• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.227-233
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• 2009

Recently, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), one of the solar cells, has been widely investigated. Studies on DSSCs can be classified into 4 fields such as $TiO_2$ nanocrystalline materials, dyes, electrolytes and conductive plate. In this work, $TiO_2$ nanoparticles for dye adsorption were synthesized, and added into the photo-electrode paste with different phosphor types and contents. Then, the influence of phosphor additives on the conversion efficiency of DSSCs was investigated. It was found that the maximum conversion efficiency was 8.81% when 0.5% of YAG phospher having the particle size of 400 nm was used.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.310-310
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• 2010

Electronic and photovoltaic characteristics of two sensitizers (TA-BTD-CA and TA-BTD-St-CA), composed of a different $\pi$-conjugation in the linker group, have been investigated by theoretical and experimental methods. The electronic structure, transition dipole moment and oscillator strengths of two sensitizers have been scrutinized by using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) method. The LUMO level and the oscillator strength of TA-BTD-St-CA was higher than that of TA-BTD-CA, which may facilitate the electron injection process as well as increase the absorption coefficient. The relative efficiencies of the electron injection from the excited sensitizer to nanocrystalline TiO2 and SnO2 films have also been investigated by nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The relative electron injection efficiency of TA-BTD-St-CA exhibited similar injection efficiency for two different semiconductors. However, in the case of TA-BTD-CA sensitizer, electron injection into SnO2 was approximately three times larger than that into TiO2. This enhancement of electron injection of TA-BTD-CA for the SnO2 is due to the increment of the driving force caused by positive shift of conduction band of semiconductor, which was also confirmed from the investigation for the photovoltaic characteristics according to the electrolyte additive, such as LiI additive.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.774-779
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• 2013

We synthesized the solution processible monodispersed $TiO_2$ crystalline nano-sol with ~ 5 nm in size by sol-gel method. Through the spin-coating of crystalline $TiO_2$ nano-sol at low processing temperature, we could make even blocking interlayer on the rough FTO transparent electrode substrate. The rough FTO surface could be gradually smoothed by the spin-coating of nano-crystalline $TiO_2$ sol based blocking interlayer. The 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 wt% of nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ sol formed 29, 38, 62, and 226 nm-thick of blocking interlayer in present experimental condition, respectively. The 5 and 10 wt% of $TiO_2$ nano-sol could effectively fill up the valley part of bare FTO with 48.7 nm of rms (root mean square) roughness and consequently enabled the ZnO to be grown to vertically aligned one dimensional nanorods on the flattened blocking interlayer/FTO substrate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.218-218
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• 2012

Nanocrystalline $SnO_2$ colloids are synthesized by hydrolysis of $SnCl_4{\cdot}5H_2O$ in aqueous ammonia solution. The synthesized $SnO_2$ nanoparticles with ca. 15 nm in diameter are coated on a fluorinedoped thin oxide (FTO) conductive substrate and heated at $550^{\circ}C$. The annealed $SnO_2$ film is treated with aqueous $TiCl_4$ solution, which is sensitzied with MK-2 dye (2-cyano-3-[5'''-(9-ethyl- 9H-carbazol-3-yl)-3',3'',3''',4-tetra-n-hexyl-[2,2',5',2'',5'',2''']-quater thiophen-5-yl]). Compared to bare $SnO_2$ film, the conversion efficiency is significantly improved from 0.22% to 3.13% after surface treatment of $SnO_2$ with $TiCl_4$, which is mainly due to the large increases in both photocurrent density from 1.33 to $9.46mA/cm^2$ and voltage from 315 to 634 mV. It is noted that little change in the amount of the adsorbed dye is detected from 1.21 for the bare $SnO_2$ to $1.28{\mu}mol/cm^2$ for the $TiCl_{4-}$ treated $SnO_2$. This indicates that the photocurrent density increased by more than 6 times is not closely related to the dye loading concentration. From the photocurrent and voltage transient spectroscopic studies, electron life time increases by about 13 order of magnitude, whereas electron diffusion coefficient decreases by about 3.6 times after $TiCl_4$ treatment. Slow electron diffusion rate offers sufficient time for regeneration kinetics. As a result, charge collection efficiency of about 40% before $TiCl_4$ treatment is improved to 95% after $TiCl_4$ treatment. The large increase in voltage is due to the significant increase in electron life time, associated with upward shift of fermi energy.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.98-110
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• 1998

$Ti_{52}Al_{48}$ and $(Ti_{52}Al_{48})_{100-x}B_x(x=0.5, 2, 5)$ alloys have been Produced by mechanical milling in an attritor mill using prealloyed powders. Microstructure of binary $Ti_{52}Al_{48}$ powders consists of grains of hexagonal phase whose structure is very close to $Ti_2Al$. $(Ti_{52}Al_{48})_{95}B_5$ powders contains TiB2 in addition to matrix grains of hexagonal phase. The grain sizes in the as-milled powders of both alloys are nanocrystalline. The mechanically alloyed powders were consolidated by vacuum hot pressing (VHP) at 100$0^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours, resulting in a material which is fully dense. Microstructure of consolidated binary alloy consists of $\gamma$-TiAl phase with dispersions of $Ti_2AlN$ and $A1_2O_3$ phases located along the grain boundaries. Binary alloy shows a significant coarsening in grain and dispersoid sizes. On the other hand, microstructure of B containing alloy consists of $\gamma$-TiAl grains with fine dispersions of $TiB_2$ within the grains and shows the minimal coarsening during annealing. The vacuum hot pressed billets were subjected to various heat treatments, and the mechanical properties were measured by compression testing at room temperature. Mechanically alloyed materials show much better combinations of strength and fracture strain compared with the ingot-cast TiAl, indicating the effectiveness of mechanical alloying in improving the mechanical properties.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.367-373
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• 2011

