• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2019

Biomass, a carbon-neutral fuel, has great advantages because it can replace fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, due to its low density, high water content, and hydrophilicity, biomass has disadvantages for transportation and storage. To improve these properties, a pretreatment process of biomass is required. One of the various pre-treatment technologies, torrefacion, makes biomass similar to coal through low-temperature pyrolysis. In this study, torrefacion treatment was carried out at 200, 230, 250, 280, and $300^{\circ}C$ for wood pellet, empty fruit bunch (EFB) and kenaf, and the feasibility of replacing coal with fuel was examined. Hygroscopicity tests were conducted to analyze the hydrophobicity of biomass, and its chemical structure changes were investigated using Infrared spectrum analysis. It was confirmed that the hygroscopicity was decreased gradually as the torrefacion temperature increased according to the hygroscopicity tests. The hydrophilicity was reduced according to the pyrolysis of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin of biomass.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.400-405
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• 2015

Traditional anti-reflective (AR) coating films prepared using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as a precursor absorbs water easily in addition to having a weak abrasion resistance. To improve the transmittance, hydrophobicity and abrasion resistance of AR coating film, various AR coating films were prepared using methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) as a precursor in addition to introducing a fluoroalkylsilane, acid catalyst, base catalyst and acid-base two step catalyst. The prepared AR coating films were then characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, contact angle analyzer, atomic force microscope (AFM), pencil scratch hardness test and cross-cut test. As a result, the transmittance of bare glass was 90.5%, while that of AR coating glass increased to 94.8% at curing temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. When the fluoroalkylsilane was added, the water contact angle of AR coating film increased from $96.3^{\circ}$ to $108^{\circ}$, indicating that the hydrophobicity of the film was greatly improved. The abrasion resistance of AR coating film was also improved by the acid catalyst, whereas the transmittance increased by the base catalyst. In the case of AR coating film prepared using an acid-base two step catalyzed reaction, both the transmittance and abrasion resistance of the film was synergistically enhanced as compared with those of AR coating films prepared without introduction of a catalyst.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.92-107
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• 2016

Graphene was coated on austenitic and martensitic stainless steels to simulate the metallic bipolar plate of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized and was reduced to reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via a hydrazine process. rGO was confirmed by FE-SEM, Raman spectroscopy and XPS. Interfacial contact resistance (ICR) between the bipolar plate and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) was measured to confirm the electrical conductivity. Both ICR and corrosion current density decreased on graphene coated stainless steels. Corrosion resistance was also improved with immersion time in cathodic environments and satisfied the criteria of the Department of Energy (DOE), USA. The total concentrations of metal ions dissolved from graphene coated stainless steels were reduced. Furthermore hydrophobicity was improved by increasing the contact angle.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.2809-2812
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• 2014

The 43-residue defensin-like peptide coprisin, which is isolated from dung bettle, Copris tripartitus, is a potent antimicrobial peptide. In our previous work, we determined the tertiary structure of coprisin and found that alpha helical region of coprisin from residue 19 to residue 30 is important for its antimicrobial activities. Here, we designed cop12mer and cop9mer analogs of coprisin based on the tertiary structure of coprisin. To investigate the relationship between hydrophobicity and antimicrobial activities and develop the potent peptide antibiotics, we designed cop9mer-1 with substitution of $His^2$ with Trp in cop9mer. The results showed that cop9mer-1 has higher toxicities as well as improved antimicrobial activities compared to cop9mer. In order to reduce the toxicity of cop9mer-1, we designed cop9mer-2 and cop9mer-3 with substitution of $Cys^3$ with Lys or Ser. Substitution of $Cys^3$ with these hydrophilic amino acids results in lower cytotoxicities compared to cop9mer-1. Cop9mer-2 with substitution of $Cys^3$ with Lys in Cop9mer-1 showed high antibacterial activities against drug resistant bacteria without cytotoxicity. Antibiotic action of cop9mer-1 analog appears to involve permeabilization of the bacterial cell membrane while cop9mer-2 and cop9mer-3 may have different mechanism of action. These results imply that that optimum balance in hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity in these 9-meric peptides plays key roles in their antimicrobial activities as well as cytotoxicities.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.35-38
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• 2016

