• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.15-31
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• 2024

The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine sulphate (HCQ) has taken much attention during the first COVID-19 pandemic phase for the treatment of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) patients. Hence it is interest to study the electrochemical properties and photocatalytic degradation of the HCQ drug. Copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles, graphene oxide (GO) and CuO/GO NC (nanocomposite) modified carbon paste electrodes (MCPE) are used for the detection of HCQ in an aqueous medium. Electrochemical behaviour of HCQ (20 μM) was observed using CuO/MCPE, GO/MCPE and CuO/GO NC/MCPE in 0.1 M phosphate buffer at pH 7 with a scan rate of 20 to 120 mV s^-1 by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) of HCQ was performed for 0.6 to 16 μM HCQ. The CuO/GO NC/MCPE showed a reasonably good sensitivity of 0.33 to 0.44 μA μM cm^-2 with LOD of 69 to 92 nM for HCQ. Furthermore, the CuO/GO NC was used as a catalyst for the photodegradation of HCQ by monitoring its UV-Vis absorption spectra. About 98% was degraded in about 34 min under visible light and after 4 cycles it was 87%. The improved photocatalytic activity may be attributed to decrease in bandgap energy and enhanced ability for the electrons to migrate. Thus, CuO/GO NC showed good results for both sensing and degradation applications as well as reproducibility.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.568-574
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• 1997

The effect of microencapsulation of maetal hydride (MH) with copper on the electrode performance of a Ni/MH battery has been investigated. The MH electrodes were prepared with a combination of cold press and paste methods. The discharge capacity of the electrode increased with an addition of small amounts if CMC into the electrode, but decreased when heat-treated in an oxygen-free nitrogen flow. The capacity of a Cu-coated $LaNi_5$ electrode was higher than that of LaNi5electrode. The discharge capacity of the electrode prepared with Cu-coated $LaNi_5$ increased with the increase of copper content in the electrode. It is considered that the increase of copper content enhanced the current density on the electrode surface, leading to the increase of the discharge capacity The MH electrode coated by an acidic electroless plating method showed much higher discharge capacity than that using an alkaline electroless plating method. The discharge capacity of the $LaNi_{4.5}Al_{0.5}$ electrode was higher than that of the $LaNi_5$ electrode. Also, the effect of microencapsulation on the deactivation of $LaNi_5$ was studied using an absorption-desorption cycle in CO-containing hydrogen.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.250-253
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• 2007

An evaporated Ti/Pd/Ag contact system is most widely used to make high-efficiency silicon solar cells, however, the system is not cost effective due to expensive materials and vacuum techniques. Commercial solar cells with screen-printed contacts formed by using Ag paste suffer from a low fill factor and a high shading loss because of high contact resistance and low aspect ratio. Low-cost Ni and Cu metal contacts have been formed by using electroless plating and electroplating techniques to replace the Ti/Pd/Ag and screen-printed Ag contacts. Ni/Cu alloy is plated on a silicon substrate by electro-deposition of the alloy from an acetate electrolyte solution, and nickel-silicide formation at the interface between the silicon and the nickel enhances stability and reduces the contact resistance. It was, therefore, found that nickel-silicide was suitable for high-efficiency solar cell applications. The Ni contact was formed on the front grid pattern by electroless plating followed by anneal ing at $380{\sim}400^{\circ}C$ for $15{\sim}30$ min at $N_{2}$ gas to allow formation of a nickel-silicide in a tube furnace or a rapid thermal processing(RTP) chamber because nickel is transformed to NiSi at $380{\sim}400^{\circ}C$. The Ni plating solution is composed of a mixture of $NiCl_{2}$ as a main nickel source. Cu was electroplated on the Ni layer by using a light induced plating method. The Cu electroplating solution was made up of a commercially available acid sulfate bath and additives to reduce the stress of the copper layer. The Ni/Cu contact was found to be well suited for high-efficiency solar cells and was successfully formed by using electroless plating and electroplating, which are more cost effective than vacuum evaporation. In this paper, we investigated low-cost Ni/Cu contact formation by electroless and electroplating for crystalline silicon solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.790-794
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• 2004

