• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.193-199
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• 2013

In this work, thin film type Cu/ZnO nanostructure catalysts were fabricated by several synthetic routes in order to maximize the performance of the micro reforming system. For this work, various Cu/ZnO nanostructure catalysts could be synthesized by means of four approaches which are chemical vapor method, wet solution method and their hybrid method. The reforming performance of these as-synthetic catalysts was evaluated as compared to the conventional catalysts. Among the as-synthetic nanostructures, sphere type catalysts with specific surface of $18.6m^2/g$ showed the best performance of hydrogen production rate of 30ml/min at the feed rate of 0.2ml/min. This work will give the first insight on thin film type Cu/ZnO nanostructure catalyst for micro reforming system for hydrogen production of portable electronic systems.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.622-629
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• 2015

Cu circuits were successfully fabricated on flexible PET(polyethylene terephthalate) substrates using wettability difference and electroless plating without an etching process. The wettability of Cu plating solution on PET was controlled by oxygen plasma treatment and $SiO_x$-DLC(silicon oxide containing diamond like carbon) coating by HMDSO(hexamethyldisiloxane) plasma. With an increase of the height of the nanostructures on the PET surface with the oxygen plasma treatment time, the wettability difference between the hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity increased, which allowed the etchless formation of a Cu pattern with high peel strength by selective Cu plating. When the height of the nanostructure was more than 1400 nm (60 min oxygen plasma treatment), the reduction of the critical impalement pressure with the decreasing density of the nanostructure caused the precipitation of copper in the hydrophobic region.

• Archives of Metallurgy and Materials
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.931-934
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• 2019

Al-CuO is a thermite material exhibiting the exothermic reaction only when aluminum melts. For wide spread of its application, the reaction temperature needs to be reduced in addition to the enhancement of total reaction energy. In the present study, a thermite nanocomposite with a large contact area between Al and CuO was fabricated in order to lower the exothermic reaction temperature and to improve the reactivity. A cryomilling process was performed to achieve the nanostructure, and the effect of composition on the microstructure and its reactivity was studied in detail. The microstructure was characterized using SEM and XRD, and the thermal property was analyzed using DSC. The results show that as the molar ratio between Al and CuO varies, the fraction of uniform nanocomposite structure was changed affecting the exothermic reaction characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.130-130
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• 2016

Bioinspired hierarchical nanostructures for self-cleaning s-tnwjurface and SERS substrates are investigated. The multi-level hierarchy is combined with CuO nanowire and additional nanoscale structures. CuO nanowire, which has extremely high aspect ratio, serves as a base structure of multi-level hierarchy and additional flower like structures are placed on the CuO nanowires. Since as-fabricated CuO nanostructures are hydrophilic, the surface is coated with perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane in order to change its wetting property to hydrophobic. While those CuO based nanostructures have a sufficient roughness for superhydrophobic characteristics, hierarchical nanoflowers on nanowire structures lead to a self-cleaning surface. Furthermore, flower like nanostructures provide reentrant curvatures, thus enabling oleophobic property. The surfaces has a repellency even for a tiny droplet (10 nL) of low surface tension liquids (~35 mN/m). On the on hands, nanoflowers provide many number of nanoscale gaps. After a thin layer of silver is deposited on the surface of CuO nanostructures, those nanoscale gaps act as hot-spot for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). To analyze SERS enhancement of the surfaces, Raman shift is measured with varying molar density of 4-Mercaptopyridine from mM to pM. From these results, hierarchical CuO nanostructures are suitable for self-maintenance and cost effective SERS sensing applications.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.2283-2288
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• 2010

Nanostructured copper compounds were grown by electrochemical anodization of copper foil in aqueous NaOH under varying conditions including electrolyte concentration, reaction temperature, current density, and reaction time. Their morphology and atomic composition were investigated by using SEM, TEM, XRD, EDS and XPS. At the conditions ([NaOH] = 1 M, $20^{\circ}C$, $2\;mA\;cm^{-2}$), wire-like orthorhombic $Cu(OH)_2$ nanobundles with an average width of 100 - 300 nm and length of $10\;{\mu}m$ were synthesized with the preferential [100] growth direction. Furthermore, when the concentration decreased to 0.5 M NaOH, the 1D nanobundle structure became narrower and longer without any change in compositions or crystalline structure. Side reaction pathways appeared to compete with the 1D nanostructure formation channels: the formation of CuO nanoleaves at $50^{\circ}C$ via the sequential dehydration of $Cu(OH)_2$, CuO/$Cu_2O$ aggregates in 4 M NaOH, and $Cu_2O$ nanoparticles and CuO nanosheets at lower current density.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.112-113
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• 2014

The submicron-rods of $Cu_2O$ with diameters of 100-700 nm and lengths of $2-8{\mu}m$ were synthesized by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The abundance of Cu species, which is modulated by the $Ar/O_2$ ratio during the sputtering process affect directly to the growths of the $Cu_2O$ branches on the bodies of the submicron-rods. Transmission electron microscopy and elemental mapping reveal that metallic Cu are existed on the heads of the $Cu_2O$ rods. The growth rate, catalyst phase and shape reveal that vapor-quasiliquid-solid was the growth mechanism of the formations of those structures.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.705-710
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• 2018

