• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.265-272
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• 2023

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is one of the promising methods for hydrogen production by solar energy. Iron oxide has been effectively investigated as a photoelectrode material for PEC water splitting due to its intrinsic property such as short minority carrier diffusion length. However, iron oxide has a low PEC efficiency owing to a high recombination rate between photoexcited electrons and holes. In this study, we synthesized nanoporous structured iron oxide by anodization to overcome the drawbacks and to increase surface area. The anodized iron oxide was annealed in Ar atmosphere with different purging times. In conclusion, the highest current density of 0.032 mA/cm² at 1.23 V vs. RHE was obtained with 60 s of pursing for iron oxide(Fe-60), which was 3 times higher in photocurrent density compared to iron oxide annealed with 600 s of pursing(Fe-600). The resistances and donor densities were also evaluated for all the anodized iron oxide by electrochemical impedance spectra and Mott-Schottky plot analysis.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.40-49
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• 2013

Effects of magnesium and pH on corrosion of aluminum galvanically coupled to iron have studied by using potentio- dynamic and static tests for polarization curves, Mott-Schottky test for analysis of semiconductor property, and GD-AES and XPS for film analysis. Pitting potential was sensitive to magnesium as an alloying element but not to pH, while passive current was sensitive to pH but not to magnesium. It was explained with, instead of point defect model (PDM), surface charge model describing that the ingression of chloride depends on the state of surface charge and passive film at film/solution interface is affected by pH. In addition, galvanic current of aluminum electrically coupled to iron was not affected by magnesium in pH 8.4, 0.2M citrate solution but was increased by magnesium at the solution of pH 9.1. The galvanic current at pH 9.1 increased with time at the initial stage and after the exposure of about 200 minute, decreased and stabilized. The behavior of the galvanic current was related with the concentration of magnesium at the surface. It agreed with the depletion of magnesium at the oxide surface by using glow discharge atomic emission spectroscopy (GD-AES). In addition, pitting potential of pure aluminum was reduced in neutral pH solution where chloride ion maybe are competitively adsorbed on pure aluminum. It was confirmed by the exponential decrease of pitting potential with log of [$Cl^-$] around 0.025 M of [$Cl^-$] and linear decrease of the pitting potential. From the above results, unlike magnesium, alloying elements with higher electron negativity, lowering isoelectric point (ISE), are recommended to be added to improve pitting corrosion resistance of aluminum and its alloys in neutral solutions as well as their galvanic corrosion resistance in weakly basic solutions.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.131-139
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• 2004

Effects of PbO on the repassivation kinetics and characteristics of passive film of Alloy 690 were examined to elucidate the influences of PbO on the SCC resistance of that alloy. The repassivation kinetics of the alloy was analyzed in terms of the current density flowing from the scratch, i(t), as a function of the charge density that has flowed from the scratch, q(t). Repassivation on the scratched surface of the alloy occurred in two kinetically different processes; passive film initially nucleated and grew according to the place exchange model in which log i(t) is linearly proportional to q(t), and then grew according to the high field ion conduction model in which log i(t) is linearly proportional to 1/q(t) with a slope of cBV. The cBV is found to be a parameter representing repassivation rate and hence SCC susceptibility of the alloy. The lower the value of cBV, the faster the repassivation rate and the higher the SCC resistance of an alloy. Addition of PbO to pH 4 and 10 solutions increased the value of cBV of alloy 690, reflecting slower repassivation rate than without PbO. The change in the value of cBV was grater in pH 10 than in pH 4. The increase in SCC susceptibility of alloy 690 with the addition of PbO to solution was presumably due to the Cr-depletion in the outer parts of passive film of the alloy with an incorporation of Pb compounds in the film, which was revealed by Mott-Schottky, AES and XPS analyses.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2018