In this study, the mica used as a thermal-insulation material was modified with a silane coupling agent, octyltriethoxysilane (OTES), to improve its hydrophobicity. The modified mica was characterized using FT-IR spectrometer, water wettability test, and water contact angle measurement. The analysis exhibits that OTES for the modified mica sample was well bonded chemically and drastically enhanced the hydrophobicity. The reflectance observed as 73.9% (mica) and 86.4% (OTES/mica), respectively, for OTES/mica was improved about 12.5% before any modifications. Also the modified mica sample showed $7.2^{\circ}C$ decrease in the thermal-insulation performance of cool paints compared to that of using unmodified mica, indicating that the modification of mica with silane coupling agents could be effective in enhancing the thermal-insulation performance of the cool paint.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to inhibit biofouling on a selectively permeable membrane (SPM) and increase biomass productivity in marine photobioreactors (PBRs) for microalgal cultivation by chemical treatment. Surfaces of a SPM, composed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), was sulfonated to decrease hydrophobicity through attaching negatively charged sulfonic groups. Reaction time of sulfonation was varied from 0 min to 60 min. As the reaction time increased, the water contact angle value of SPM surface was decreased from $75.5^{\circ}$ to $44.5^{\circ}$, indicating decrease of surface hydrophobicity. Furthermore, the water permeability of sulfonated SPM was increased from $5.42mL/m^2/s$ to $10.58mL/m^2/s$, which reflects higher nutrients transfer rates through the membranes, due to decreased hydrophobicity. When cultivating Tetraselmis sp. using 100-mL floating PBRs with sulfonated SPMs, biomass productivity was improved by 34% compared with the control group (non-reacted SPMs). In addition, scanning electron microscopic observation of SPMs used for cultivation clearly revealed lower degree of cell attachment on the sulfonated SPMs. These results suggest that sulfornation of a PET SPM could improve microalgal biomass productivity by increasing nutrients transfer rates and inhibiting biofouling by algal cells.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.180-188
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• 2012

Following the reported study that showed the dyeability of diamino-anthraquinoid blue dyes substituted with relatively shorter alkyl groups, the longer aliphatic substituents than pentyl group were examined in terms of the color strength and fastness properties toward UHMWPE fibers. The color strength was increased up to pentyl group and then gradually decreased. However, the fastness properties were improved continuously to octyl group which was the longest alkyl substituent in this study. The most effective maximum color strength was obtained at $130^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours with 3% owf of dyes. The overall fastnesses to washing, rubbing, and light were good enough for practical uses.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.18 no.5 s.90
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• pp.30-34
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• 2006

Polypropylene fiber was dyed with 4 super hydrophobic dyes having different alkyl derivatives on the same chromophore. Double-tailed cationic surfactant, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide(DDAB), was used to make dye-dispersant complex to improve the dispersion of dyes. As the alkyl groups are longer and the hydrophobicity is increased, the dyeability onto polypropylene fiber was improved and deep coloration was obtained. As for the fastness properties, wash fastness was relatively good, while light fastness was bit low.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.251-257
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• 2019

Fabricating hydrophobic porous membrane is important for exploring the applications of membrane distillation (MD). In the present paper, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane was modified by coating polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on its surface. The effects of PDMS concentration, cross-linking temperature and cross-linking time on the performance of the composite membranes in a vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process were investigated. It was found that the hydrophobicity and the VMD performance of the PVDF hollow fiber membrane were obviously improved by coating PDMS. The optimal PDMS concentration, cross-linking temperature and cross-linking time were 0.5 wt%, $80^{\circ}C$, and 9 hr, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2019

Non-fluorinated water repellent coating solutions were obtained using methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and trimethylethoxysilane (TMES) as precursors. The solutions were spin-coated on a cold-rolled steel sheet and cured thermally to prepare water repellent coating films. During this process, the effect of molar ratio of TMES/MTMS was studied for the hydrophobic properties of the coating films. Hydrophobic properties of coating films were characterized using contact angle measurement, surface morphology analysis and infrared spectroscopy. When the molar ratio of TMES/MTMS was varied from 0 to 30, the contact angle of the un-coated cold-rolled steel sheet was $30^{\circ}$, whereas when the molar ratio of TMES/MTMS was 1, the contact angle increased to $104^{\circ}$ and water repellency was significantly improved. In the case of TMES/MTMS molar ratios of 10, 15, 25 and 30, the contact angles of coating films showed $109^{\circ}$, $114^{\circ}$, $117^{\circ}$ and $144^{\circ}$, respectively. At this time, the hydrophobicity of the coating films was improved by the increase of the surface roughness and the content of the methyl component at the coating surface. In particular, when the molar ratio of TMES/MTMS was 30, the overall surface roughness was greatly increased due to the presence of surface particles as well as the water repellency due to methyl groups of TMES, resulting in super hydrophobicity of $144^{\circ}$.