Ultra-fine Copper particles for a conductive paste in electric-electronic field were prepared using wet-reduction process with hydrazine hydrate ($N_{2}H_4{\cdot}H_{2}O$) as a reductor. The effect of reaction conditions such as the amount of dispersion ($Na_{4}O_{7}P_2{\cdot}10H_{2}O$) and reductor ($N_{2}H_4{\cdot}H_{2}O$) on the particle size and shape for the prepared Cu powders was investigated. The quantity of dispersion and reductor varied from 0 to 0.0025 M and from 5 to 40 ml at a reaction temperature of $70^{\circ}C$, respectively. The particle size, shape, and structure for the obtained Cu particles were characterized by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS and TGA. The aggregation of Cu particles was reduced with relatively increasing of the amount of dispersion at fixed other reaction conditions. The smaller Cu particle with size of approximately 300nm was obtained from 0.032 M $CuSO_4$ with adding of 0.0025 M $Na_{4}O7P_2{\cdot}10H_{2}O$ and 40ml $N_{2}H_4{\cdot}H_{2}O$ at a reaction temperature of $70^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.192-193
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• 2007

An evaporated Ti/Pd/Ag contact system is most widely used to make high-efficiency silicon solar cells, however, the system is not cost effective due to expensive materials and vacuum techniques. Commercial solar cells with screen-printed contacts formed by using Ag paste suffer from a low fill factor and a high shading loss because of high contact resistance and low aspect ratio. Low-cost Ni and Cu metal contacts have been formed by using electro less plating and electroplating techniques to replace the Ti/Pd/Ag and screen-printed Ag contacts. Ni/Cu alloy is plated on a silicon substrate by electro-deposition of the alloy from an acetate electrolyte solution, and nickel-silicide formation at the interface between the silicon and the nickel enhances stability and reduces the contact resistance. It was, therefore, found that nickel-silicide was suitable for high-efficiency solar cell applications. Cu was electroplated on the Ni layer by using a light induced plating method. The Cu electroplating solution was made up of a commercially available acid sulfate bath and additives to reduce the stress of the copper layer. In this paper, we investigated low-cost Ni/Cu contact formation by electro less and electroplating for crystalline silicon solar cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.91.2-91.2
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• 2010

The use of plated front contact for metallization of silicon solar cell may alternative technologies as a screen printed and silver paste contact. This technologies should allow the formation of contact with low contact resistivity a high line conductivity and also reduction of shading losses. The better performance of Ni/Cu contacts is attributed to the reduced series resistance due to better contact conductivity of Ni with Si and subsequent electroplating of Cu on Ni. The ability to pattern narrower grid lines for reduced light shading combined with the lower resistance of a metal silicide contact and improved conductivity of plated deposit. This improves the FF as the series resistance is deduced. This is very much required in the case of low concentrator solar cells in which the series resistance is one of the important and dominant parameter that affect the cell performance. A selective emitter structure with highly dopes regions underneath the metal contacts, is widely known to be one of the most promising high-efficiency solution in solar cell processing. This paper using selective emitter structure technique, fabricated Ni/Cu plating metallization cell with a cell efficiency of 17.19%.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2005

High-efficiency silicon solar cells have potential applications on mobile electronics and electrical vehicles. The fabrication processes of the high efficiency cells necessitate com placated fabrication precesses and expensive materials. Ti/Pd/Ag metal contact has been used only for limited area In spite of good stability and low contact resistance because of Its expensive material cost and precesses. Screen printed contact formed by Ag paste causes a low fill factor and a high shading loss of commercial solar cells because of high contact resistance and a low aspect ratio. Low cost Ni/Cu metal contact has been formed by using a low cost electroless and electroplating. Nickel silicide formation at the interface enhances stability and reduces the contact resistance resulting In an energy conversion efficiency of $20.2\%\;on\;0.50{\Omega}cm$ FZ wafer. Tapered contact structure has been applied to large area solar cells with $6.7\times6.7cm^2$ in order to reduce power losses by the front contact The tapered front metal contact Is easily formed by the electroplating technique producing $45cm^2$ solar cells with an efficiency of $21.4\%$ on $21.4\%\;on\;2{\Omega}cm$ FZ wafer.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2006

