• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.512-518
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• 2019

To develop a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with lower Pt loading and higher performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), it is an important research issue to understand interfacial structure of Pt/C catalyst and ionomer and design the catalyst layer structure. In this study, we prepared short-side-chain Nafion-based ionomer dispersion using propylene glycol (PG) as a solvent instead of water which is commonly used as a solvent for commercially available ionomers. Cathode catalyst layers with different ionomer content from 20 to 35 wt% were prepared using the ionomer dispersion for the fabrication of four different MEAs, and their fuel cell performance was evaluated. As the ionomer content increased to 35 wt%, the performance of the prepared MEAs increased proportionally, unlike the commercially available water-based ionomer, which exhibited an optimum at about 25 wt%. Small size micelles and slow evaporation of PG in the ionomer dispersion were effective in proton transfer by inducing the formation of a uniformly structured catalyst layer, but the low oxygen permeability problem of the PG-based ionomer film should be resolved to improve the MEA performance.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.163-167
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• 2002

Improved optical switching property of electrochromic nickel hydroxide/nickel glass thin film is reported. Nickel metal film was deposited on glass by e-beam evaporation before following electrochemical redox cycling to form nickel hydroxide for electrochromic activation. Without ITO (indium tin oxide) layer as electrical conductor, this electrode showed more rapid coloration rate than nickel hydroxide film on ITO substrate in the change of the electric voltage and optical transmittance. XPS analysis confirmed the existence of ultra-thin nickel metal layer (${\sim}10{\AA}$) between electrochemically grown nickel hydroxide and the glass substrate. It is concluded that the remained nickel metal nano-layer attribute to the conduction layer and the enhanced response time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.277-278
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• 2009

We have studied an angular dependence of emission pattern of top-emssion organic light-emitting diodes (TEOLED). Device structure is Al(100nm)/TPD(40nm)/$Alq_3$(60nm)/LiF(0.5nm)/Al(2nm)/Ag(30nm). N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-di(m-tolyl)-benzidine (TPD) and tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium ($Alq_3$)were used as a hole transport layer and emission layer, respectively. Organic layers and cathode were thermally evaporated at $2\times10^{-5}$torr. The evaporation rate of the organic material was maintained to be $1.5\sim2.0{\AA}/s$, and that of metal layer to be $0.5\sim5{\AA}/s$. A transmittance of a cathode electrode(Al/Ag) in visible region is about 25~30%. In order to measure view-angle dependent intensity, electroluminenscence spectra of the device at each angle were integrated. Angle dependent emission spectra of the device do not show blue shift. Emission intensity of the device that the going straight characteristic is stronger the bottom-emission organic light-emitting diodes is shown.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.125-128
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• 1998

Electroluminescent(EL) devices based on organic thin films have attracted lots of interests in large-area light-emitting display. One of the problems of such device is a lifetime, where a degradation of the cell is possibly due to an organic layer's thickness, morphology and interface with electrode. In this study, light-emitting organic electroluminescent devices were fabricated using Alq$_3$(8-hydroxyquinolinate aluminum) and TPD(N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-[1-1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine).Where Alq$_3$ is an electron-transport and emissive layer, TPD is a hole-transport layer. The cell structure is ITO/TPD/Alq$_3$/Al and the cell is fabricated by vacuum evaporation method. In a measurement of current-voltage characteristics, we obtained a turn-on voltage at about 9 V. And we used other buffer layer of PPy(Polypyrrole) with ITO/PPy/TPD/Alq$_3$/Al structure. We observed a surface morphology by AFM(Atomic Force Microscopy), UV/visible absorption spectrum, and PL(Photoluminescence) spectrum. We obtained the UV/visible absorption peak at 358nm in TPD and at 359nm in Alq$_3$, and at 225nm and the PL peaks at 410nm in TPD and at 510nm in Alq$_3$ and at 350nm. We also studied EL spectrum in the cell structure of ITO/TPD/Alq$_3$/Al and ITO/PPy/TPD/Alq$_3$/Al and we observed the EL spectrum peak at 510nm from our cell

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.316-316
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• 2010

