• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.119-125
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• 2009

Fabrication of a three-dimensional (3D) metallic mold for multi-production of a microstructure was studied to settle the problem of long processing time in 3D microfabrication. To date, complicated 3D microstructures including 3D photonic crystals, 3D microlens array, 3D filter for microfludics, and something else were created successfully using the two-photon polymerization (TPP) which was considered as paving the way to fabricate a real 3D shape in nano/microscale. However, for those fabrications, much processing time and efforts were inevitably required. To solve this issue, a simple and effective way was proposed in this paper; 3D master patterns were prepared using TPP, and then counter-shaped Ni molds were fabricated by electroforming process. By using these molds, 3D microstructures can be reproduced with short-processing time and low-effort comparing to the conventional approach, TPP We report some parameters to fabricate a metallic mold precisely.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.38-42
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• 2015

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a widely used material for replicating micro-structures because of its transparency, deformability, and easy fabrication. At the nanoscale, however, it is hard to fill a nanohole template with uncured PDMS. This paper introduces several simple methods by changing the surface energy of a nanohole template and PDMS elastomer for replicating 100nm-scale structures. In the case of template, pristine anodic aluminum oxide (AAO), hydrophobically treated AAO, and hydrophillically treated AAO are used. For the surface energy change of the PDMS elastomer, a hydrophilic additive and dilution solvent are added in the PDMS prepolymer. During the molding process, a simple casting method is used for all combinations of the treated template and modified PDMS. The nanostructured PDMS surface was investigated with a scanning electron microscope after the molding process for verification.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.356-365
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• 2004

In analyzing the region of the Amycolatopsis mediterranei S699 chromosome responsible for the biosynthesis of the ansamycin antibiotic rifamycin, we identified a gene, designated orj0, which is located immediately upstream of the rifamycin polyketide synthase (PKS). Orj0 encodes a protein, on the basis of sequence-comparative analysis, that is similar to several cytochrome P450 monooxygenases from different sources. The rifamycin producer, A. mediterranei, predominantly produces rifamycin B from its macrocyclic intermediate, proansamycin X, through dehydrogenation and hydroxylation steps. However, an A. mediterranei strain, deleted in orj0 by gene replacement, no longer produced rifamycin B. Furthermore, a versatile replicative vector in A. mediterranei was constructed and rifamycin B production was restored in a complementation experiment of orj0 using this novel vector. These consecutive results verified that the arf0 protein, which is a P450 hydroxylase, is required for the production of rifamycin B in A. mediterranei.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.100-104
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• 2005

The injection molding is very effective process for various plastic products due to its high productivity. It is also good fur precise products like optical parts. Various thermoplastic materials are also available with this injection molding process. In recent, however, as the overall size of the product increases and micro or nano scale of patterns are applied to the products, we now have some problems such as low fidelity of the replication of the pattern, high molding pressure, or warpage from the in-mold stress. Injection/compression molding is studied to overcome those problems in molding large thin plate with micro pattern array on its surface. An injection compression mold is designed to 3 pieces mold for side gate. We install 4 pressure transducers and 9 thermocouples to measure the melt pressure and surface temperature in the cavity during the process. As a result, the maximum molding pressure for injection compression molding is reduced to 1/3 compared to injection molding and the uniformity of the pressure in the cavity is enhanced by about 15%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.45-52
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• 2009

The research on miniature devices based on non-silicon materials, in particular polymeric materials has been attracting more and more attention in the research field of the micro/nano fabrication in recent years. Lost of applications and many literatures have been reported. However, the study on the micro thermal imprint process of glassy polymer is still not systematic and inadequate. The aim of this research I to obtain a numerical material model for an amorphous glassy polymer, polycarbonate (PC), which can be used in finite element analysis (FEA) of the micro thermal imprint process near the glass transition temperature (Tg). An understanding of the deformation behavior of the PC specimens was acquired by performing tensile stress relaxation tests. The viscoelastic material model based on generalized Maxwell model was introduced for the material near Tg to establish the FE model based on the commercial FEA code ABAQUS/Standard with a suitable set of parameters obtained for this material model form the test data. As a result, the feasibility of the established viscoelastic model for PC near Tg was confirmed and this material model can be used in FE analysis for the prediction and improvement of the micro thermal imprint process for pattern replication.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.415-418
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• 2010

