• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.63-63
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• 2011

In this tutorial session, the field of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells based on small molecular weight materials will be presented. The previously reported studies on the fabrication, structure, and property of the cells as well as the molecular materials are included. Especially, the factors hampering further enhancement in the power conversion efficiency of the cells such as exciton recombination, light absorption and interfacial morphology between electron donor and acceptor layer will be discussed in detail. The recent progress in our group will also be presented. It includes typical materials and cell fabrication techniques we used as well as the studies on improving the light absorption in the electron donor layer and reducing the extinction of excitons formed by introducing the nanostructured interface between organic layers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2009

Previous studies have demonstrated that Shewanella decolorationis S12 can grow on the azo compound amaranth as the sole electron acceptor. Thus, to explore the mechanism of energy generation in this metabolism, membranous vesicles (MVs) were prepared and the mechanism of energy generation was investigated. The membrane, which was fragmentized during preparation, automatically formed vesicles ranging from 37.5-112.5 nm in diameter under electron micrograph observation. Energy was conserved when coupling the azoreduction by the MVs of an azo compound or Fe(III) as the sole electron acceptor with $H_2$, formate, or lactate as the electron donor. The amaranth reduction by the vesicles was found to be inhibited by specific respiratory inhibitors, including $Cu^{2+}$ ions, dicumarol, stigmatellin, and metyrapone, indicating that the azoreduction was indeed a respiration reaction. This finding was further confirmed by the fact that the ATP synthesis was repressed by the ATPase inhibitor N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD). Therefore, this study offers solid evidence of a mechanism of microbial dissimilatory azoreduction on a subcell level.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.436-443
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• 2007

Anaerobic reductive dehalogenation of perchloroethene (PCE) was studied with lactate as the electron donor in a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) inoculated with a mixed culture previously shown to dehalogenate vinyl chloride (VC). cis-1,2- dichloroethene (cDCE) was the dominant intermediate at relatively long cell retention times (>56 days) and the electron acceptor to electron donor molar ratio (PCE:lactate) of 1:2. cDCE was transformed to VC completely at the PCE to lactate molar ratio of 1:4, and the final products of PCE dehalogenation were VC (80%) and ethene (20%). VC dehalogenation was inhibited by cDCE dehalogenation. Propionate produced from the fermentation of lactate might be used as electron donor for the dehalogenation. Batch experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of increased hydrogen, VC, and trichloroethene (TCE) on VC dehalogenation which is the rate-limiting step in PCE dehalogenation The addition of TCE increased the VC dehalogenaiton rate more than an increase in the $H_2$ concentration, which suggests that the introduction of TCE induces the production of an enzyme that can comtabolize VC.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.3052-3058
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• 2014

In this article, we have designed and synthesized a novel donor-${\pi}$-acceptor (D-${\pi}$-A) type porphyrin-based sensitizer (denoted UI-5), in which a carboxyl anchoring group and a 9,9-dimethyl fluorene were introduced at the meso-positions of porphyrin ring via phenylethynyl and ethynyl bridging units, respectively. Long alkoxy chains in ortho-positions of the phenyls were supposed to reduce the degree of dye aggregation, which tends to affect electron injection yield in a photovoltaic cell. The cyclic voltammetry was employed to determine the band gap of UI-5 to be 1.41 eV based on the HOMO and LUMO energy levels, which were estimated by the onset oxidation and reduction potentials. The incident monochromatic photon-to-current conversion efficiency of the UI-5 DSSC assembled with double-layer (20 nm-sized $TiO_2$/400 nm-sized $TiO_2$) film electrodes appeared lower upon overall ranges of the excitation wavelengths, but exhibited a higher value over the NIR ranges (${\lambda}$ = 650-700 nm) compared to the common reference sensitizer N719. The UI-5-sensitized cell yielded a relatively poor device performance with an overall conversion efficiency of 0.74% with a short circuit photocurrent density of $3.05mA/cm^2$, an open circuit voltage of 0.54 mV and a fill factor of 0.44 under the standard global air mass (AM 1.5) solar conditions. However, our report about the synthesis and the photovoltaic characteristics of a porphyrin-based sensitizer in a D-${\pi}$-A structure demonstrated a significant complex relationship between the sensitizer structure and the cell performance.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1081-1088
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• 2013

Two new metal-free organic dyes bridged by anthracene-mediated ${\pi}$-conjugated moieties were successfully synthesized for use in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). A N,N-diphenylthiophen-2-amine unit in these dyes acts as an electron donor, while a (E)-2-cyano-3-(thiophen-2-yl)acrylic acid group acts as an electron acceptor and an anchoring group to the $TiO_2$ electrode. The photovoltaic properties of (E)-2-cyano-3-(5-((10-(5-(diphenylamino)thiophen-2-yl)anthracen-9-yl)ethynyl)thiophen-2-yl)acrylic acid (DPATAT) and (E)-2-cyano-3-(5'-((10-(5-(diphenylamino)thiophen-2-yl)anthracen-9-yl)ethynyl)-2,2'-bithiophen-5-yl)acrylic acid (DPATABT) were investigated to identify the effect of conjugation length between electron donor and acceptor on the DSSC performance. By introducing an anthracene moiety into the dye structure, together with a triple bond and thiophene moieties for fine-tuning of molecular configurations and for broadening the absorption spectra, the short-circuit photocurrent densities ($J_{sc}$), and open-circuit photovoltages ($V_{oc}$) of DSSCs were improved. The improvement of $J_{sc}$ in DSSC made of DPATABT might be attributed to much broader absorption spectrum and higher molecular extinction coefficient (${\varepsilon}$) in the visible wavelength range. The DPATABT-based DSSC showed the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.34% (${\eta}_{max}$ = 3.70%) under AM 1.5 illumination ($100mWcm^{-2}$) in a photoactive area of $0.41cm^2$, with the $J_{sc}$ of $7.89mAcm^{-2}$, the $V_{oc}$ of 0.59 V, and the fill factor (FF) of 72%. In brief, the solar cell performance with DPATABT was found to be better than that of DPATAT-based DSSC.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1485-1490
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• 2014

