very difficult for them to collect the tar type waste oil spread on large areas before it reaches to the beach. This paper tried to find a way to collect the tar type waste oil efficiently. It used absorption mat of boom type that uses the attachment characteristics of the tar type waste oil and floating waste recovery device of net type. It tested the possibility of using the devices at the oil spill accident on the beach of Taean. The result showed that net type recovery device was much more efficient in collecting the waste oil in short time than the hand net system of people. It confirmed that the net type recovery device could be used to collect tar type waste oil.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.311-320
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• 2020

In this study, the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) was carried out under visible light irradiation using CdS and CdZnS/ZnO photocatalysts prepared by a simple precipitation method. This study focused on examining the effect of physicochemical properties of dye and photocatalyst on the reaction pathway of photocatalytic degradation. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, UV-vis DRS and XPS. Both the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO photocatalysts exhibit an excellent absorption in the visible light and the UV light regions. It was observed that the photocatalytic degradation of MO proceeds via the same reaction mechanism on both the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO photocatalysts. However, the photocatalytic degradation of RhB and MB was found to proceed through a different reaction pathway on the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO catalysts. It is interesting to note that MB dimer was formed on the CdS catalyst at the beginning of the photocatalytic reaction, while the MB monomer was degraded during the overall photocatalytic reaction on CdZnS/ZnO. The above results may be mainly ascribed to the difference of band edge potential of the conduction band in the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO semiconductors and the adsorption property of dye on the catalysts.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2008

This study was performed to synthesize Na-A type zeolite with melting slag from the Mapo incineration site and recycle the zeolite as an environmental remediation agent. The melting slag used had a favorable composition containing 26.6% $SiO_2$, 10.9% $Al_2O_3$ and 2.7% $Na_2O$ for zeolite synthesis although there were high contents of iron oxides, including 19.6% $Fe_2O_3$ and 18.9% FeO, which had been used as a flux for the melting. It was confirmed that the Na-A type zeolite could be successfully synthesized at $80^{\circ}C$ and $SiO_2/Al_2O_3\;=\;0.80{\sim}1.96$. The cation exchange capacities (CEC) of the zeolites was determined to be about 220 cmol/kg leveled off at the synthetic time more than 10hrs. The adsorption capacities of zeolite to heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Mn and Pb) were high except for As arid Cr. It was also confirmed through the Eh and pH analysis that As and Cr existed in the forms of $HAsO_4^{2-}$ and $CrO_4^{2-}$. The low absorption rates of zeolite for As and Cr are attributed to the fact that the pore size ($4\;{\AA}$) of Na-A type is smaller than those of $HAsO_4^{2-}$ and $CrO_4^{2-}$ ions ($4\;{\AA}$ ionic radii and $8\;{\AA}$ diameter).

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.488-497
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• 2009

In this study, analytical methodology for several organic fatty acids (OFA: propionic acid (PA), butyric acid (BA), isovaleric acid (IA), and valeric acid (VA)) designated as new offensive odorants in Korea (as of year 2010) was investigated along with some odorous VOCs (styrene, toluene, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, butyl acetate, and isobutyl alcohol). For this purpose, working standards (WS) containing all of these 13 compounds were loaded into adsorption tube filled with Tenax TA, and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) system thermal desorber interfaced with. The analytical sensitivities of organic fatty acids expressed in terms of detection limit (both in absolute mass (ng) and concentration (ppb)) were lower by 1.5-2 times than other compounds (PA: 0.24 ng (0.16 ppb), BA: 0.19 ng (0.11 ppb), IA: 0.15 ng (0.07 ppb), and VA: 0.28 ng (0.13 ppb)). The precision of BA, IA, and VA, if assessed in terms of relative standard error (RSE), maintained above 5%, while the precison of other compounds were below 5%. The reproducibility of analysis improved with the aid of internal standard calibration (PA: $1.1{\pm}0.4%$, BA: $10{\pm}0.46$, IA; $12{\pm}0.3%$, VA: $4{\pm}0.1%$), respectively. The results of this study showed that organic fatty acid can be analyzed using adsorption tube and thermal desorber in a more reliable way to replace alkali absorption method introduced in the odor prevention law of the Korea Ministry of Environment (KMOE).