Highly ordered mesoporous silver material was successfully synthesized from a mesoporous silica template (KIT-6) with 3-D channel structure using the nano-replication method. The effects of $H_2$ or $O_2$ pretreatments on the catalytic performance of the mesoporous silver were investigated using a temperature programmed CO oxidation technique in a fixed bed reactor. The mesoporous silver material that was pretreated with $H_2$ exhibited an excellent catalytic activity compared to the as-prepared and $O_2$-pretreated catalysts. Moreover, this present mesoporous silver material showed good catalytic stability. For the CO oxidation, the apparent activation energy of the $H_2$-pretreated mesoporous silver catalyst was $61{\pm}0.5\;kJ\;mol^{-1}$, which was also much lower than the as-prepared ($132{\pm}1.5\;kJ\;mol^{-1}$) and $O_2$-pretreated ($124{\pm}1.4\;kJ\;mol^{-1}$) catalysts.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2013

In this study, a micro/nano-random-pattern-structure surface was machined by electric discharge machining (EDM) followed by replicating the EDM surface with a silicone elastomer having low energy and greater hydrophobicity. The variation of hydrophobicity was of prime interest and was examined as a function of the surface roughness of the replicated silicone elastomer. The hydrophobicity was evaluated by the water contact angle (WCA) measured on the relevant surface. For the experiments, the original surfaces were machined by die sinking electric discharge machining (DS-EDM) and wire cutting electric discharge machining (WC-EDM). The ranges of surface roughness were Ra $0.8{\sim}19{\mu}m$ for the DS-EDM and Ra $0.5{\sim}4.7{\mu}m$ for the WC-EDM. In order to fabricate a hydrophobic surface, the EDM surfaces were directly replicated using a liquid-state silicone elastomer, which was thermally cured. The measured WCA on the replicated surfaces for DS-EDM was in the range of $115{\sim}130^{\circ}$ and for WC-EDM the WCA was in the range of $123{\sim}150^{\circ}$. Additionally, the dynamic hydrophobicity was evaluated by measuring an advancing and a receding WCA on the replicated silicone elastomer surfaces.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.569-573
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• 2014

We demonstrate a low-cost, superbly efficient way of etching for the nano-, and micro-sized pyramid patterns on (100)-oriented Si wafer surfaces for use as a patterned master. We show a way of producing functional optical films for the viewing angle direction brightness-enhancement of Lambertian LED (light emitting diode)/OLED (organic light emitting diode) planar lighting applications. An optimally formulated KOH (Potassium hydroxide) wet etching process enabled random-positioned, and random size-distributed (within a certain size range) pyramid patterns to be developed over the entire (100) silicon wafer substrates up to 8" and a simple replication process of master patterns onto the PC (poly-carbonate) and PMMA (poly-methyl methacrylate) films were performed. Haze ratio values were measured for several film samples exhibiting excellent values over 90% suitable for LED/OLED lighting purposes. Brightness was also improved by 13~14% toward the viewing angle direction. Computational simulations using LightTools$^{TM}$ were also carried out and turned out to be in strong agreement with experimental data. Finally, we could check the feasibility of fabricating low-cost, large area, high performance optical films for commercialization.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.137-145
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• 2021

Among the non-precious metal catalysts, iron-nitrogen doped carbon (Fe-N/C) catalysts have been recognized as the most promising candidates for an alternative to Pt-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) under alkaline and acidic conditions. In this study, the nano replication method using mesoporous silica, which features tunable primary particle sizes and shape, is employed to prepare the mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts with different shapes. Platelet SBA-15, irregular KIT-6, and spherical silica particle (SSP) were selected as a template to generate three different kinds of shapes of the mesoporous Fe-N/C catalyst. Physicochemical properties of mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts are characterized by using small-angle X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, and scanning electron microscopy images. According to the electrochemical evaluation, there is no morphological preference of mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts toward the ORR activity with half-cell configuration under alkaline electrolyte. By implementing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of Fe and N atoms in the mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts, it is possible to verify that the activity towards ORR highly depends on the portions of "Fe-N" species in the catalysts regardless of the shape of catalysts. It was suggested that active site distribution in the Fe-N/C is one important factor towards ORR activity.