This paper studies the experimental method that uses the homogeneous precipitation method to prepare mica flakes coated with anatase-type titania pearlescent pigment with urea as precipitant. The optimum technology parameters, the chemical composition, the microstructure, and the color property of resulting pigments are discussed. The coating principle of mica coated titania with various coating thickness is analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and tested by spectrophotometer analysis. The colored nanocrystalline pigments with different morphology and coating thickness 45-170 nm were prepared by homogeneous precipitation treatment of $TiOSO_4$(titanum oxysulfate) aqueous solutions. Characterizations on the pigments show that the pearlescent effects of the pigments depend mainly on mica size, thickness of the metal oxide deposit, its chemical composition, and crystal structure.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.240-246
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• 2002

$TiO_2$ films on soda-lime-silica glasses were prepared by spin coating-pyrolysis process using titanium naphthenate as a starting material. As-deposited films were pyrolyzed at $500^{\circ}C$ for 10 min in air and annealed at 500, 550 and $600^{\circ}C$ for 30 min in air. Crystallinity of the film was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis. A field emission-scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope were used for characterizing the surface morphology and the surface roughness of the film. After annealing at 550 and $600^{\circ}C$, the X-ray diffraction patterns consist of only anatase peak. Films annealed at 500 and $550^{\circ}C$ exhibited flat surfaces. While with the increase in annealing temperature to $600^{\circ}C$, the $TiO_2$ film showed abnormal growth of three-dimensional needle-shaped grains. For all samples, high transmittance, above 90 % at 500 nm, was obtained at visible range. To investigate photocatalytic properties, IR absorbance associated with the C-H stretching vibrations of a thin solution-cast film of stearic acid under 365 nm (2.4 mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$) UV irradiation was estimated.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.354-356
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• 2017

We focused on light management technology in amorphous silicon solar cells to suppress increase in absorber thickness for improving power conversion efficiency (PCE). $MgF_2$ and $TiO_2$ anti-reflection layers were coated on both sides of Asahi VU ($glass/SnO_2:F$) substrates, which contributed to increase in PCE from 9.16% to 9.81% at absorber thickness of only 150 nm. Also, we applied very thin $MgF_2$ as a rear reflector at n-type nanocrystalline silicon oxide/Ag interface to boost photocurrent. By reinforcing rear reflection, we could find the PCE increase from 10.08% up to 10.34% based on thin absorber about 200 nm.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1204-1208
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• 2012

A new photoelectrode composed of $Sb_6O_{13}$ nanoparticles with the size of 20-30 nm has been prepared via thermolysis of a colloidal antimony pentoxide tetrahydrate ($Sb_2O_5{\cdot}4H_2O$) suspension. The $Sb_6O_{13}$ electrode showed good semiconducting properties applicable to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs); the energy band gap was estimated to be $3.05{\pm}0.5$ eV and the position of conduction band edge was close to those of $TiO_2$ and ZnO. The DSSC assembled with the $Sb_6O_{13}$ photoelectrode and a conventional ruthenium-dye (N719) exhibited the overall photo-current conversion efficiency of 0.74% ($V_{oc}$ = 0.76 V, $J_{sc}=1.99\;mAcm{-2}$, fill factor = 0.49) under AM 1.5, $100\;mWcm^{-2}$ illumination.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.68-69
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• 2011

The process of charge transfer at the interface between two semiconductors or between a metal and a semiconductor plays an important role in many areas of technology. The optimization of such devices requires a good theoretical description of the interfaces involved. This, in turn, has motivated detailed mechanistic studies of interfacial charge-transfer reactions at metal/organic, organic/organic, and organic/inorganic semiconductor heterojunctions. Charge recombination of photo-induced electron with redox species such as oxidized dyes or triiodide or cationic HTM (hole transporting materials) at the heterogeneous interface of $TiO_2$ is one of main loss factors in liquid junction DSSCs or solid-state DSSCs, respectively. Among the attempts to prevent recombination reactions such as insulating thin layer and lithium ions-doped hole transport materials and introduction of co-adsorbents, although co-adsorbents retard the recombination reactions as hydrophobic energy barriers, little attention has been focused on the anchoring processes. Molecular engineering of heterogeneous interfaces by employing several co-adsorbents with different properties altered the surface properties of $TiO_2$ electrodes, resulting to the improved power conversion efficiency and long-term stability of the DSSCs. In this talk, advantages of the coadsorbent-assisted sensitization of N719 in preparation of DSSCs will be discussed.