Thin films spin-coated from solvent solutions are characterized by solution parameters and spin-coating process. In this study, performance characteristics of polymer solar cells were investigated with changing solution parameters such as solvent and additives. The phase-separation between polymer and fullerene is needed to make the percolation pathway for better transportation of hole and electron in polymer solar cells. For this reason, cooperative effects of solvent mixtures adding additives with distinct solubility have been studied recently. In this study, chlorobezene, 1, 2-dichlorbenzene, and chloroform were used as solvent. 1, 8-diiodoctaned and 1, 8-octanedithiol were used as additives and were added into poly(3-hexylthiophene-2, 5-diyl)/[6, 6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT/PCBM) blends. Pre-patterned ITO glass was cleaned using ultrasonication in mixed solvent with ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol and acetone. PEDOT:PSS was spin-coated on to the ITO substrate at 3000rpm and was baked at $120^{\circ}C$ for 10min on the hotplate. The prepared solution was spin-coated at 1000rpm and the spin-coated thin film was dried in the Petri dishes. Al electrode was deposited on the thin film by thermal evaporation. The devices were annealed at $120^{\circ}C$ for 30min. By adding 2.5 volume percent of additives into the chlorobenzene from that bulk heterojunction films consisting of P3HT/PCBM, the power efficiency (AM 1.5G conditions) was increased from 2.16% to 2.69% and 3.12% respectively. We have investigated the effect of additives in P3HT/PCBM blends and the film characteristics and the film characteristics including J-V characteristics, absorption, photoluminescence, X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy to mainly depict the morphology control by doping additives.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.254-254
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• 2011

The memories with nano-particles are very attractive because they are promising candidates for low operating voltage, long retention time and fast program/erase speed. In recent, various nano-floating gate memories with metal-oxide nanocrystals embedded in organic and inorganic layers have been reported. Because of the carrier generation in semiconductor, induced photon pulse enhanced the program/erase speed of memory device. We studied photo-induced electrical properties of these metal-oxide nanocrystal memory devices. At first, 2~10-nm-thick Sn and In metals were deposited by using thermal evaporation onto Si wafer including a channel with $n^+$ poly-Si source/drain in which the length and width are 10 ${\mu}m$ each. Then, a poly-amic-acid (PAA) was spin coated on the deposited Sn film. The PAA precursor used in this study was prepared by dissolving biphenyl-tetracarboxylic dianhydride-phenylene diamine (BPDA-PDA) commercial polyamic acid in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidon (NMP). Then the samples were cured at 400$^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour in N atmosphere after drying at 135$^{\circ}C$ for 30 min through rapid thermal annealing. The deposition of aluminum layer with thickness of 200 nm was followed by using a thermal evaporator, and then the gate electrode was defined by photolithography and etching. The electrical properties were measured at room temperature using an HP4156a precision semiconductor parameter analyzer and an Agilent 81101A pulse generator. Also, the optical pulse for the study on photo-induced electrical properties was applied by Xeon lamp light source and a monochromator system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.75-75
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• 2011

Recently, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) attracts great attention as a promising alternative to conventional silicon solar cells. One of the key components for the DSSC would be the nanocrystalline TiO2 electrode, and the control of interface between TiO2 and TCO is a highly important issue in improving the photovoltaic conversion efficiency. In this work, we applied various interfacial layers, and analyzed their effect in enhancing photovoltaic properties. In overall, introduction of interfacial layers increased both the Voc and Jsc, since the back-reaction of electrons from TCO to electrolyte could be blocked. First, several metal oxides with different band gaps and positions were employed as interfacial layer. SnO2, TiO2, and ZrO2 nanoparticles in the size of 3-5 nm have been synthesized. Among them, the interfacial layer of SnO2, which has lower flat-band potential than that of TiO2, exhibited the best performance in increasing the photovoltaic efficiency of DSSC. Second, long-range ordered cubic mesoporous TiO2 films, prepared by using triblock copolymer-templated sol-gel method via evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process, were utilized as an interfacial layer. Mesoporous TiO2 films seem to be one of the best interfacial layers, due to their additional effect, improving the adhesion to TCO and showing an anti-reflective effect. Third, we handled the issues related to the optimum thickness of interfacial layers. It was also found that in fabricating DSSC at low temperature, the role of interfacial layer turned out to be a lot more important. The self-assembled interfacial layer fabricated at room temperature leads to the efficient transport of photo-injected electrons from TiO2 to TCO, as well as blocking the back-reaction from TCO to I3-. As a result, fill factor (FF) was remarkably increased, as well as increase in Voc and Jsc.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.5213-5218
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• 2014