An electrochemical glucose sensor with enzyme-free was fabricated using Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) decorated CuO nanoflowers (CuO NFs). 3-D CuO nanoflowers film was directly synthesized on Cu foil by a simple hydrothermal method and Pt NPs were dispersed on the petal surface of CuO NFs through electrochemical deposition. This prepared sample was noted to Pt NPs-CuO NF. Morphology of the Pt NPs-CuO NFs layer was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The electrochemical properties and sensing performances were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) under alkaline condition. The sensor exhibited a high sensitivity, wide liner range and fast response time. Its excellent sensing performance was attributed to the synergistic effect of the Pt NPs and CuO nanostructure.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.555-564
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• 2016

In recent years, methanol has attracted much attention since it can be cleanly manufactured by the combined use of atmospheric $CO_2$ recycling and water splitting via renewable energy. For the concept of "methanol economy", an active methanol synthesis catalyst should be prepared in a sophisticated manner rather than by empirical optimization approach. Even though Cu/ZnO-based catalysts prepared by coprecipitation are well known and have been extensively investigated even for a century, fundamental understanding on the precipitation chemistry and catalyst nanostructure has recently been achieved due to complexity of the necessary preparation steps such as precipitation, ageing, filtering, washing, drying, calcination and reduction. Herein we review the recent reports regarding the effects of various synthesis variables in each step on the physicochemical properties of materials in precursor, calcined and reduced states. The relationship between these characteristics and the catalytic performance will also be discussed because many variables in each step strongly influence the final catalytic activity, called "chemical memory". All discussion focuses on how to prepare a highly active Cu/ZnO-based catalyst for methanol synthesis. Furthermore, the preparation strategy we deliver here would be utilized for designing other coprecipitation-derived supported metal or metal oxide catalysts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.249-249
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• 2013

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a sensitive approach to detect and to identify a variety of molecules. To enhance the Raman signal, optimization of the gap between nanostructures is quite important. One-dimensional materials such as nanowires, nanotubes, and nanograsses have great potential to be used in SERS due to their unique sizes and shape dependent characteristics. In this study we investigate a simple way to fabricate SERS substrates based on randomly grown copper oxide (CuO) nanowires. CuO nanograss is fabricated on pre-cleaned Cu foils. Cu oxidized in an ammonium ambient solution of 2.5 M NaOH and 0.1 M $(NH_4)_2S_2O_8$ at $4^{\circ}C$ for 10, 30, and 60 minutes. Then, Cu(OH)2 nanostructures are formed and dried at $180^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. With the drying process, the Cu(OH)2 nanostructure is transformed to CuO nanograss by dehydration reaction. CuO nanograss are grown randomly on Cu foil with the average length of 10 ${\mu}m$ and the average diameter of a 100 nm. CuO nanograsses are covered by Ag with various thicknesses from 10 to 30 nm using a thermal evaporator. Then, we immerse uncoated and Ag coated CuO nanowire samples of various oxidation times in a 0.001M methanol-based 4-mercaptopyridine (4-Mpy) in order to evaluate SERS enhancement. Raman shift and SERS enhancement are measured using a Raman spectrometer (Horiba, LabRAM ARAMIS Spectrometer) with the laser wavelength of 532 nm. Raman scattering is believed to be enhanced by the interaction between CuO nanograss and Ag island film. The gaps between Ag covered CuO nanograsses are diverse from <10 nm at the bottom to ~200 nm at the top of nanograsses. SERS signal are improved where the gaps are minimized to near 10s of nanometers. There are many spots that provide sufficiently narrow gap between the structures on randomly grown CuO nanograss surface. Then we may find optimal enhancement of Raman signal using the mapping data of average results. Fabrication of CuO nanograss based on a solution method is relatively simple and fast so this result can potentially provide a path toward cost effective fabrication of SERS substrate for sensing applications.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.45-48
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• 2019

Quantum dots (QDs) are an attractive material for application in solar energy conversion devices because of their unique properties including facile band-gap tuning, a high-absorption coefficient, low-cost processing, and the potential multiple exciton generation effect. Recently, highly efficient quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) have been developed based on CdSe, PbS, CdS, and Cu-In-Se QDs. However, for the commercialization and wide application of these QDSCs, replacing the conventional rigid glass substrates with flexible substrates is required. Here, we demonstrate flexible CISe QDSCs based on vertically aligned $TiO_2$ nanotube (NT) electrodes. The highly uniform $TiO_2$ NT electrodes are prepared by two-step anodic oxidation. Using these flexible photoanodes and semi-transparent Pt counter electrodes, we fabricate the QDSCs and examine their photovoltaic properties. In particular, photovoltaic performances are optimized by controlling the nanostructure of $TiO_2$ NT electrodes.