• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.484-488
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• 2013

Objective : To examine the synergistic effects of both computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation (CACR) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on cognitive function in patients with stroke. Methods : The current double-blind, sham-controlled study enrolled a total of 11 patients who were newly diagnosed with stroke. The patients of the tDCS group (n=6) completed sessions of the Korean computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation program five times a week for 30 minutes a session during a mean period of 18.5 days concomitantly with the anodal tDCS over the bilateral prefrontal cortex combined with the CACR. The patients of the control group (n=5) also completed sessions of the sham stimulation during a mean period of 17.8 days. Anodal tDCS over bilateral prefrontal cortex (F3 and F4 in 10-20 EEG system) was delivered for 30 minutes at an intensity of 2 mA. Cathode electrodes were applied to the non-dominant arm. All the patients were evaluated using the Seoul Computerized Neuropsychological Test (SCNT) and the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination. Results : Mann-Whitney U test revealed a significant difference between the two groups. The patients of the tDCS group achieved a significant improvement in the post/pre ratio of auditory continuous performance test and visual continuous performance test on the SCNT items. Conclusion : Our results indicate that the concomitant use of the tDCS with CACR to the prefrontal cortex may provide additional beneficial effects in improving the cognitive dysfunction for patients with stroke.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.41-46
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• 2001

The effect of organic additives such as PEG ind MPS on throwing power have been studied in the fabrication of porous reticular metal by electrodeposition using the mixture of cupric sulfate and sulfuric acid as electrolyte. Both the polarization test and the electrodeposition on the stacked electrodes, mean pore diameter of which was $250{\mu}m$, were performed to illustrate the behavior of throwing power quantitatively. As far as PEG was concerned, it lowered throwing power of electrodeposition on the porous electrode used in this work while the addition of MPS up to 500 ppm in electrolyte enhanced throwing power monotonously. When both MPS and PEG were added in electrolyte, the effect of MPS on throwing power was superior to that of PEG. However, the excess addition of MPS was found to cause the defect in mechanical strength of deposit layer. From the result of SEM observation, it could be concluded that less than 50 ppm of MPS in electrolyte was appropriate to avoid the breakage of deposit layer.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.276-283
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• 1977

Reduction of dichromate at a platinum cathode in acid solution was studied by cyclic voltammetry and controlled potential electrolysis. Cathodic polarization curve consisted of three waves in unbuffered solution of potassium dichromate having initial pH ranges 1.5∼4.0, with sodium sulfate as the supporting electrolyte. Relative heights of the first and the second waves were, respectively, a function of chromium (Ⅵ) concentration and activity of hydrogen ion, but that of the third wave was not proportional to both of them. The current of the first two peaks were proportional to the sweep rate of potential (${\nu}$), while that of the last peak vs. ${\nu}^{1/2}$ was linear at the sweep rate of less than 50mV/sec. By the controlled potential electrolysis, the reduction of chromium (Ⅵ) was almost completely suppressed at potentials more negative than the last peak and at initial pH's above ca. 2.3 of unbuffered solution. Therefore, these peaks represented, respectively, $Cr_2O_7^{2-}{\to}Cr^{3+},\;2H^+{\to}H_2$ and the formation of a cathodic film.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.3553-3558
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• 2014

The reduced graphene oxide(rGO)/aluminum phosphate($AlPO_4$)-coated $LiMn_{1.5}Ni_{0.5}O_4$ (LMNO) cathode material has been developed by hydroxide precursor method for LMNO and by a facile solution based process for the coating with GO/$AlPO_4$ on the surface of LMNO, followed by annealing process. The amount of $AlPO_4$ has been varied from 0.5 wt % to 1.0 wt %, while the amount of rGO is maintained at 1.0 wt %. The samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The rGO/$AlPO_4$-coated LMNO electrodes exhibit better cyclic performance compared to that of pristine LMNO electrode. Specifically, rGO(1%)/$AlPO_4$(0.5%)- and rGO(1%)/$AlPO_4$(1%)-coated electrodes deliver a discharge capacity of, respectively, $123mAhg^{-1}$ and $122mAhg^{-1}$ at C/6 rate, with a capacity retention of, respectively, 96% and 98% at 100 cycles. Furthermore, the surface-modified LMNO electrodes demonstrate higher-rate capability. The rGO(1%)/$AlPO_4$(0.5%)-coated LMNO electrode shows the highest rate performance demonstrating a capacity retention of 91% at 10 C rate. The enhanced electrochemical performance can be attributed to (1) the suppression of the direct contact of electrode surface with the electrolyte, resulting in side reactions with the electrolyte due to the high cut-off voltage, and (2) smaller surface resistance and charge transfer resistance, which is confirmed by total polarization resistance and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.167-171
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• 2008

