• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.78-85
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• 2019

The effect of various lithium sources such as LiCl, LiOH, and Li-metal on the microstructure and electrochemical properties of granulated $SiO_x$ powders were investigated. Various lithium sources were metallurgically added for a passive pre-lithiation of $SiO_x$ to improve its low initial coulombic efficiency. In spite of using the same amount of Li in various sources, as well as the same process conditions, different lithium silicates were obtained. Moreover, irreversible phases were formed without reduction of $SiO_x$, which might be from additional oxygen incorporation during the process. Accordingly, there were no noticeable electrochemical enhancements. Nevertheless, the $Li_4SiO_4$ phase changes the initial electrochemical reaction, and consequently the relationship between the microstructure and electrochemical properties of metallurgically pre-lithiated $SiO_x$ could provide a guideline for the optimization of the performance of lithium ion batteries.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.967-974
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• 2018

In this study, we evaluated the photocatalytic oxidation efficiency of aromatic volatile hydrocarbons by using $WO_3$-doped $TiO_2$ nanotubes (WTNTs) under visible-light irradiation. One-dimensional WTNTs were synthesized by ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal method and impregnation. XRD analysis revealed successful incorporation of $WO_3$ into $TiO_2$ nanotube (TNT) structures. UV-Vis spectra exhibited that the synthesized WTNT samples can be activated under visible light irradiation. FE-SEM and TEM images showed the one-dimensional structure of the prepared TNTs and WTNTs. The photocatalytic oxidation efficiencies of toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene were higher using WTNT samples than undoped TNT. These results were explained based on the charge separation ability, adsorption capability, and light absorption of the sample photocatalysts. Among the different light sources, light-emitting-diodes (LEDs) are more highly energy-efficient than 8-W daylight used for the photocatalytic oxidation of toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene, though the photocatalytic oxidation efficiency is higher for 8-W daylight.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.3608-3615
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• 2024

This study introduces a lead-free alternative for enhanced radiation protection. While lead aprons effectively attenuate ionizing radiation, concerns regarding flexibility, weight, and environmental hazards persist. In response, the present research is focused on producing an innovative sheet shielding comprised of carefully selected dense metal oxide microparticles (DMOs-MPs) and liquid silicone rubber (LSR). To evaluate the efficacy of the LSR samples, the current study uses rigorous testing procedures, such as microstructure characterization using EDX and FESEM. Furthermore, the study investigated key attenuation parameters within the LSR samples. Radiation protection was greatly and effectively supplied using DMOs-MPs filler (Bi-1 to Bi-7) in LSR samples; this protection reached 99.9% in the X-ray energy range. Due to the unique characteristics of the Bi-7, the results demonstrated that the samples' shielding efficiency improved with the addition of high atomic number and high-density fillers. It had the greatest attenuation coefficient and density. At 60 keV, Bi-7's density was 2.980 gcm^-3, and its LAC and MAC were 19.2621 cm^-1 and 6.4638 cm²/g, respectively. It also had the lowest half-value layer values in the energy range of 60-120 keV. The LSR samples showed effective radiation absorption for different energy levels, indicating that LSR can enhance the flexibility and comfort of the apron while providing adequate radiation protection. The incorporation of the DMOs-MPs with LSR represents an effective contribution and a noteworthy stride to enhance the safety and well-being of medical professionals routinely exposed to ionizing radiation.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2010

Ge is one of the attractive channel materials for the next generation high speed metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) due to its higher carrier mobility than Si. But the absence of a chemically stable thermal oxide has been the main obstacle hindering the use of Ge channels in MOS devices. Especially, the fabrication of gate oxide on Ge with high quality interface is essential requirement. In this study, $HfO_xN_y$ thin films were prepared by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition on Ge substrate. The nitrogen was incorporated in situ during PE-ALD by using the mixture of nitrogen and oxygen plasma as a reactant. The effects of nitrogen to oxygen gas ratio were studied focusing on the improvements on the electrical and interface properties. When the nitrogen to oxygen gas flow ratio was 1, we obtained good quality with 10% EOT reduction. Additional analysis techniques including X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy were used for chemical and microstructural analysis.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.373-384
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• 2015

