• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2288-2292
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• 2007

The catalytic activities of nickel-based catalysts were estimated for oxidizing acetaldehyde of VOCs exhausted from industrial facilities. The catalysts were prepared by sol-gel methods of SiO2 and SiO2-TiO2 as a xerogel followed by impregnating Al2O3 powder with the nickel nitrate precursor. The crystalline structure and catalytic properties for the catalysts were investigated by use of BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and temperature programmed reduction (TPR) techniques. These results show that nickel oxide is transformed to NiAl2O4 spinel structure at the calcination temperature of 400 °C in response to the steps with after- and co-impregnation of Al2O3 powder in sol-gel process. The NiAl2O4 could suppress the oxidation reaction of acetaldehyde by catalysts. The NiO is better dispersed on SiO2-TiO2/Al2O3 support than SiO2/Al2O3 and SiO2-TiO2-Al2O3 supports. From the testing results of catalytic activities for oxidation of acetaldehyde, Catalysts showed a big difference in conversion efficiencies with the way of the preparation of catalysts and the loading weight of nickel. The catalyst of 8 wt.% Ni/TiO2-SiO2/Al2O3 showed the best conversion efficiency on acetaldehyde oxidation with 100% conversion efficiency at 350 °C.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.262-267
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• 2008

Effective dispersion of noble metal Pt-Ru catalysts was conducted for the application of direct formic acid fuel cell(DFAFC) electrodes by electrospray method. The amount of catalysts deposited on the electrodes increased with increasing deposition time. However, the performance of cell test decreased with the deposition time after 80 min. because of agglomeration of catalysts. With the conventional hand-spray method, the density of the anode catalysts deposited was $3.0\;mg/cm^2$ and the maximum power density of the MEA was $74\;mW/cm^2$. On the other hand, the MEA prepared by the electrospray method, showed a similar power density of $72\;mW/cm^2$. However, the density of the anode catalysts deposited was much lower than the case of the hand-spray and the density the anode catalysts in this case was $1.85\;mg/cm^2$.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2014

Li-air cell is an exotic type of energy storage and conversion device considered to be half battery and half fuel cell. Its successful commercialization highly depends on the timely development of key components. Among these key components, the catalyst (i.e., the core portion of the air electrode) is of critical importance and of the upmost priority. Indeed, it is expected that these catalysts will have a direct and dramatic impact on the Li-air cell's performance by reducing overpotentials, as well as by enhancing the overall capacity and cycle life of Li-air cells. Unfortunately, the technological advancement related to catalysts is sluggish at present. Based on the insights gained from this review, this sluggishness is due to challenges in both the commercialization of the catalyst, and the fundamental studies pertaining to its development. Challenges in the commercialization of the catalyst can be summarized as 1) the identification of superior materials for Li-air cell catalysts, 2) the development of fundamental, material-based assessments for potential catalyst materials, 3) the achievement of a reduction in both cost and time concerning the design of the Li-air cell catalysts. As for the challenges concerning the fundamental studies of Li-air cell catalysts, they are 1) the development of experimental techniques for determining both the nano and micro structure of catalysts, 2) the attainment of both repeatable and verifiable experimental characteristics of catalyst degradation, 3) the development of the predictive capability pertaining to the performance of the catalyst using fundamental material properties. Therefore, under the current circumstances, it is going to be an extremely daunting task to develop appropriate catalysts for the commercialization of Li-air batteries; at least within the foreseeable future. Regardless, nano materials are expected to play a crucial role in this field.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.556-556
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• 2012

Transition metal-based organometallic complexes have shown great talents as a catalyst in various reactions. Designing organic molecules and coordinating them to such active centers have been a promising route to control the catalytic natures. Metallocene, which has transition metal atoms sandwiched by aromatic rings, is one of the representative systems for organometallic catalysts. Group 4-based metallocene catalysts have been most commonly used for the production of polyolefins, which have great world-wide markets in the real life. Graphenes and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were composed of extended $sp^2$ carbon networks, showing high electron mobility as well as have extremely large steric bulkiness relative to metal centers. We were inspired by these characteristics of such carbon-based nano-materials and assumed that they could intimately interact with active centers of metallocene catalysts. We examined this hypothesis and, recently, reported that CNTs dramatically changed catalytic natures of group 4-based catalysts when they formed hybrid systems with such catalysts. In conclusion, we produced hybrid materials composed of group-4 based metallocenes, $Cp_2ZrCl_2$ and $Cp_2TiCl_2$, and carbon-based nano-materials such as RGO and MWCNT. Such hybrids were generated via simple adsorption between Cp rings of metallocenes and graphitic surfaces of graphene/CNT. The hybrids showed interesting catalytic behaviors for ethylene polymerizations. Resulting PEs had significantly increased Mw relative to those produced from free metallocene-based catalytic systems, which are not adsorbed on carbon-based nano-materials. UHMWPEs with extremely high Mw were obtained at low Tp.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.212-212
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• 2011

