• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.290-298
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• 2021

A purification process was performed for the application of natural graphite as an anode material. The influence of the structural change and impurity content of graphite according to the process on the anode electrochemical characteristics was investigated. Natural graphite was chemically/physically purified by acid-treatment which used different amounts of solution of ammonium fluoride/sulfuric acid in the same ratio and thermal treatment used different temperatures (800~2500 ℃). Acid-treatment had limitation to remove impurities, and identified that all impurity contents was removed except some traces of atom such as Si by after progressed thermal-treatment until 2500 ℃. The anode materials characteristic of graphite treated by purification process was improved, and changes in the structure and impurity contents affected dominantly the capacity, rate property and initial Coulombic efficiency. Consequently, the complex purification process improved the graphite structure and also the performance of lithium ion battery by controlling the excessive formation of solid electrolyte interphase and expanding Li⁺ insertion space originated from the effective removal of impurities.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.124-131
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• 2006

For commercialization of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), it has some problems to be overcome such as decrease of porosity and thickness of the anode under the operating condition (at $650^{\circ}C$ and working pressure of more than 2 $kg_f/cm^2$). Recently, Ni-Al alloy anode has been proposed to replace the conventional Ni-Cr anode as an alternative material to resist a creep and inhibit the sintering. The objective of this research is to sinter the green sheet of Ni-Al alloy anode during single cell pre-treatment process, which has several advantages like cost down and simplification of manufacturing process. However, the Ni-Al alloy anode prepared with a conventional pre-treatment process showed the phase separation of Ni-Al alloy and formation of micropore(${\leqq}0.4{\mu}m$), resulting in low creep resistance and high electrolyte re-distribution. In order to prevent the Ni-Al alloy anode from phase-separating, nitrogen gas was used in the process of pre-treatment. Introducing the nitrogen, the phase separation from Ni-Al alloy into nickel and alumina was minimized and increased creep resistance. However, there was some micropore formation on the surface of Ni-Al alloy anode during the cell operation due to creation of lithium aluminate. Addition of more amount of electrolyte into a cell, especially at cathode, made the cell performance stable for 2,000 hrs. Consequently, it was possible to make the Ni-Al alloy anode with good creep resistance by the modified in-situ sintering technique.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2015

This review article summarizes the recent progress of quantum dot (QD)-sensitized solar cells based on mesoporous $TiO_2$ thin films. From the intrinsic characteristics of nanoscale inorganic QDs with various compositions, it was possible to construct a variety of 3rd-generation thin film solar cells by solution process. Depending on preparation methods, colloidal QD sensitizers are pre-prepared for later deposition onto the surface of $TiO_2$ or in-situ deposition of QDs from chemical bath is done for direct growth of QD sensitizers over substrates. Recently, colloidal QD sensitizers have shown an overall power conversion efficiency of ~7% by a very precise control of composition while a representative CdS/CdSe from chemical bath deposition have done ~5% with polysulfide electrolytes. In the near future, it is necessary to carry out systematic investigations for developing new hole-conducting materials and controlling interfaces within the cell, thus leading to an enhancement of both open-circuit voltage and fill factor while keeping the current high value of photocurrents from QDs towards more efficient and stable QD-sensitized solar cells.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.764-771
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• 1994

Electrochemical synthesis of conductive polypyrrole films was carried out in nucleophilic solvent containing p-toluenesulfonic acid or bezensulfonic acid as supporting electrolyte and dopant. Also characteristics of degradation and improvement of mechanical properties were studied. The conductivity, tensile strength and elongation of the films obtained in dimethyformamide/p-toluenesulfonic acid had the highest value of 10-40S/cm, $25N/mm^2$ and 10%, respectively. The optimum condition of electrochemical synthesis was $2mA/cm^2$ for constant current method and 0.9V for constant potential method containing 0.5M pyrrole and 0.5M p-TSA. The obtained films showed good stability in air and electrode characteristics of secondary battery by reversibility in doping and undoping. The degradation process was 1st order reaction at various temeprature. The activation energy and rate constant of degradation reaction were $1.01JK^{-1}mol^{-1}$ and $3.1{\times}10^{-7}min^{-1}$ respectively at $25^{\circ}C$. For the improvement of mechanical properties, composition of polypyrrole films with various host polymer were investigated and increase of tensile strength and elongation was confirmed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.543-548
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• 2015

Si/C/CNF composites as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries were examined to improve the capacity and cycle performance. Si/C/CNF composites were prepared by the fabrication process including the synthesis and magnesiothermic reduction of SBA-15 to obtain Si/MgO by ball milling and the carbonization of phenol resin with CNF and HCl etching. Prepared Si/C/CNF composites were then analysed by BET, XRD, FE-SEM and TGA. Among SBA-15 samples synthesized at reaction temperatures between 50 and $70^{\circ}C$, the SBA-15 at $60^{\circ}C$ showed the largest specific surface area. Also the electrochemical performances of Si/C/CNF composites as an anode electrode were investigated by constant current charge/discharge test, cyclic voltammetry and impedance tests in the electrolyte of LiPF6 dissolved in mixed organic solvents (EC : DMC : EMC = 1 : 1 : 1 vol%). The coin cell using Si/C/CNF composites (Si : CNF = 97 : 3 in weight) showed better capacity (1,947 mAh/g) than that of other composition coin cells. The capacity retention ratio decreased from 84% (Si : CNF = 97 : 3 in weight) to 77% (Si : CNF = 89 : 11 in weight). It was found that the Si/C/CNF composite electrode shows an improved cycling performance and electric conductivity.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2015