Ti and its alloys show the excellent corrosion resistance to chloride environments, but they show less corrosion resistance in HCl, $H_2SO_4$, NaOH, $H_3PO_4$, and especially HF environments at high temperature and concentration. In this study, we used the commercially pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V alloy, and evaluated the effect of the manufacturing process on the electrochemical properties. We used commercial products of rolled and forged materials, and made additive manufactured materials by DMT (Directed Metal Tooling) method. We annealed each specimen at $760^{\circ}C$ for one hour and then air cooled. We performed anodic polarization test, AC impedance measurement, and Mott-Schottky plot to evaluate the electrochemical properties. Despite of the difference of its microstructure of CP-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloys by the manufacturing process, the anodic polarization behavior was similar in 20% sulfuric acid. However, the addition of 0.1% hydrofluoric acid degraded the electrochemical properties. Among three kinds of the manufacturing process, the electrochemical properties of additive manufactured CP-Ti, and Ti-6Al-4V alloys were the lowest. It is noted that the test materials showed a Warburg impedance in HF acid environments.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.67 no.6
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• pp.789-793
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• 2018

All transparent metal oxide photoelectric device based on $V_2O_5$ was fabricated with structure of $V_2O_5/ZnO/ITO$ by magnetron sputtering system. $V_2O_5$ was deposited by reactive sputtering system with 4 inch vanadium target (purity 99.99%). In order to achieve p-n junction, p-type $V_2O_5$ was deposited onto the n-type ZnO layer. The ITO (indium tin oxide) was applied as the electron transporting layer for effective collection of the photo-induced electrons. Electrical and optical properties were analyzed. The Mott-Schottky analysis was applied to investigate the energy band diagram through the metal oxide layers. The $V_2O_5/ZnO/ITO$ photoelectric device has a rectifying ratio of 99.25 and photoresponse ratios of 1.6, 4.88 and 2.68 under different wavelength light illumination of 455 nm, 560 nm and 740 nm. Superior optical properties were realized with the high transmittance of average 70 % for visible light range. Transparent $V_2O_5$ layer absorbs the short wavelength light efficiently while passing the visible light. This research may provide a route for all-transparent photoelectric devices based on the adoption of the emerging p-type $V_2O_5$ metal oxide layer.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.424-432
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• 2019

Planar BiVO₄ and 3 wt% Mo-doped BiVO₄ (abbreviated as Mo:BiVO₄) film were prepared by the facile spin-coating method on fluorine doped SnO₂(FTO) substrate in the same precursor solution including the Mo precursor in Mo:BiVO₄ film. After annealing at a high temperature of 450℃ for 30 min to improve crystallinity, the films exhibited the monoclinic crystalline phase and nanoporous architecture. Both films showed no remarkably discrepancy in crystalline or morphological properties. To investigate the effect of surface passivation exploring the Al₂O₃ layer, the ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer with a thickness of approximately 2 nm was deposited on BiVO₄ film using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. No distinct morphological modification was observed for all prepared BiVO₄ and Mo:BiVO₄ films. Only slightly reduced nanopores were observed. Although both samples showed some reduction of light absorption in the visible wavelength after coating of Al₂O₃ layer, the Al₂O₃ coated BiVO₄ (Al₂O₃/BiVO₄) film exhibited enhanced photoelectrochemical performance in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ solution (pH 6.5), having higher photocurrent density (0.91 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), briefly abbreviated as V_RHE) than BiVO₄ film (0.12 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). Moreover, Al₂O₃ coating on the Mo:BiVO₄ film exhibited more enhanced photocurrent density (1.5 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE) than the Mo:BiVO₄ film (0.86 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). To examine the reasons, capacitance measurement and Mott-Schottky analysis were conducted, revealing that the significant degradation of capacitance value was observed in both BiVO₄ film and Al₂O₃/Mo:BiVO₄ film, probably due to degraded capacitance by surface passivation. Furthermore, the flat-band potential (V_FB) was negatively shifted to about 200 mV while the electronic conductivities were enhanced by Al₂O₃ coating in both samples, contributing to the advancement of PEC performance by ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer.