• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.140.2-140.2
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• 2013

Strong metal-support interaction effect is an important issue in determining the catalytic activity for heterogeneous catalysis. In this work, we report the catalytic activity of $Au/TiO_2$, $Au/Al_2O_3$, and $Au/Al_2O_3-CeO_2$ nanocatalysts under CO oxidation fabricated by arc plasma deposition (APD), which is a facile dry process with no organic materials involved. These catalytic materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and $N_2$-physisorption. Catalytic activity of the materials has measured by CO oxidation using oxygen, as a model reaction, in a micro-flow reactor at atmospheric pressure. Using APD, the catalyst nanoparticles were well dispersed on metal oxide powder with an average particle size (3~10 nm). As for catalytic reactivity, the result shows $Au/Al_2O_3-CeO_2$ nanocatalyst has the highest catalytic activity among three samples in CO oxidation, and $Au/TiO_2$, and $Au/Al_2O_3$ in sequence. We discuss the effects of structure and metal-oxide interactions of the catalysts on catalytic activity.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.513-520
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• 2019

In this investigation, nano ZnO was sonochemically synthesized by a novel method using a methionine precursor. A narrow size distribution (41-50 nm) of nano ZnO was achieved that was immobilized on perlite and applied as a catalyst in catalytic ozonation. The catalyst was characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, BET surface area, and field emission scanning electron microscope. The ozonation of recalcitrant Remazol black 5 (RB5) di-azo dye solution by means of the synthesized catalyst was investigated in a bubble column slurry reactor. The influence of pH values (7, 9, 11), catalyst dosage (8, 12, 15, $20g\;L^{-1}$) and reaction time (10, 20, 30, 60 min) was investigated. Although the dye color was completely removed by single ozonation at a higher reaction time, the applied nanocatalyst improved the dye declorination kinetics. Also, the degradation of the hazardous aromatic fraction of the dye was enhanced five-times by catalytic ozonation at a low reaction time (10 min) and a neutral pH. The second-order kinetics was best fitted in terms of both RB5 color and its aromatic fraction removal. The total organic carbon analysis indicated a significant improvement in the mineralization of RB5 by catalytic ozonation using the nano-ZnO/perlite catalyst.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.288-288
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• 2013

We report the catalytic activity of Au/$TiO_2$ and Pt/$TiO_2$ nanocatalysts under CO oxidation fabricated by arc plasma deposition (APD), which is a facile dry process with no organic materials involved. Using APD, the catalyst nanoparticles were well dispersed on $TiO_2$ powder with an average particle size (2~4 nm) well below that of nanoparticles prepared by the sol-gel method (10 nm). We found that the average particle size of the dispersed gold nanoparticles can be controlled by changing the plasma discharge voltage of APD. Accordingly, the amount of loaded gold on the $TiO_2$ powder increased with increasing discharge voltage, but the specific surface area of the Au/$TiO_2$ samples decreased. As for catalytic reactivity, Au/$TiO_2$ showed a higher catalytic activity than Pt/$TiO_2$ in CO oxidation. The catalytic activity of the Au/$TiO_2$ samples showed size dependence where higher catalytic activity occurred on smaller gold nanoparticles. The study suggests that APD is a simple way to fabricate catalytically active nanocatalysts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.245-245
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• 2012

Syntheses of oxide supported metal catalysts by wet-chemical routes have been well known for their use in heterogeneous catalysis. However, uniform deposition of metal nanoparticles with controlled size and shape on the support with high reproducibility is still a challenge for catalyst preparation. Among various synthesis methods, arc plasma deposition (APD) of metal nanoparticles or thin films on oxide supports has received great interest recently, due to its high reproducibility and large-scale production, and used for their application in catalysis. In this work, Au and Pt nanoparticles with size of 1-2 nm have been deposited on titania powder by APD. The size of metal nanoparticles was controlled by number of shots of metal deposition and APD conditions. These catalytic materials were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma (ICP-AES), CO-chemisorption and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Catalytic activity of the materials was measured by CO oxidation using oxygen, as a model reaction, in a micro-flow reactor at atmospheric pressure. We found that Au/$TiO_2$ is reactive, showing 100% conversion at $110^{\circ}C$, while Pt/$TiO_2$ shows 100% conversion at $200^{\circ}C$. High activity of metal nanoparticles suggests that APD can be used for large scale synthesis of active nanocatalysts. We will discuss the effect of the structure and metal-oxide interactions of the catalysts on catalytic activity.