Bacillus sp. strain K-l, which produces a strong fibrinolytic enzyme, was isolated from chongkukjang, a traditional Korean fermented soybean paste. The fibrinolytic enzyme was purified from chongkukjang base by using ammonium sulfate fractionation and chromatographic techniques. Purified enzyme, CK K-1 was demonstrated to be homogeneous by SDS-PAGE and isoelectric focusing electrophoresis, and has molecular mass of a 12.4 kDa and a pI of 8.0. The optimal reaction pH value and temperature were 8.0 and $40^{\circ}C$, respectively. Phenyl-methyl-sulfonyl-fluoride (PMSF; serine protease inhibitor), ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid (EDTA; metallo protease inhibitor), copper ion, ferric ion and lead ion inhibited the enzyme activity. These results indicated that the fibrinolytic enzyme is a metallo-serine protease and different from nattokinase and chongkukjangkinase.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.29-37
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• 2013

PURPOSES : This study aims to review the possibility of developing a road snow-melting system that can prevent slip accidents by maintaining a constant temperature of the winter roads and enhance performance of structures, including improvement of compressive strength by mixing carbon nanotube (hereafter referred to as CNT) with cement paste, the basic material. METHODS : To achieve the above purpose, an experiment was conducted by mixing power-type CNT and wrap-type CNT up to cement paste formulation by weight of 0.0wt%~4.1wt% in accordance with "KS L ISO 679(of cement strength test method)", and compressive strength was measured at 28 days of curing. In addition, the volume resistivity of the specimen was measured to test thermal and electrical characteristics, and the rate of temperature changes in specimen surface by power consumption was measured by passing electricity through the cross-sections of the specimen. Meanwhile, the criteria for checking the performance as a road snow-melting system was determined as volume resistivity of $100{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ or less. RESULTS : A comparative analysis between specimen with 0wt% CNT content in plain status and specimen containing various types of CNTs was carried out. From its results, it was found that compressive strength increased approximately 19%, showing the highest rate when 0.2wt% of wrap-type CNT was contained, but volume resistivity of $100{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ or less appeared only in specimens containing more than 0.2wt% CNT. In addition, it was observed that the surface temperature increased by $4.62^{\circ}C$ per minute on average in specimens containing 3.2wt% CNT. CONCLUSIONS : In this study, CNT was examined as an underlying material for a road snow-melting system, and the possibility of developing the road now-melting system was reviewed by conducting various experiments using CNT-Cement composites. From the experimental results, the specimens were found to have a superior performance when compared to the existing road snow-melting systems that place the heat transfer medium such as copper on the road. However, satisfactory strength performance were not obtained from the specimen containing CNT(2.0% or more) that functions as a heating element, which leads to the need for reviewing methods to increase the strength by using plasticizer or admixture.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.682-697
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• 2001

This investigation evaluated the fracture toughness($K_{IC}$) of eight currently available core materials, and relate the fracture toughness value to fractography analysis and surface characteristics using a atomic force microscope (AFM). Single-edge notched (SEN) test specimens (n=10) and compact tension (CT) test specimens (n=10) were prepared conforming to the ASTM Standard E-399 for a high copper amalgam, three composite core materials (Core-Max II, Core Paste, Bisfil Core), two reinforced composite core materials (Ti-Core, Ti-Core Natural), a resin-modified glass ionomer core material (Vitremer), and a conventional glass ionomer core material (Ketac-Molar). The specimens were tested with an Instron Universal Testing Machine. The maximum loads were measured to calculate the fracture toughness ($K_{IC}$). Thereafter, fracture surfaces of SEN specimens of each material were investigated for fractography analysis using scanning electron microscope. And, disc-shaped specimens with 1mm thickness were fabricated for each material and were investigated under AFM for surface morphology analysis. The results were as follows: 1. Bisfil Core showed the highest mean fracture toughness regardless of test methods. 2. For the tooth-colored materials, Ti-Core Natural exhibited the highest fracture toughness. 3. Ketac Molar showed a significantly low fracture toughness when compared with the amalgam and the composite resin core materials(p<0.05). 4. The fracture toughness values obtained with the single-edge notched test, except Ketac Molar, were higher than those obtained in the compact tension test. 5. SEM revealed that the fracture surface of high fracture toughness material was rougher than that of low fracture toughness material. 6. AFM revealed that the surface particles of the composite resins were smaller in size, with a lower surface roughness than the glass ionomer core materials.