• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.253-257
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• 2016

We added 0 ~ 5 wt% $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$ nano powders in a scattering layer of a working electrode to improve the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). FESEM and XRD were used to characterize the microstructure and phase. PL and micro Raman were used to determine the fluorescence and the composition of $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$ phosphor. A solar simulator and a potentiostat were used to confirm the photovoltaic properties of the DSSC with $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$. From the results of the microstructure and phase of the fabricated $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$ nano powders, we identified $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$ having particle size less than 100 nm. Based on the microstructure and micro Raman results, we confirmed the existence of $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$ in the scattering layer and found that it was dispersed uniformly. Through photovoltaic properties results, the maximum ECE was shown to be 5.20%, which can be compared to the value of 5.00% without $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$. As these results are derived from conversion of light in the UV range into visible light by employing $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$ in the scattering layer, these indicate that the ECE of a DSSC can be enhanced by employing an appropriate amount of $YBO_3:Eu^{3+}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.296-296
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• 2007

Ferroelectric neodymium-substituted $Bi_4Ti_3O_{12}$(BTO) thin films have been successfully deposited on Pt/Ti/$SiO_2$/Si substrate by a sol-gel spin-coating process and the effect of crystallization temperature on their microstructure and ferroelectric properties were studied systematically. $Bi(TMHD)_3$, $Nd(TMHD)_3$, $Ti(O^iPr)_4$ were used as the precursors, which were dissolved in 2-methoxyethanol. The thin films were annealed at various temperatures from 600 to $720^{\circ}C$ in oxygen ambient for 1 hr, which was followed by post-annealed for 1 hr after depositing a Pt electrode to enhance the electrical properties. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to analyze the crystallinity and surface morphology of layered perovskite phase, respectively. The crystallinity of the BNT films was improved and the average grain size increased as the crystallization temperature increased from 600 to $720^{\circ}C$ at an interval of $40^{\circ}C$. The polarization values of the films were a monotonous function of the crystallization temperature. The remanent polarization value of the BNT thin films annealed at $720^{\circ}C$ was $24.82\;{\mu}C/cm^2$ at an applied voltage of 5 V.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.22-22
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• 2009

The silver thick film has been used in many industries such as display, chip, solar cell, automobile, and decoration with conventional heating. The silver thick film is fired with optimal time and temperature. However, decreasing the fabrication time is required due to high production power. Furthermore, there is a problem that silver in electrode is diffused throughout any substrates. For inhibiting the Ag diffusion and long fabrication time we considered a microwave heating. We investigated firing of silver thick film with conventional and microwave heating. The temperature of substrate was measured by thermal paper and the temperature of substrate was under $100\;^{\circ}C$ The shrinkage of electrode was measured with optical microscopy and optical profilometry. The shrinkage of electrode heat treated with microwave for 5min was similar to the that fired by the conventional heating for several hours. After firing by two types of heating, the diffusion of silver was determined using a optical microscope. The microstructure of sintered silver thick film was observed by SEM. Based on our results, the microwave heating should be a candidate heating source for the fabrication electronic devices in terms of saving the tact time and preventing the contamination of substrate.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.69-74
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• 2006

The effects of mechanical grinding(MG) treatment on the hydrogen storage of $Mg_2Ni$ alloy and $Mg_2Ni$ composite alloy($Mg_2Ni+graphite$) were investigated by pressure-composition-temperature(PCT) measurement, the micro-electrode technique of electrochemistry and etc, in which PCT was measured at high temperature(around $300[^{\circ}C]$) of gas phase and a carbon-filament micro-electrode for electrochemical evaluation was manipulated to make electrical contact with the particle in 1M KOH aqueous solution. It was found that the hydrogenation properties of $Mg_2Ni$ and graphite composite particle were greatly improved by the mechanical grinding treatment by which the $Mg_2Ni$ and graphite composite alloys could be changed into microstructure and nano-level particles. namely; the hydrogen dissociation pressure of PCT measurement was decreased from 0.55[MPa] to 0.42[MPa] and hydrogenation peaks by micro-electrode were also observed more clearly on the same sample.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.183-188
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• 2021

