• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.209-215
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• 2014

We report on the electrocatalytic activities at Pt nanostructure surfaces electrodeposited with different deposition charges on indium tin oxide electrodes for oxygen reduction and methanol oxidation reactions. The surface properties of Pt nanostructures depending on deposition charges were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, electrochemical surface area measurement, X-ray diffraction, and CO stripping analysis, which were correlated to the electrocatalytic activities. Pt nanostructures with deposition charge of 0.03 C exhibited the highest electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction and methanol oxidation. The sharp sites of Pt nanostructure and the presence of highly active facet play a key role, whereas the electrochemical surface area does not significantly affect the electrocatalytic activity. The results obtained in this work with regard to the dependence of electrocatalytic activity on the variation of the Pt nanostructures will give insights into the development of advanced electrocatalytic systems.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.120-127
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• 2022

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has been widely used as a catalyst for the bifunctional activities of hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER). Here, we investigated size dependent HER and OER performance of MoS₂. The smallest size (90 nm) of MoS₂ exhibits the lowest overpotential of -0.28 V at -10 mAcm^-2 and 1.52 V at 300 mAcm^-2 with the smallest Tafel slopes of 151 and 176 mVdec^-1 for HER and OER, respectively, compared to bigger sizes (2 ㎛ and 6 ㎛) of MoS₂. The better HER and OER performance is attributed to high electrochemical active surface area (6 × 10^-4 cm²) with edge sites and low charge transfer resistance (18.1 Ω), confirming that the smaller MoS₂ nanosheets have the better catalytic behavior.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.532-537
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• 2022

The need for obtaining treated wastewater that meets high quality standards for discharge or reuse necessitates the use of highly efficient wastewater treatment techniques. In the present study, experiments have been carried out to reduce the concentration level of biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total dissolved solids (TDS) from the wastewater sample. Treatment of sample of a real municipal wastewater collected from a sewage treatment plant (STP) was carried out in an electrochemical membrane bioreactor (EMBR). The EMBR was operated continuously for five days, and readings were taken at regular intervals. This paper has experimental results conducted in EMBR that indicate reduction of BOD, COD, and TDS levels of up to 32.25%, 29.25%, and 31.93%, respectively. Further, it was observed that a current of magnitude of 0.00752 mA was generated due to the metabolic activities of bacteria present in municipal wastewater, which gradually decreased day by day due to the decay of bacteria.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.220-237
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• 2020

Modern electrochemical energy devices involve generation and reduction of fuel gases through electrochemical reactions of water splitting, alcohol oxidation, oxygen reduction, etc. Initially, these processes were executed in the presence of noble metal-based catalyst that showed low overpotential and high current density. However, its high cost, unavailability, corrosion and related toxicity limited its application. The search for alternative with high stability, durability, and efficiency led scientists towards carbon nanoparticles supported catalysts which has high surface area, good electrical conductivity, tunable morphology, low cost, ease of synthesis and stability. Carbon nanoparticles are classified into two groups based on morphology, one and zero dimensional particles. Carbon nanoparticles at zero dimension, denoted as carbon dots, are less used carbon support compared to other forms. However, recently carbon dots with improved electronic properties have become popular as catalyst as well as catalyst support. This review focused on the recent advances in electrocatalytic activities of carbon dots. The mechanisms of common electrocatalytic reactions and the role of the catalysts are also discussed. The review also proposed future developments and other research directions to overcome current limitations.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.357-364
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• 2009

We investigate a method for the electrochemical preparation of titanium dioxide/carbon nanotube ($TiO_2$/CNT) composites involving the electroplating of Ti in a titanium n-butoxide (TNB) electrolyte into a CNT matrix. The BET surface areas of $TiO_2$/CNT composites decreased as electrochemical operating time increased. Changes in XRD patterns showed a typical anatase type on the $TiO_2$/CNT composite prepared with a CNT matrix by the electroplating method in the TNB solution. In SEM micrographs, the titanium complex particles were uniformly distributed on the CNT surface. The results of chemical elemental analysis for the $TiO_2$/CNT composites showed that most of the spectra for these samples produced stronger peaks for carbon and Ti metal than those of any other element. Finally, the prominent photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) activities of the $TiO_2$/CNT composites could be attributed to the combined effects of photodegradation of $TiO_2$, electron assistance of CNT and the application of a sufficient voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.167-172
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• 2004