Surface modification is a technology to form a new surface layer and overcome the intrinsic properties of the base material by applying thermal energy or stress onto the surface of the material. The purpose of this technique is to achieve anti-corrosion, beautiful appearance, wear resistance, insulation and conductance for base materials. Surface modification techniques may include plating, chemical conversion treatment, painting, lining and surface hardening. Among which, a surface modification process using electrolytes has been investigated for a long time in connection with research on its industrial application. The technology is highly favoured by various fields because it provides not only high productivity and cost reduction opportunities, but also application availability for components with complex geometry. In this study, an electrochemical experiment was performed on the surface of 5083-O Al alloy to determine an optimal electrolyte temperature, which produces surface with excellent corrosion resistance under marine environment than the initial surface. The experiment result, the modified surface presented a significantly lower corrosion current density with increasing electrolyte temperature, except for $5^{\circ}C$ of electrolyte temperature at which premature pores was created.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2011

$Li_2MnSiO_4$/C was synthesized by solid state reaction and solution synthesis with sucrose for carbon source. The X-ray diffraction patterns of solid state reaction indicates small amount of impurities. By FE-SEM and HR-TEM, solution synthesis comprised several tens of nanometer comparing to 500~600 nm of $Li_2MnSiO_4$/C prepared by solid state reaction. The $Li_2MnSiO_4$/C prepared by solution synthesis show better electrochemical performance than solid state reaction. The first charge-discharge capacity are 236, 189 mAh/g respectively by solution synthesis. But its cycle performance was poor as yet and its capacity retention was 62% after 10 cycles.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 1999

Estrone such as estriol and estradiol can not be determined by votammetric methods, because these are electrochemically inactive in the potential windows for mercury drop electrode. Nitro-derivatives of estrone are electro active and nitration of estrone is accomplished by heating the solution involving estrone and sodium nitrite in a water-bath at $100^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. Such nitro-derivatives are determined directly by voltammetry. The electrochemical behavior for nitrated estrone was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The trace estrone was determinated by differential pulse adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry. Nitrated estrone gives a well defined voltammetric wave at ca. - 0.61 V (vs. Ag/AgCl electrode). The electrochemical reaction was irreversible process in sodium borate buffer at pH 11 and nitrated estrone was strongly adsorbed on the surface of mercury electrode. The optimal experimental conditions for the determination of nitrated esterone were found to be 0.05 M sodium nitrate, 0.01 M sodium borate, pH 11.0, and an accumlation potential of 0.10 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The detection limit was as low as $1{\times}10^{-9}M$ for estrone with 2 min accumulation time.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.361-369
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• 1994

Voltammetric behavior of some light lanthanide ions($La^{3+}$, $Pr^{3+}$, $Nd^{3+}$, $Sm^{3+}$ and $Eu^{3+}$) in acetonitrile(AN) and dimethylformamide(DMF) has been investigated by direct current, differential pulse polarography and cyclic voltammetry. The reduction of $La^{3+}$, $Pr^{3+}$ and $Nd^{3+}$ in 0.1M TEAP proceeded directly to the metallic state through three-electron charge transfer of irreversible process where as $Sm^{3+}$ and $Eu^{3+}$ proceeded by charge transfer of two steps. As the results of the cyclic voltammetric investigation, the first step reduction of $Sm^{3+}$ and $Eu^{3+}$ were a quasireversible reaction, the second step reductions were an irreversible reaction. The cathodic peak currents of the differential pulse polarogram showed adsorptive properties at lower sweep rates and high concentrations of these metal ions. The peak potenital was shifted to a negative petential and the peak current decreased with the increase of percentage of water in AN. On the other hand, the peak potential was shifted to a positive potential and the peak current decreased with an increased percentage of water in DMF.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.175-180
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• 2011

In this study, the $TiO_{2}/V_{2}O_{5}$ hybrid semiconductors were prepared by mixing $TiO_{2}$ and $V_{2}O_{5}$, and a subsequent smash process to reduce the recombination of electron and improve the efficiency of solar cells. Dye-sensitized solar cells were constructed using the resultant hybrid semiconductor, and their electrochemical properties were also investigated. The photocurrent-voltage curve obtained with the cells indicated a significant increase in the efficiency from 2.9 to 5.7% by the factor of 2 compared to the result obtained only with $TiO_{2}$. It is believed that the introduction of $V_{2}O_{5}$ effectively transport electrons in the $TiO_{2}$ conduction band to FTO glass and suppress recombination with the dye and/or the electrolyte, thus yielding an efficient performance of the dye sensitized solar cell. The impedance values also indicated a decrease of resistance in the interface of $TiO_{2}$/dye/electrolyte supporting the constructive contributions of the smashed $TiO_{2}/V_{2}O_{5}$ hybrid semiconductors for the efficiency.