Zirconium-doped $Li_{1.1}Co_{1-x}Zr_xO_2(0{\leq}x{\leq}0.05)$ powders as cathode materials for lithium ion batteries were synthesized using an ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. Cyclic voltammetry and cyclic stability tests were performed, and the changes of microstructure were observed. The solubility limit of zirconium into $Li_{1.1}CoO_2$ was less than 5 mol%, and monoclinic $Li_2ZrO_3$ phase was formed above the limit. The Zr-doping suppressed the grain growth and increased the lattice parameters of the hexagonal $LiCoO_2$ phase. The Zr-dopiong of 1mol% resulted in the best cyclic performance in the range of $3.0{\sim}4.3V$ at 1C rate (140 mA/g); the initial discharge capacity decreased from 158 mAh/g to 60 mAh/g in the undoped powder, while from 154 mAh/g to 135 mAh/g in the Zr-doped powder of 1 mol% after 30 cycles. The excellent cycle stability of Zr-doped powder was due to the low polarization during chargedischarge processes which resulted from the delayed collapse of the crystal structure of the active materials with Zr-doping.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.149-149
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• 2017

Aluminum alloys have poor corrosion resistance compared to the pure aluminum due to the additive elements. Thus, anodizing technology artificially generating thick oxide films are widely applied nowadays in order to improve corrosion resistance. Anodizing is one of the surface modification techniques, which is commercially applicable to a large surface at a low price. However, most studies up to now have focused on its commercialization with hardly any research on the assessment and improvement of the physical characteristics of the anodized films. Therefore, this study aims to select the optimum temperature of sulfuric electrolyte to perform excellent corrosion resistance in the harsh marine environment through electrochemical experiment in the seawater upon generating porous films by variating the temperatures of sulfuric electrolyte. To fabricate uniform porous film of 5083 aluminum alloy, we conducted electro-polishing under the 25 V at $5^{\circ}C$ condition for three minutes using mixed solution of ethanol (95 %) and perchloric (70 %) acid with volume ratio of 4:1. Afterward, the first step surface modification was performed using sulfuric acid as an electrolyte where the electrolyte concentration was maintained at 10 vol.% by using a jacketed beaker. For anode, 5083 aluminum alloy with thickness of 5 mm and size of $2cm{\times}2cm$ was used, while platinum electrode was used for cathode. The distance between the two was maintained at 3 cm. Anodic polarization test was performed at scan rate of 2 mV/s up to +3.0 V vs open circuit potential in natural seawater. Surface morphology was compared using 3D analysis microscope to observe the damage behavior. As a result, the case of surface modification showed a significantly lower corrosion current density than that without modification, indicating excellent corrosion resistance.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.275-279
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• 2012

Ni-W alloy deposits have lately attracted the interest as an alternative surface treatment method for hard chromium electrodeposits because of higher wear resistance, hardness at high temperature, and corrosion resistance. This study deals with influences of process variables, such as electodeposition current density, plating temperature and pH, on the internal stress of Ni-W nanocrystalline deposits. The internal stress was increased with increasing the applied current density. With increasing applied current density, the grain size of the deposit decreases and concentration of hydrogen in the deposit increases. The subsequent release of the hydrogen results in shrinkage of the deposit and the introduction of tensile stress in the deposit. Consequently, for layers deposited at high current density, cracking occurs readily owing to high tensile stress value. By increasing the temperature of the electrodeposition from $60^{\circ}C$ to $80^{\circ}C$, the internal stress was decreased. It seems that an increase in the number of active ions overcoming the activation energy at elevated temperature caused a decline in the concentration polarization and surface diffusion. It decreased the level of hydrogen absorption due to the lessened hydrogen evolution reaction. Therefore, the lower level of hydrogen absorption degenerated the hydride on the surface of the electrode, resulting in the reduction of the internal stress of the deposits. By increasing the pH of the electrodeposition from 5.6 to 6.8, the internal stress in the deposits were slightly decreased. It is considered that the decrease in internal stess of deposits was due to supply of W complex compound in cathode surface, and hydrogen ion resulted from decrease of activity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.153-153
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• 2016

Aluminum alloys have poor corrosion resistance compared to the pure aluminum due to the additive elements. Thus, anodizing technology artificially generating thick oxide films are widely applied nowadays in order to improve corrosion resistance. Anodizing is one of the surface modification techniques, which is commercially applicable to a large surface at a low price. However, most studies up to now have focused on its commercialization with hardly any research on the assessment and improvement of the physical characteristics of the anodized films. Therefore, this study aims to select the optimum temperature of sulfuric electrolyte to perform excellent corrosion resistance in the harsh marine environment through electrochemical experiment in the sea water upon generating porous films by variating the temperatures of sulfuric electrolyte. To fabricate uniform porous film of 5083 aluminum alloy, we conducted electro-polishing under the 25 V at $5^{\circ}C$ condition for three minutes using mixed solution of ethanol (95 %) and perchloric (70 %) acid with volume ratio of 4:1. Afterward, the first step surface modification was performed using sulfuric acid as an electrolyte where the electrolyte concentration was maintained at 10 vol.% by using a jacketed beaker. For anode, 5083 aluminum alloy with thickness of 5 mm and size of $2cm{\times}2cm$ was used, while platinum electrode was used for cathode. The distance between the two was maintained at 3 cm. Afterward, the irregular oxide film that was created in the first step surface modification was removed. For the second step surface modification process (identical to the step 1), etching was performed using mixture of chromic acid (1.8 wt.%) and phosphoric acid (6 wt.%) at $60^{\circ}C$ temperature for 30 minutes. Anodic polarization test was performed at scan rate of 2 mV/s up to +3.0 V vs open circuit potential in natural seawater. Surface morphology was compared using 3D analysis microscope to observe the damage behavior. As a result, the case of surface modification presented a significantly lower corrosion current density than that without modification, indicating excellent corrosion resistance.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2013

Polymer exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells have multifunctional properties, and bipolar plates are one of the key components in these fuel cells. Generally, a bipolar plate has a gas flow path for hydrogen and oxygen liberated at the anode and cathode, respectively. In this study, the influence of iodine applied to a bipolar plate was investigated. Accordingly, we compared bipolar plates with and without iodine coating, and the performances of these plates were evaluated under operating conditions of $75^{\circ}C$ and 100% relative humidity. The membrane and platinum-carbon layer were affected by the iodine-coated bipolar plate. Bipolar plates coated with iodine and a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) were investigated by electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Polarization curves showed that the performance of a coated bipolar plate is approximately 19% higher than that of a plate without coating. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis revealed that charge transfer resistance and membrane resistance decreased with the influence of the iodine charge transfer complex for fuel cells on the performance.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.117-123
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• 2011

We investigated the spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of the citrate-based CuNi solution at different solution pH and analyzed various surface properties of CuNi codeposition layer. By combining UV-Visible spectroscopic data with potentiodynamic polarization curves, it could be found that the complexation of $Ni^{2+}$-citrate pair was completed at lower solution pH than $Cu^{2+}$-citrate pair and was affected by the coexistent $Cu^{2+}$ ions, while the complexation between $Cu^{2+}$ ions and citrate was not sensitive to the presence of $Ni^{2+}$ ions. Also, the electron transfer from cathode to $Cu^{2+}$-citrate and$Ni^{2+}$-citrate was hindered by strong complexation between $Cu^{2+}/Ni^{2+}$ ions and citrate and so apparent codeposition current densities were reduced as the solution pH increases. CuNi codeposited layers had a higher Cu content when they were prepared at high pH solution due to the suppression of Ni deposition, and when codeposition was executed in an agitated condition due to the acceleration of mass transfer of $Cu^{2+}$ ions in the solution. Actually, solution pH had little effect on the surface morphology and deposits orientation, but greatly influenced the corrosion resistance in 3.5% NaCl solution by modifying the chemical composition of CuNi layers and so pH 3 was expected as the most suitable solution pH in the viewpoint of corrosion coatings.