• Ceramist
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.200-210
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• 2020

Supported catalysts are at the heart of manufacturing essential chemical, agricultural and pharmaceutical products. While the longevity of such systems is critically hinged on the durability of metal nanoparticles, the conventional deposition/dispersion techniques are difficult to enhance the stability of the metal nanoparticles due to the lack of control over the interaction between metal-support. Regarding this matter, ex-solution has begun to be recognized as one of the most promising methodologies to develop thermally and chemically robust nanoparticles. By dissolving desired catalysts as a cation form into a parent oxide, fine and uniformly distributed metal nano-catalysts can be subsequently grown in situ under reductive heat treatment, which is referred to ex-solution. Over the several years, ex-solved analog has resulted in tremendous progress in the chemical-electrochemical applications due to the exceptional robustness coupled with ease synthesis. Herein, we describe the ex-solution process in detail which therein introducing the unique characteristics of ex-solved particles that distinguish them from conventionally dispersed nanoparticles. We then go through the history of science regarding the ex-solution phenomena and summarize several major research achievements which embrace the ex-solved nanoparticles to markedly promote the catalytic performances. In conclusion, we address the remaining challenges and the future perspectives of this rapidly growing field.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.224-229
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• 2011

In this study, we have developed shear horizontal(SH) surface acoustic wave(SAW) sensors for the detection of immunoglobulin G(IgG) on the gold coated delay line of SH-SAW devices. As the result of the experiment, we could uniformly immobilize anti-MIgG(mouse IgG) conjugate on the surface of gold. When displaying results of immobilization on the surface of gold using G-anti MIgG conjugate and blocking buffer in frequency shift, G-anti MIgG conjugate showed frequency shift of 75.1 kHz in the initial frequency, and blocking buffer showed frequency shift of 215.7 kHz. When various concentrations of MIgG was added in 100MHz type sensor, the sensor showed 46.3, 127.45, 161.21 and 262.39 kHz frequency shift at 25, 50, 75 and 100 ${\mu}g$ MIgG concentration, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.270-274
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• 2017

Formic acid has been known as one of key sources of hydrogen. Among various monometallic catalysts, hydrogen can be efficiently produced on Pd catalyst. However, the catalytic activity of Pd is gradually reduced by the blocking of active sites by CO, which is formed from the unwanted indirect oxidation of formic acid. One of promising solutions to overcome such issue is the design of alloy catalyst by adding other metal into Pd since alloying effect (such as ligand and strain effect) can increase the chance to mitigate CO poisoning issue. In this study, we have investigated formic acid deposition on the bimetallic $Pd/Pd_3Fe$ core-shell nanocatalyst using DFT (density functional theory) calculation. In comparison to Pd catalyst, the activation energy of formic acid dehydrogenation is greatly reduced on $Pd/Pd_3Fe$ catalyst. In order to understand the importance of alloying effects in catalysis, we decoupled the strain effect from ligand effect. We found that both strain effect and ligand effect reduced the binding energy of HCOO by 0.03 eV and 0.29 eV, respectively, compared to the pure Pd case. Our DFT analysis of electronic structure suggested that such decrease of HCOO binding energy is related to the dramatic reduction of density of state near the fermi level.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.25-38
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• 2020

Photoelectrochemical water splitting has been considered as the most promising technology for generating hydrogen energy. Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) compounds have currently attracted tremendous attention due to their outstanding ability towards the catalytic water-splitting hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we report the synthesis method of various transition metal dichalcogenide including MoS₂, MoSe₂, WS₂, and WSe₂ nanosheets as excellent catalysts for solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen evolution. Photocathodes were fabricated by growing the nanosheets directly onto Si nanowire (NW) arrays, with a thickness of 20 nm. The metal ion layers were formed by soaking the metal chloride ethanol solution and subsequent sulfurization or selenization produced the transition metal chalcogenide. They all exhibit excellent PEC performance in 0.5 M H₂SO₄; the photocurrent reaches to 20 mA cm^-2 (at 0 V vs. RHE) and the onset potential is 0.2 V under AM1.5 condition. The quantum efficiency of hydrogen generation is avg. 90%. The stability of MoS₂ and MoSe₂ is 90% for 3h, which is higher than that (80%) of WS₂ and WSe₂. Detailed structure analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for before/after HER reveals that the Si-WS₂ and Si-WSe₂ experience more oxidation of Si NWs than Si-MoS₂ and Si-MoSe₂. This can be explained by the less protection of Si NW surface by their flake shape morphology. The high catalytic activity of TMDs should be the main cause of this enhanced PEC performance, promising efficient water-splitting Si-based PEC cells.