• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2023

Atomic layer etching (ALE) is a promising technique with atomic-level thickness controllability and high selectivity based on self-limiting surface reactions. ALE is performed by sequential exposure of the film surface to reactants, which results in surface modification and release of volatile species. Among the various ALE methods, thermal ALE involves a thermally activated reaction by employing gas species to release the modified surface without using energetic species, such as accelerated ions and neutral beams. In this study, the basic principle and surface reaction mechanisms of thermal ALE?processes, including "fluorination-ligand exchange reaction", "conversion-etch reaction", "conversion-fluorination reaction", "oxidation-fluorination reaction", "oxidation-ligand exchange reaction", and "oxidation-conversion-fluorination reaction" are described. In addition, the reported thermal ALE processes for the removal of various oxides, metals, and nitrides are presented.

• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.355-359
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• 2019

The high efficient water splitting system should involve the reduction of high overpotential value, which was enhanced by the electrocatalytic reaction efficiency of catalysts, during the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) reaction, respectively. Among them, transition metal-based compounds (oxides, sulfides, phosphides, and nitrides) are attracting attention as catalyst materials to replace noble metals that are currently commercially available. Herein, we synthesized optimal monodisperse Co₃[Co(CN)₆]₂ PBAs by FESEM, and confirmed crystallinity by XRD and FT-IR, and thermal behavior of PBAs via TG-DTA. Also, we synthesized monodispersed Co₃O₄ nanocubes by calcination of Co₃[Co(CN)₆]₂ PBAs, confirmed the crystallinity by XRD, and proceeded OER measurement. Finally, the synthesized Co₃O₄ nanocubes showed a low overpotential of 312 mV at a current density of 10 mA·cm^-2 with a low Tafel plot (96.6 mV·dec^-1).

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2018

In this study, Material life cycle evaluation was performed to analyze the environmental impact characteristics of TiN-Zr membrane manufacturing process. The software of MLCA was Gabi. Through this, environmental impact assessment was performed for each process. Transition metal nitrides have been researched extensively because of their properties. Among these, TiN has the most attention. TiN is a ceramic materials which possess the good combination of physical and chemical properties, such as high melting point, high hardness, and relatively low specific gravity, high wear resistance and high corrosion resistance. With these properties, TiN plays an important role in functional materials for application in separation hydrogen from fossil fuel. Precursor TiN was synthesized by sol-gel method and zirconium was coated by ball mill method. The metallurgical, physical and thermodynamic characteristics of the membranes were analyzed by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermo Gravimetry/Differential Thermal Analysis (TG/DTA), Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) and Gas Chromatograph System (GP). As a result of characterization and normalization, environmental impacts were 94% in MAETP (Marine Aquatic Ecotoxicity), 2% FAETP (Freshwater Aquatic Ecotoxicity), 2% HTP (Human Toxicity Potential). TiN fabrication process appears to have a direct or indirect impact on the human body. It is believed that the greatest impact that HTP can have on human is the carcinogenic properties. This shows that electricity use has a great influence on ecosystem impact. TiN-Zr was analyzed in Eco-Indicator '99 (EI99) and CML 2001 methodology.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.256-262
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• 2007

Effects of interlayer and the combination of different coating methods on the mechanical and corrosion behaviors of TiN and CrN coated on 420 stainless steel have been studied. STS 420 specimen were tempered at $300^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr in vacuum furnace. The TiN and CrN thin film with 2 ${\mu}m$ thickness were coated by arc ion plating and DC magnetron sputtering following the formation of interlayer for pure titanium and chromium with 0.2 ${\mu}m$ thickness. The microstructure and surface analysis of the specimen were conducted by using SEM, XRD and roughness tester. Mechanical properties such as hardness and adhesion also were examined. XRD patterns of TiN thin films showed that preferred TiN (111) orientation was observed. The peaks of CrN (111) and $Cr_2N$ (300) were only observed in CrN thin films deposited by arc ion plating. Both TiN and CrN deposited by arc ion plating had the higher adhesion and hardness compared to those formed by magnetron sputtering. The specimen of TiN and CrN on which interlayer deposited by magnetron sputtering and thin film deposited by arc ion plating had the highest adhesion with 22.2 N and 19.2 N. respectively. TiN and CrN samples shown the most noble corrosion potentials when the interlayers were deposited by using magnetron sputtering and the metal nitrides were deposited by using arc ion plating. The most noble corrosion potentials of TiN and CrN were found to be approximately -170 and -70 mV， respectively.