In addition to the catalysts' activity and selectivity, the deactivation of catalysts during use is of practical importance. It is crucial to understand the phenomena of the deactivation to predict the loss of activity during catalyst usage so that the high operational costs associated with catalyst replacement can be reduced. In this study, the activity of Ru catalysts, such as nanoparticles (3~6 nm) and polycrystalline thin film (50 nm), have been investigated under CO oxidation and oxidative/reductive reaction conditions at various temperatures with the ambient pressure X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS). With APXPS, the surface oxides on the catalyst are measured and monitored in-situ. It was found that the Ru film exhibited faster oxidation-and-reduction compared to that of nanoparticles showing mild oxidative-and-reductive characteristics. Additionally, the larger Ru nanoparticles showed a higher degree of oxide formation at all temperatures, suggesting a higher stability of the oxide. These observations are in agreement with the catalytic activity of Ru catalysts. The loss of activity of Ru films is correlated with bulk oxide formation, which is inactive in CO oxidation. The Ru nanoparticle, however, does not exhibit deactivation under similar conditions, suggesting that its surface is covered with a highly active ultrathin surface oxide. Since the active oxide is more stable as nanoparticles than as a film, the nanoparticles showed mild oxidative/reductive behavior, as confirmed by APXPS results. We believe these simultaneous observations of both the surface oxide of Ru catalysts and the reactivity in real time enable us to pinpoint the deactivation phenomena more precisely and help in designing more efficient and stable catalytic systems.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2012

This study was aimed at the development of catalysts for the direct methanol synthesis by partial oxidation of methane. Mo-Bi-V-Al mixed oxide catalysts were prepared and characterized and used in the direct methanol synthesis reaction. The catalysts prepared by the sol-gel method had much larger surface areas than those prepared by the co-precipitation method. The larger the surface area was, the less the methanol selectivity was. The catalysts having larger surface area facilitate the complete oxidation of methane, decreasing the selectivity of methanol. The catalysts prepared by the sol-gel method showed higher methanol selectivity of 13% at $20^{\circ}C$ lower temperature than those prepared by the co-precipitation method. Through XRD analysis, it was revealed that the structures of the catalysts prepared by the two methods were different. In the reaction, methanol selectivity increased and carbon dioxide selectivity decreased with pressure due to the suppression of complete oxidation reaction at a high pressure.

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2016

As an attempt to replacing petroleum-based chemicals with bio-based ones, synthesis of furfural from biomass-derived xylose attracts much attention in recent days. Conventionally, furfural from xylose has been produced via the utilization of highly corrosive, toxic, and environmentally unfriendly mineral acids such as sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid. In this study, microwave-assisted biphasic reaction process in the presence of novel bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts was developed for the eco-benign and effective synthesis of furfural from xylose. The microwave was irradiated for reaction acceleration and a biphasic system consisting of $H_2O$ : MIBK (1 : 2) was designed for continuous extraction of furfural into the organic phase in order to reduce the undesired side products formed by decomposition/condensation/oligomerization in the acidic aqueous phase. Moreover, sulfonated amorphous carbonaceous materials were prepared from wood powder, the most abundant lignocellulosic biomass. The prepared catalysts were characterized by FT-IR, XPS, BET, elemental analysis and they were used as bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts for the dehydration of xylose into furfural more effectively. For further optimization, the effect of temperature, reaction time, water/organic solvent ratio, and substrate/catalyst ratio on the xylose conversion and furfural yield were investigated and 100% conversion of xylose and 74% yield of furfural was achieved within 5 h at $180^{\circ}C$. The bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts could be used three times without any significant loss of activity. This greener protocol provides highly selective conversion of xylose to furfural as well as facile isolation of product and bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts can alternate the environmentally-burdened mineral acids.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.11 no.2 s.35
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• pp.25-30
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• 2007

The catalysts for decomposition reaction of acetaldehyde were investigated. The catalysts were prepared with transition metal Ni, Mo, Al on ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ support by impregnation method. Physio-chemical properties of catalysts were characterized by SEM-EDS, XRD, XPS, BET and TPR techniques. The conversion efficiency of catalysts for acetaldehyde was measured in the temperature range of $150{\sim}500^{\circ}C$ by GC through the micro reactor system. The 8 wt% $Ni/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ was found to be the most active catalyst of mono-metal catalysts tested, and the 1-3 wt% $Ni-Al/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ showed higher conversion efficiency than other bimetallic catalysts.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.153-156
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• 2012

In this study, two different methods were studied to prepare Pt-Pd catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells in order to enhance the electrochemical efficiency. The catalysts were compared with simultaneously deposited Pt-Pd and sequentially deposited Pt-Pd. The electrocatalysts contained 20 wt% of metal loading on carbon black and 1 : 2 of Pt : Pd atomic ratio. Electrochemical properties of the catalysts were compared by measuring cyclic voltammetries and average sizes and lattice parameters were measured by transmission electron microscopy images and x-ray diffraction. As a result, sequentially deposited Pt-Pd/C catalysts showed better electrochemical properties than those of simultaneously deposited Pt-Pd/C catalysts.

• Ceramist
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.388-405
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• 2018

In this paper, we review about current development of electrode materials for Li-ion batteries and catalysts for fuel cells. We scrutinized various electrode materials for cathode and anode in Li-ion batteries, which include the materials currently being used in the industry and candidates with high energy density. While layered, spinel, olivine, and rock-salt type inorganic electrode materials were introduced as the cathode materials, the Li metal, graphite, Li-alloying metal, and oxide compound have been discussed for the application to the anode materials. In the development of fuel cell catalysts, the catalyst structures classified according to the catalyst composition and surface structure, such as Pt-based metal nanoparticles, non-Pt catalysts, and carbon-based materials, were discussed in detail. Moreover, various support materials used to maximize the active surface area of fuel cell catalysts were explained. New electrode materials and catalysts with both high electrochemical performance and stability can be developed based on the thorough understanding of earlier studied electrode materials and catalysts.