• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

Porous dendrite structure AuCu alloy was formed using a hydrogen bubble template (HBT) technique by electroplating to improve the catalytic performance of gold, known as an excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst in alkaline medium. The rich Au surface was maximized by selectively electrochemical etching Cu on the AuCu dendrite surface well formed in a leaf shape. The catalytic activity is mainly due to the synergistic effect of Au and Cu existing on the surface and inside of the particle. Au helps desorption of OH- and Cu contributes to the activation of O2 molecule. Therefore, the porous AuCu dendrite alloy catalyst showed markedly improved catalytic activity compared to the monometallic system. The porous structure AuCu formed by the hydrogen bubble template was able to control the size of the pores according to the formation time and applied current. In addition, the Au-rich surface area increased by selectively removing Cu through electrochemical etching was measured using an electrochemical calculation method (ECSA). The results of this study suggest that the alloying of porous AuCu dendrites and selective Cu dissolution treatment induces an internal alloying effect and a large specific surface area to improve catalyst performance.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 2008

Though ethanol can theoretically generate 12 electrons during oxidation to carbon dioxide, the complete oxidation of ethanol is hard to achieve due to the strong bond between the two carbons in its molecular structure. Therefore, development of high activity catalyst for ethanol oxidation is necessary for the commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cell. In this study, some binary and ternary electrocatalysts of PtSn/C and PtSnAu/C have been synthesized and characterized. The catalysts were fabricated with modified polyol method with the amounts of 20 wt%, where the Pt : Sn ratios in the PtSn/C were 1 : 0, 4 : 1, 3 : 1, 2 : 1, 1.5 : 1, 1 : 1, 1 : 1.5 and Pt:Sn:Au ratios in the PtSnAu/C were 5 : 5 : 0, 5 : 4 : 1, 5 : 3 : 2, 5 : 2 : 3. From the XRD and TEM analysis results, the catalysts were found to have face centered cubic structure with particle size of around $1.9{\sim}2.4\;nm$. The activity in the ethanol oxidation was examined with cyclic voltammetry and the results indicated that PtSn(1.5 : 1)/C and PtSnAu(5 : 2 : 3)/C had the highest activity in each catalyst system. Further tests with single cell were performed with those catalysts. It was found that PtSn/C(1.5 : 1) exhibited the best performance while the long term stability of PtSnAu/C(5 : 2 : 3) is better than PtSn/C(1.5 : 1).

• ETRI Journal
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.787-789
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• 2006

In this letter, we report that vertically well-aligned ZnO nanowires were grown on GaN epilayers and c-plane sapphire via a vapor-liquid-solid process by introducing a 3 nm Au thin film as a catalyst. In our experiments, epitaxially grown ZnO nanowires on Au-coated GaN were vertically well-aligned, while nanowires normally tilted from the surface when grown on Au-coated c-$Al_2O_3$ substrates. However, pre-growth annealing of the Au thin layer on c-$Al_2O_3$ resulted in the growth of well-aligned nanowires in a normal surface direction. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements showed that the grown nanowires have a hexagonal c-axis orientation with a single-crystalline structure.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.412-417
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• 2022

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) provide zero emission power sources for electric vehicles and portable electronic devices. Although significant progresses for the widespread application of electrochemical energy technology have been achieved, some drawbacks such as catalytic activity, durability, and high cost of catalysts still remain. Pt-based catalysts are regarded as the most efficient catalysts for sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, their prohibitive cost limits the commercialization of PEMFCs. Therefore, we proposed a NiCo@Au core shell structure as Pt-free ORR electrocatalyst in PEMFCs. NiCo alloy was synthesized as core to introduce ionization tendency and autoxidation reaction. Au as a shell was synthesized to prevent oxidation of core NiCo and increase catalytic activity for ORR. Herein, we report the synthesis, characterization, electrochemical properties, and PEMFCs performance of the novel NiCo@Au core-shell as a catalyst for ORR in PEMFCs application. Based on results of this study, possible mechanism for catalytic of autoxidation core@anti-oxidation shell in PEMFCs is suggested.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.444-452
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• 2020

This study investigated the cathode catalyst of direct borohydride/hydrogen peroxide fuel cells for space exploration. Various catalysts such as Au, Ag, and Ni were supported on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Various techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction were conducted to investigate the characteristics of the catalysts. Fuel cell tests were performed to evaluate the performance of the catalysts. Ag/MWCNTs exhibited better catalytic activity than the Ni/MWCNTs and better catalytic selectivity of the Au/MWCNTs. Ag/MWCNTs presented good catalytic activity and selectivity even at an elevated operating temperature. The performance of Ag/MWCNTs was also stable for up to 60 minutes.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2014.03a
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• pp.359-370
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• 2014

두 가지 서로 다른 원소를 포함한 나노 크기의 금속클러스터가 여러 화학반응의 효과적인 촉매로 각광받고 있다. 그래서 본 연구에서는 분자동역학을 이용하여 48개로 구성된 Au-Pd 나노 금속 클러스터의 다양한 구조와 상전이 현상을 살펴보고자 한다.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.623-626
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• 2010

We synthesized ZnO nanowires patterned on Si substrate and investigated the field emission properties of the nanowires. Firstly, Au catalyst layers were fabricated on Si substrate by photo-lithography and lift-off process. The diameter of Au pattern was $50\;{\mu}m$ and the pattern was arrayed as $4{\times}4$. ZnO nanowires were grown on the Au catalyst pattern by the aid of Au liquid phase. The orientation of the ZnO nanowires was vertical on the whole. Sufficient brightness was obtained when the electric field was $5.4\;V/{\mu}m$ and the emission current was $5\;mA/cm^2$. The threshold electric field was $5.4\;V/{\mu}m$ in the $4{\times}4$ array of ZnO nanowires, which is quite lower than that of the nanowires grown on the flat Si substrate. The lower threshold electric field of the patterned ZnO nanowires could be attributed to their vertical orientation of the ZnO nanowires.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.720-725
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• 2011

Gold catalysts supported on metal-oxides were prepared by co-precipitation using the various metal nitrates and chloroauric acid as precursors, and effect of water addition on the catalytic activity in CO oxidation was investigated. Among the various supported gold catalysts, Au/$Co_{3}O_{4}$ and Au/ZnO catalysts showed the excellent activity for CO oxidation. Water in the reactant gas had a negative effect on the oxidation activity over Au/$Co_{3}O_{4}$ catalysts and a positive effect on that over Au/ZnO, which means the activity depends strongly on the nature of support. It was also confirmed that no significant change in the particle size of gold was observed after reaction both in dry and wet conditions. This fact suggested that the deactivated catalyst due to a carbonate species could be regenerated by water addition in the reactant gas.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.2685-2690
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• 2013

The activities of Au-modified Cu electrodes toward glucose oxidation are evaluated according to their fabrication conditions and physico-chemical properties. The Au-modified Cu electrodes are fabricated by the galvanic displacement of Au on a Cu substrate and the characteristics of the Au particles are controlled by adjusting the displacement time. From the glucose oxidation tests, it is found that the Au modified Cu has superior activity to the pure Au or Cu film, which is evidenced by the negative shift in the oxidation potential and enhanced current density during the electrochemical oxidation. Though the activity of the Au nanoparticles is a contributing factor, the enhanced activity of the Au-modified Cu electrode is due to the increased oxidation number of Cu through the electron transfer from Cu to more electronegative Au. The depletion of electron in Cu facilitates the oxidation of glucose. The stability of the Au-modified Cu electrode was also studied by chronoamperometry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.128.2-128.2
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• 2013

Crucially, effective catalysts must be capable of efficiently catalyzing the protonation of adsorbed CO to adsorbed CHO or COH. One of the strategies is alloying with metals with higher oxygen affinity and Au-Zn alloy is one of the best candidates. At first, we made Au-Zn alloy using vacuum evaporating method. Zn was deposited on the Au(211) surface and the amount was estimated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) using the relative sensitivity of Au 4f and Zn 3d. We investigated CO adsorption on a clean Au(211) and Au-Zn alloy using temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and XPS. From the TPD results, we can conclude that the presence of the particular step sites at the Au(211) surface imparts stronger CO bonding and Zn atoms are sitting on the step sites at the Au(211) when Zn is deposited. The XPS results show the oxygen atoms of CO bond Zn atoms on Au-Zn surface. It should be an evidence that alloying Zn atoms that has high oxygen affinity into an electrocatalyst may allow CHO* to bind to the surface through both the carbon and oxygen atoms.