In the past few decades, polymeric membrane has played an important role in gas separation applications. For the separation of $CO_2$, one of greenhouse gases, high permselectivity, long-term stability and scale-up are needed. However, conventional polymeric membranes have shown a trade-off relation between permeability and selectivity while inorganic materials are highly permeable but expensive. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) combining the advantages of both polymeric and inorganic materials have become a possible breakthrough for the next-generation gas separation membranes. The MMMs could be either symmetric or asymmetric but the latter is more preferred to improve the permeance. Important factors influencing the MMM fabrication include homogeneous distribution of inorganic particles and good interfacial contact between inorganic filler and organic matrix. Recently, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have received much attention as a new class of porous crystalline materials and a potential candidate for $CO_2$ separation. Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), a sub-branch of MOFs, are the most widely used in MMMs due to small particle size and appropriate pore size for $CO_2$ separation. One of the major issues associated with the incorporation of porous particles in a polymeric membrane is to control the microstructure of the porous particle materials such as particle size, orientation, and boundary conditions etc. In this review, major challenges surrounding MMMs and the strategies to tackle these challenges are given in detail.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.111-124
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• 2003

Processes that cause immobilization of contaminants in soil are of great environmental importance because they may lead to a considerable reduction in the bioavailability of contaminants and they may restrict their leaching into groundwater. Previous investigations demonstrated that pollutants can be bound to soil constituents by either chemical or physical interactions. From an environmental point of view, chemical interactions are preferred, because they frequently lead to the formation of strong covalent bonds that are difficult to disrupt by microbial activity or chemical treatments. Humic substances resulting from lignin decomposition appear to be the major binding ligands involved in the incorporation of contaminants into the soil matrix through stable chemical linkages. Chemical bonds may be formed through oxidative coupling reactions catalyzed either biologically by polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases, or abiotically by certain clays and metal oxides. These naturally occurring processes are believed to result in the detoxification of contaminants. While indigenous enzymes are usually not likely to provide satisfactory decontamination of polluted sites, amending soil with enzymes derived from specific microbial cultures or plant materials may enhance incorporation processes. The catalytic effect of enzymes was evaluated by determining the extent of contaminants binding to humic material, and - whenever possible - by structural analyses of the resulting complexes. Previous research on xenobiotic immobilization was mostly based on the application of $^{14}$ C-labeled contaminants and radiocounting. Several recent studies demonstrated, however, that the evaluation of binding can be better achieved by applying $^{13}$ C-, $^{15}$ N- or $^{19}$ F-labeled xenobiotics in combination with $^{13}$ C-, $^{15}$ N- or $^{19}$ F-NMR spectroscopy. The rationale behind the NMR approach was that any binding-related modification in the initial arrangement of the labeled atoms automatically induced changes in the position of the corresponding signals in the NMR spectra. The delocalization of the signals exhibited a high degree of specificity, indicating whether or not covalent binding had occurred and, if so, what type of covalent bond had been formed. The results obtained confirmed the view that binding of contaminants to soil organic matter has important environmental consequences. In particular, now it is more evident than ever that as a result of binding, (a) the amount of contaminants available to interact with the biota is reduced; (b) the complexed products are less toxic than their parent compounds; and (c) groundwater pollution is reduced because of restricted contaminant mobility.

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.175-180
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• 2016

Tyrosinases catalyze the hydroxylation of a monophenol (monophenolase activity) and the conversion of an o-diphenol to o-quinone (diphenolase activity), which are mainly involved in the modification of tyrosine residues into 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-alanine (DOPA) and DOPA/DOPAquinone-derived intermolecular cross-linking. Previously, we obtained a slightly acidic and cold-active tyrosinase, tyrosinase-CNK, by our recombinant protein approach. The enzyme showed optimal activity at pH 6.0 and 20 ℃ with an abnormally high monophenolase/diphenolase activity ratio and still had approximately 50% activity compared with the highest activity even in ice water. Here, we investigated reaction stability of the recombinant tyrosinase-CNK as a psychrophilic enzyme. The enzyme showed remarkable thermal stability at 0 ℃ and the activity was well conserved in repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Although water-miscible organic solvent as reaction media caused the activity decrease of tyrosinase-CNK as expected, the enzyme activity was not additionally decreased with increased concentration in organic solvents such as ethanol and acetonitrile. Also, the enzyme showed high salt tolerance in chaotropic salts. It was remarkably considered that 2⁺ metal ions might inhibit the incorporation of Cu²⁺ into the active site. We expect that these results could be used to design tyrosinase-mediated enzymatic reaction at low temperature for the production of catechols through minimizing unwanted self-oxidation and enzyme inactivation.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.85-93
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• 2003