The increasing demand for energy storage in mobile electronic devices and electric vehicles has emphasized the importance of electrochemical energy storage devices such as Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitors. For reversible Li storage, alternative anode materials are actively being developed. In this study, we designed and fabricated an Nb₂O₅-Li₃VO₄ composite for use as an anode material in LIBs and hybrid supercapacitors. Nb₂O₅ powders were dissolved into a solution and the precursors were precipitated onto Li₃VO₄ through a simple, low-temperature hydrothermal reaction. The annealing process yielded an Nb₂O₅-Li₃VO₄ composite that was characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrochemical tests revealed that the Nb₂O₅-Li₃VO₄ composite electrode demonstrated increased capacities of approximately 350 and 140 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 and 5 C, respectively, were maintained up to 1000 cycles. The reversible capacity and rate capability of the composite electrode were enhanced compared to those of pure Nb₂O₅-based electrodes. These results can be attributed to the microstructure design of the synthesized composite material.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

Cobalt silicide was used as a counter electrode in order to confirm its reliability in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) devices. 100 nm-Co/300 nm-Si/quartz was formed by an evaporator and cobalt silicide was formed by vacuum heat treatment at $700^{\circ}C$ for 60 min to form approximately 350 nm-CoSi. This process was followed by etching in $80^{\circ}C$-30% $H_2SO_4$ to remove the cobalt residue on the cobalt silicide surface. Also, for the comparison against Pt, we prepared a 100 nm-Pt/glass counter electrode. Cobalt silicide was used for the counter electrode in order to confirm its reliability in DSSC devices and maintained for 0, 168, 336, 504, 672, and 840 hours at $80^{\circ}C$. The photovoltaic properties of the DSSCs employing cobalt silicide were confirmed by using a simulator and potentiostat. Cyclic-voltammetry, field emission scanning electron microscopy, focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectrometry analyses were used to confirm the catalytic activity, microstructure, and composition, respectively. The energy conversion efficiency (ECE) as a function of time and ECE of the DSSC with Pt and CoSi counter electrodes were maintained for 504 hours. However, after 672 hours, the ECEs decreased to a half of their initial values. The results of the catalytic activity analysis showed that the catalytic activities of the Pt and CoSi counter electrodes decreased to 64% and 57% of their initial values, respectively(after 840 hours). The microstructure analysis showed that the CoSi layer improved the durability in the electrolyte, but because the stress concentrates on the contact surface between the lower quartz substrate and the CoSi layer, cracks are formed locally and flaking occurs. Thus, deterioration occurs due to the residual stress built up during the silicidation of the CoSi counter electrode, so it is necessary to take measures against these residual stresses, in order to ensure the reliability of the electrode.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.525-530
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• 2019

The performance and stability of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) depend on the microstructure of the electrode and electrolyte. In anode, porosity and pore distribution affect the active site and fuel gas transfer. In an electrolyte, density and thickness determine the ohmic resistance. To optimizing these conditions, using costly method cannot be a suitable research plan for aiming at commercialization. To solve these drawbacks, we made high performance unit cells with low cost and highly efficient ceramic processes. We selected the NiO-YSZ cermet that is a commercial anode material and used facile methods like die pressing and dip coating process. The porosity of anode was controlled by the amount of carbon black (CB) pore former from 10 wt% to 20 wt% and final sintering temperature from $1350^{\circ}C$ to $1450^{\circ}C$. To achieve a dense thin film electrolyte, the thickness and microstructure of electrolyte were controlled by changing the YSZ loading (vol%) of the slurry from 1 vol% to 5 vol. From results, we achieved the 40% porosity that is well known as an optimum value in Ni-YSZ anode, by adding 15wt% of CB and sintering at $1350^{\circ}C$. YSZ electrolyte thickness was controllable from $2{\mu}m$ to $28{\mu}m$ and dense microstructure is formed at 3vol% of YSZ loading via dip coating process. Finally, a unit cell composed of Ni-YSZ anode with 40% porosity, YSZ electrolyte with a $22{\mu}m$ thickness and LSM-YSZ cathode had a maximum power density of $1.426Wcm^{-2}$ at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.251-251
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• 2016