We have designed and developed a new ladder type tetrafused ${\pi}$-conjugated building block such as dihydroindolo[3,2-b]indole (DINI) and investigated its role as an electron rich unit. The photovoltaic properties of a new semiconducting ${\pi}$-conjugated polymer, poly[[5,10-bisoctyl-5,10-dihydroindolo[3,2-b]indole-[5,6- bis(octyloxy)-4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole]], represented by PDINI-OBTC8 are described. The new polymer PDINI-OBTC8 was synthesized in donor-acceptor (D-A) fashion, where fused ${\pi}$-conjugated tetracyclic DINI, and 5,6-bis(octyloxy)-4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl) benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (OBTC8) were employed as electron rich (donor) and electron deficient (acceptor) moieties, respectively. The conventional bulk heterojunction (BHJ) device structure ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PDINI-OBTC8:PCB71M/LiF/Al was utilized to fabricate polymer solar cells (PSCs), which comprises the blend of PDINI-OBTC8 and [6,6]-phenyl-$C_{71}$-butyric acid methyl ester ($PC_{71}BM$) in BHJ network. A BHJ PSC that contain PDINI-OBTC8 delivered power conversion efficiency (PCE) value of 1.68% with 1 vol% of 1,8-diidooctane (DIO) under the illumination of A.M 1.5G 100 $mW/cm^2$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.587-596
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• 2014

A new ${\pi}$-stacked donor-acceptor (D-A) system, [Ru(1-([2,2'-bipyridine]-6-yl-methyl)-3-(2-cyclohexa-2',5'-diene-1,4-dionyl)-1H-imidazole)(2,2':6',2"-terpyridine)]$[PF_6]_2$ (ImQ_T), has been synthesized and characterized. Similar to its precedent, [Ru(6-(2-cyclohexa-2',5'-diene-1,4-dione)-2,2':6',2"-terpyridine)(2,2':6',2"-terpyridine)]$[PF_6]_2$ (TQ_T), this system has a cofacial alignment of terpyridine (tpy) ligand and quinonyl (Q) group, which facilitates an electron transfer through ${\pi}$-stacked manifold. Despite the presence of lowest-energy charge transfer transition from the Ru-based-HOMO-to-Q-based-LUMO (MQCT) predicted by theoretical calculations by using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), the experimental steady-state absorption spectrum does not exhibit such a band. The selective excitation to the Ru-based occupied orbitals-to-tpy-based virtual orbital MLCT state was thus possible, from which charge separation (CS) reaction occurred. The photo-induced CS and thermal charge recombination (CR) reactions were probed by using ultrafast visible-pump/mid-IR-probe (TrIR) spectroscopic method. Analysis of decay kinetics of Q and $Q^-$ state CO stretching modes as well as aromatic C=C stretching mode of tpy ligand gave time constants of <1 ps for CS, 1-3 ps for CR, and 10-20 ps for vibrational cooling processes. The electron transfer pathway was revealed to be Ru-tpy-Q rather than Ru-bpy-imidazol-Q.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2017.03a
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• pp.128-131
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• 2017

We explore the inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reactions of tetrazines with various functional groups employing quantum calculations. In general, the rate of inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction depends on molecular orbital levels of electron donor and electron acceptor. Likewise, ${\pi}$ orbital of the dienophile and ${\pi}^*$ orbital of the diene is a key factor. In this work, we discuss the case where the energy of diene's ${\pi}^*$ molecular orbital is not the sole governing factor to determine the reaction rate, rather the rate shows strong correlation with the charge density of dienes.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.124-127
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• 2005

It has been a long time since organic solar cells were expected as a low-cost energy-conversion device. Although practical use of them has not been achieved, technological progress continues. Morphology of the materials, organic/inorganic interface, metal cathodes, molecular packing and structural properties of the donor and acceptor layers are essential for photovoltaic response. We have fabricated solar cell devices based on zinc-phthalocyanine(ZnPc) as donor(D) and fullerene$(C_60)$ as electron acceptor(A) with doped charge transport layers, and BCP and $Alq_3$ as an exciton blocking layer(EBL). We have measured the photovoltaic characteristics of the solar cell devices using the Xe lamp as a light source. We were use of $Alq_3$ layer leads to external power conversion efficiency was $2.65\%$ at illumination intensity $100\;mW/cm^2$. Also we confirmed the optimum thickness ratio of the DA hetero-junction is about 1:2.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.107-111
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• 2013

A new green-emitting material with donor-acceptor architecture, 3,7-bis(1'-phenylbenzimidazole-2'-yl)-10-phenylphenothiazine (BBPP) was synthesized and its thermal, optical, and electroluminescent characteristics were investigated. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with four different multilayer structures were prepared using BBPP as an emitting layer. The optimized device with the structure of [ITO/2-TNATA (40 nm)/BBPP (30 nm)/TPBi (30 nm)/Alq3 (10 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm)] exhibited efficient green emission. Enhanced charge carrier balance and electron mobility in the organic layers enabled the device to demonstrate a maximum luminance of 31,300 cd/$m^2$, a luminous efficiency of 6.83 cd/A, and an external quantum efficiency of 1.62% with the CIE 1931 chromaticity coordinates of (0.21, 0.53) at a current density of 100 mA/$cm^2$.