3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde(3,4-DHB) was oxidatively el electropolymerized on glassy carbon (GC) electrodes to prepare CC/p-3,4-DHB type electrodes, which were subsequently modified with 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid(3,4-DHBA) using 0.05M HCI as a catalyst. The esterification reactions were performed between -OH sites on the polymeric film surface of the p-3,4-DHB and the -COOH sites within the 3,4-DHBA molecules in solution. These reactions had a rate constant value of $1.1\times10^{-1}\;s^{-1}$ for the esterification step as obtained from the first-order rate constant in the solution. The electrochemical responses of the GC/p-3,4-DHB-3,4-DHBA electrodes exert an influence upon the buffer solution, its pH and applied potential ranges. The redox process of the electrode was more easily controlled by charge transfer kinetics than that of the CC/p-3,4-DHB. The modified electrodes had redox active sites that were 10 times more active than those present before modification. The electrical admittance of the modified electrodes was also three times higher than that of the unmodified electrodes. After being annealed in ethanol for 20 hrs the electrodes brought about a 3.3 times greater change of water molecules in the redox reaction. The modified electrodes are stable in the potential range of 0.4 to 0.55V.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.95.2-95.2
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• 2011

In order to achieve high performance and low cost for commercial applications, the development of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA), in which the electrochemical reactions actually occur, must be optimized. Expensive platinum is currently used as an electrochemical catalyst due to its high activity. Although various platinum alloys and non-platinum catalysts are under development, their stabilities and catalytic activities, especially in terms of the oxygen reduction (ORR), render them currently unsuitable for practical use. Therefore, it is important to decrease platinum loading by optimizing the catalysts and electrode microstructure. In this study, we prepared several different MEAs (non-uniform Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer loading electrode) which have dual catalyst layers to find the optimal Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer distribution in the electrodes. We changed Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer content in the layers to find the ideal composition of the binder and Pt/C in the electrode. For MEAs with various ionomer contents in the anodes and cathodes, the electrochemical activity (activation overpotential) and the mass transport properties (concentration overpotential) were analyzed and correlated with the single cell performance. The dual catalyst layers MEA showed higher cell performance than uniformly fabricated MEA, especially at the high current density region.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.21-34
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• 2020

Energy storage devices have received a keen interest throughout the world due to high power consumption. A large number of research activities are being conducted on electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) because of their high power density and higher energy density. In the present study, an EDLC was fabricated using natural graphite based electrodes and ionic liquid (IL) based gel polymer electrolyte (GPE). The IL based GPE was prepared using the IL, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate (1E3MITF) with the polymer poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and the salt magnesium trifluoromethanesulfonate (Mg(CF₃SO₃)₂ - MgTF). GPE was characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), DC polarization test, linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) test and cyclic voltammetry (CV) test. The maximum room temperature conductivity of the sample was 1.64 × 10^-4 Scm^-1. The electrolyte was purely an ionic conductor and the anionic contribution was prominent. Fabricated EDLC was characterized by EIS, CV and galvanostatic charge discharge (GCD) tests. CV test of the EDLC exhibits a single electrode specific capacitance of 1.44 Fg^-1 initially and GCD test gives 0.83 Fg^-1 as initial single electrode specific discharge capacitance. Moreover, a good stability was observed for prolonged cycling and the device can be used for applications with further modifications.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.554-560
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• 2009

We investigate a method for the electrochemical preparation of titanium dioxide/carbon nanotube ($TiO_2$/CNT) composites involving the electroplating of Ti in a titanium n-butoxide (TNB) electrolyte into a CNT matrix. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas of $TiO_2$/CNT composites decrease as the electrochemical operating time increases. Changes in XRD patterns show a typical anatase type on the $TiO_2$/CNT composite prepared with a CNT matrix by the electroplating method in a TNB solution. In SEM micrographs, the titanium complex particles are uniformly distributed on the CNT surface. The results of chemical elemental analysis for the $TiO_2$/CNT composites show that most of the spectra for these samples produce stronger peaks for carbon and Ti metal than for any other element. Finally, the prominent photoelectrocatalytic activities of the $TiO_2$/CNT composites can be attributed to the combined effects of photodegradation of $TiO_2$, electron assistance of CNT, and the application of a sufficient voltage.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.320-329
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• 2018

Natural graphite is obtained from an abandoned open-cast mine and purified by a simple, eco-friendly and affordable beneficiation process including ball milling and flotation process. Both raw graphite (55 wt %) and its concentrate (85 wt %) were electrochemically tested in order to evaluate these materials as anode materials for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries. It was found that both raw and purified graphites exhibit good electrochemical activities with respect to lithium and sodium ions through completely different reaction mechanisms. The encouraging results demonstrated in this work suggest that both raw and graphite concentrates after flotation could be used respectively for stationary and embedded applications. This strategy would help in developing local electrical storage systems with a significantly low environmental footprint.