Welders working in a confined space, like in the shipbuilding industry, are at risk of being exposed to high concentrations of welding fumes and developing pneumoconiosis or other welding-fume exposure related diseases. Among such diseases, manganism resulting from welding-fume exposure remains a controversial issue, as the movement of manganese into specific brain regions has not been clearly established. Accordingly, to investigate the distribution of manganese in the brain after welding-fume exposure, male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to welding fumes generated from manual metal arc stainless steel (MMA-SS) at concentrations of $63.6{\pm}4.1$ $mg/m^3$ (low dose, containing 1.6 $mg/m^3$ Mn) and $107.1{\pm}6.3$ $mg/m^3$ (high dose, containing 3.5 $mg/m^3$ Mn) total suspended particulates for 2 hrs per day, in an inhalation chamber over a 60-day period. Blood, brain, lungs and liver samples were collected after 2 hr, 15, 30, and 60 days of exposure and the tissues analyzed for their manganese concentrations using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Although dose- and time-dependent increases in the manganese concentrations were found in the lungs and livers of the rats exposed for 60 days, only slight manganese increases were observed in the blood during this period. Major statistically significant increases in the brain manganese concentrations were detected in the cerebellum after 15 days of exposure and up until 60 days. Slight increases in the manganese concentrations were also found in the substantia nigra, basal ganglia (caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus), temporal cortex, and frontal cortex, thereby indicating that the pharmacokinetics and distribution of manganese inhaled from welding fumes would appear to be different from those resulting from manganese-only exposure.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2013

LCC (Liquid cadmium cathode) is used for electrowinning in pyroprocessing to recover uranium and transuranic elements simultaneously. It is one of the core technologies in pyroprocessing with higher proliferation resistance than a wet reprocessing because LCC-cell does not separate TRU from uranium. The crucible which holds the LCC is technically important because it should be nonconducting material to prevent deposition of metallic elements on the crucible outer surface. The chemical stability is also crucial factor to choose crucible material due to the strong reactivities of TRU and possible incorporation of Li metal during the operation. In this study, the chemical stabilities of four kinds of representative ceramic materials such as $Al_2O_3$, MgO, $Yl_2O_3$ and BeO were thermodynamically and experimentally evaluated at $500^{\circ}C$ with simulated LCC. The contact angle of LCC on ceramic materials was measured as function of time to predict chemical reactivity. $All_2O_3$ showed poorest chemical stability and the pores in BeO contributed to a decreases in contact angle. MgO and $Y_2O_3$ have superior chemical stability among the materials.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.383-388
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• 2019

High purity SiC fine powder with metal impurity contents of less than 1 ppm was synthesized by improved carbothermal reduction process, and the synthesized powder was used for SiC single crystal growth in RF heating PVT device at temperature above 2,100℃. In-situ x-ray image analyzer was used to observe the sublimation of the powder and single crystal growth behavior during the growth process. SiC powder was used as a source of single crystal growth, exhausted from the outside of the graphite crucible at the growth temperature and left graphite residues. During the growth, the flow of raw materials was concentrated in the middle and influenced the growth behavior of SiC single crystals. This is due to the difference in temperature distribution inside the crucible due to the fine powder. After the single crystal growth was completed, the single crystal ingot was cut into a 1 mm thick single crystal substrate and finely polished using a diamond abrasive slurry. A dark yellow 4H-SiC was observed overall of single crystal substrate, and the polycrystals generated in the outer part may be caused by the incorporation of impurities such as the bubble layer mixed in the process of attaching the seed crystal to the seed holder.