Organic memory devices were made using the plasma polymerization method. The memory device consisted of ppMMA(plasma polymerization MMA) thin films as the tunneling and insulating layer, and a Au thin film as the memory layer, which was deposited by thermal evaporation. The organic memory operation theory was developed according to the charging and discharging characteristics of floating gate type memory, which would be measured by the hysteresis voltage and memory voltage with the gate voltage values. The I-V characteristics of the fabricated memory device showed a hysteresis voltage of 26 [V] at 60 ~ -60 [V] double sweep measuring conditions. The programming voltage was applied to the gate electrode in accordance with the result of this theory. A programming voltage of 60[V] equated to a memory voltage of 13[V], and 80[V] equated to a memory voltage of 18[V]. The memory voltage of approximately 40 [%]increased with increasing programming voltage. The charge memory layer charging or discharging according to the theory of the memory was verified experimentally.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.58.2-58.2
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• 2012

Heavy hydrocarbon reforming is a core technology for "Dirty energy smart". Heavy hydrocarbons are components of fossil fuels, biomass, coke oven gas and etc. Heavy hydrocarbon reforming converts the fuels into $H_2$-rich syngas. And then $H_2$-rich syngas is used for the production of electricity, synthetic fuels and petrochemicals. Energy can be used efficiently and obtained from various sources by using $H_2$-rich syngas from heavy hydrocarbon reforming. Especially, the key point of "Dirty energy smart" is using "dirty fuel" which is wasted in an inefficient way. New energy conversion laboratory of KAIST has been researched diesel reforming for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) as a part of "Dirty energy smart". Diesel is heavy hydrocarbon fuels which has higher carbon number than natural gas, kerosene and gasoline. Diesel reforming has difficulties due to the evaporation of fuels and coke formation. Nevertheless, diesel reforming technology is directly applied to "Dirty fuel" because diesel has the similar chemical properties with "Dirty fuel". On the other hand, SOFC has advantages on high efficiency and wasted heat recovery. Nippon oil Co. of Japan recently commercializes 700We class SOFC system using city gas. Considering the market situation, the development of diesel reformer has a great ripple effect. SOFC system can be applied to auxiliary power unit and distributed power generation. In addition, "Dirty energy smart" can be realized by applying diesel reforming technology to "Dirty fuel". As well as material developments, multidirectional approaches are required to reform heavy hydrocarbon fuels and use $H_2$-rich gas in SOFC. Gd doped ceria (CGO, $Ce_{1-x}Gd_xO_{2-y}$) has been researched for not only electrolyte materials but also catalysts supports. In addition, catalysts infiltrated electrode over porous $La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}Ga_{0.8}Mg_{0.2}O_3-{\delta}$ and catalyst deposition at three phase boundary are being investigated to improve the performance of SOFC. On the other hand, nozzle for diesel atomization and post-reforming for light-hydrocarbons removal are examples of solving material problems in multidirectional approaches. Likewise, multidirectional approaches are necessary to realize "Dirty energy smart" like reforming "Dirty fuel" for SOFC.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.399-402
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• 1998

Electroluminescent(EL) devices based on organic thin films have attracted lots of interests in large-area light-emitting display. One of the problems of such device is a lifetime, where a degradation of the cell is possibly due to an organic layers thickness, morphology and interface with electrode. In this study, light-omitting organic electroluminescent devices were fabricated using Alq$_3$(8-hydroxyquinolinate aluminum) and TPD(N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl(1-1\`-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine). Where Alq$_3$ is an electron-transport and emissive layer, TPD is a hole-transport layer. The cell structure is ITO/TPD/Alq$_3$/Al and the cell is fabricated by vacuum evaporation method. In a measurement of current-voltage characteristics, we obtained a turn-on voltage at about 9 V. We also investigated stability of the devices using buffer layer with blend of PEI (Poly ether imide) and TPD by varying mot ratios between ITO and Alq$_3$. In current-voltage characteristics measurement, we obtained the turn-on voltage at about 6 V and observed an anomalous behavior at 3∼4 V. And we used other buffer layer of PEDT(3,4-pyrazino-3',4'-ethylenedithio-2,2',5,5'-tetrathiafulvalenium) with ITO/PEDT/TPD/Alq$_3$Al structure. We observed a surface morphology by AFM(Atomic Force Microscopy), UV/visible absorption spectrum, and PL(Photoluminescence) spectrum. We obtained the UV/visible absorption peak at 358nm in TPD and at 359nm in Alq$_3$, and the PL peaks at 410nm in TPD and at 510nm in Alq$_3$. We also studied EL spectrum in the cell structure of ITO/(TPD+PEI)/Alq$_3$/Al.