For several decades, industrial processes consume a huge amount of raw water for various objects that consequently results in the generation of large amounts of wastewater. Wastewaters are consisting of complex mixture of different inorganic and organic compounds and some of them can be toxic, hazardous and hard to degrade. These effluents are mainly treated by conventional technologies such are aerobic and anaerobic treatment and chemical coagulation. But, these processes are not suitable for eliminating all hazardous chemical compounds form wastewater and generate a large amount of toxic sludge. Therefore, other processes have been studied and applied together with these techniques to enhance purification results. These include photocatalysis, absorption, advanced oxidation processes, and ozonation, but also have their own drawbacks. In recent years, electrochemical techniques have received attention as wastewater treatment process that could be show higher purification results. Among them, boron doped diamond (BDD) attract attention as electrochemical electrode due to good chemical and electrochemical stability, long lifetime and wide potential window that necessary properties for anode electrode. So, there are many researches about high quality BDD on Nb, Ta, W and Si substrates, but, their application in effluents treatment is not suitable due to high cost of metal and low conductivity of Si. To solve these problems, Ti has been candidate as substrate in consideration of cost and property. But there are adhesion issues that must be overcome to apply Ti as BDD substrate. Al, Cu, Ti and Nb thin films were deposited on Ti substrate to improve adhesion between substrate and BDD thin film. In this paper, BDD films were deposited by hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HF-CVD) method. Prior to deposition, cleaning processes were conducted in acetone, ethanol, and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) using sonification machine for 7 min, respectively. And metal layer with the thickness of 200 nm were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering (DCMS). To analyze microstructure X-ray diffraction (XRD, Bruker gads) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, Hitachi) were used. It is confirmed that metal layer was effective to adhesion property and improved electrode property. Electrochemical measurements were carried out in a three electrode electrochemical cell containing a 0.5 % H2SO4 in deionized water. As a result, it is confirmed that metal inter layer heavily effect on BDD property by improving adhesion property due to suppressing formation of titanium carbide.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.260-265
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• 2012

Impedance spectroscopy was used to monitor the hydration in the electrical/dielectric behaviors of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP)-blended cement mixtures. The electrical responses were analyzed using their equivalent circuit models, leading to the separation of the bulk and electrode based responses. The role of the CMP slurry was monitored as a function of the relative compositions of the CMP-blended cements, i.e. water, CMP slurry, and ordinary Portland cement. The presence of $Al_2O_3$ nanocrystals in the CMP slurries appeared to accelerate the hydration process, along with a more tortuous microstructure in the hydration, with enhanced hydration products. The frequency-dependent impedance spectroscopy was proven to be a highly efficient approach for evaluating the electrical/dielectric monitoring of the change in the pore structure evolution that occurs in CMP-blended cements.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.344-355
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• 2017

In this study, a numerical approach is adopted to investigate the effectiveness factors for distributed electrochemical reactions in thin active reaction layers of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), taking into account the Butler-Volmer reaction kinetics. The mathematical equations for the electrochemical reaction and charge conduction process were formulated by assuming that the active reaction layer has a small thickness, homogeneous microstructure, and high effective electronic conductivity. The effectiveness factor is defined as the ratio of the actual reaction rate (or equivalently, current generation rate) in the active reaction layer to the nominal reaction rate. From extensive numerical calculations, the effectiveness factors were obtained for various charge transfer coefficients of 0.3-0.8. These effectiveness data were then fitted to simple correlation equations, and the resulting correlation coefficients are presented along with estimated magnitude of error.