• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.471.2-471.2
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• 2014

We demonstrate here that an improvement in precursor film density (green density) leads to a great enhancement in the photovoltaic performance of CuInSe2 (CISe) thin film solar cells fabricated with Cu-In nanoparticle precursor films via chemical solution deposition. A cold-isostatic pressing (CIP) technique was applied to uniformly compress the precursor film over the entire surface (measuring 3~4 cm2) and was found to increase its relative density (particle packing density) by ca. 20%, which resulted in an appreciable improvement in the microstructural features of the sintered CISe film in terms of lower porosity, reduced grain boundaries, and a more uniform surface morphology. The low-bandgap (Eg=1.0 eV) CISe PV devices with the CIP-treated film exhibited greatly enhanced open-circuit voltage (VOC, from 0.265 V to 0.413 V) and fill factor (FF, from 0.34 to 0.55), as compared to the control devices. As a consequence, an almost 3-fold increase in the average power conversion efficiency, 3.0 to 8.2% (with the highest value of 9.02%), was realized without an anti-reflection coating. A diode analysis revealed that the enhanced VOC and FF were essentially attributed to the reduced reverse saturation current density (j0) and diode ideality factor (n). This is associated with the suppressed recombination, likely due to the reduction in recombination sites such as grain/air surfaces (pores), inter-granular interfaces, and defective CISe/CdS junctions in the CIP-treated device. From the temperature dependences of VOC, it was confirmed that the CIP-treated devices suffer less from interface recombination.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.323-329
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• 2021

This work presents a contrasting behavior of formic acid oxidation (FAO) on the Pt and Bi deposits on different Pt substrates. Using irreversible adsorption method, Bi and Pt were sequentially deposited on Pt electrodes of nanoparticle (Pt NP) and disk (Pt disk). The deposited layers of Bi and Pt on the Pt substrates were characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. The electrochemical behaviors and FAO enhancements of Pt NP and Pt disk with deposited Bi only (i.e., Bi/Pt NP and Bi/Pt disk), were similar to each other. However, additional deposition of Pt on Bi/Pt NP and Bi/Pt disk (i.e., Pt/Bi/Pt NP and Pt/Bi/Pt disk) changed the electrochemical behavior and FAO activity in different ways depending on the shapes of the Pt substrates. With Pt/Bi/Pt NP, the hydrogen adsorption was suppressed and the surface oxidation of Pt was enhanced; while with Pt/Bi/Pt disk, the opposite behavior was observed. This difference was interpreted as a stronger interaction between the deposited Bi and Pt on Pt NP than that on Pt disk. The FAO performance on Pt/Bi/Pt NP is much better than that on Pt/Bi/Pt disk, most likely due to the difference in the interaction between the deposited Pt and Bi depending on the shapes of Pt substrates. In designing FAO electrochemical catalysts using Pt and Bi, the shape of a Pt substrate was concluded to be critically considered.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.221-229
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• 2018

Tenofovir nanoparticles are novel therapeutic intervention in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection reaching the virus in their sanctuary sites. However, there has been no systemic toxicity testing of this formulation despite global concerns on the safety of nano drugs. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the toxicity of Tenofovir nanoparticle (NTDF) on the liver and kidney using an animal model. Fifteen adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats maintained at the animal house of the biomedical resources unit of the University of KwaZulu-Natal were weighed and divided into three groups. Control animals (A) were administered with normal saline (NS). The therapeutic doses of Tenofovir (TDF) and nanoparticles of Tenofovir (NTDF) were administered to group B and C and observed for signs of stress for four weeks after which animals were weighed and sacrificed. Liver and kidney were removed and fixed in formal saline, processed and stained using H/E, PAS and MT stains for light microscopy. Serum was obtained for renal function test (RFT) and liver function test (LFT). Cellular measurements and capturing were done using ImageJ and Leica software 2.0. Data were analysed using graph pad 6, p values < 0.05 were significant. We observed no signs of behavioural toxicity and no mortality during this study, however, in the kidneys, we reported mild morphological perturbations widening of Bowman's space, and vacuolations in glomerulus and tubules of TDF and NTDF animals. Also, there was a significant elevation of glycogen deposition in NTDF and TDF animals when compared with control. In the liver, there were mild histological changes with widening of sinusoidal spaces, vacuolations in hepatocytes and elevation of glycogen deposition in TDF and NTDF administered animals. In addition to this, there were no significant differences in stereological measurements and cell count, LFT, RFT, weight changes and organo-somatic index between treatment groups and control. In conclusion, NTDF and TDF in therapeutic doses can lead to mild hepatic and renal histological damage. Further studies are needed to understand the precise genetic mechanism.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.6.2-6.2
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• 2009

Nanostructured materials arecurrently receiving much attention because of their unique structural andphysical properties. Research has been stimulated by the envisagedapplications for this new class of materials in electronics, optics, catalysisand magnetic storage since the properties derived from nanometer-scalematerials are not present in either isolated molecules or micrometer-scalesolids. This study presents the experimental results derived fromthe various functional materials processed in nano-scale using pulsed laserablation, since those materials exhibit new physical phenomena caused by thereduction dimensionality. This presentation consists of three mainparts to consider in pulsed laser ablation (PLA) technique; first nanocrystallinefilms, second, nanocolloidal particles in liquid, and third, nanocoating fororganic/inorganic hybridization. Firstly, nanocrystalline films weresynthesized by pulsed laser deposition at various Ar gas pressures withoutsubstrate heating and/or post annealing treatments. From the controlof processng parameters, nanocystalline films of complex oxides and non-oxidematerials have been successfully fabricated. The excellentcapability of pulsed laser ablation for reactive deposition and its ability totransfer the original stoichiometry of the bulk target to the deposited filmsmakes it suitable for the fabrication of various functionalmaterials. Then, pulsed laser ablation in liquid has attracted muchattention as a new technique to prepare nanocolloidal particles. Inthis work, we represent a novel synthetic approach to directly producehighly-dispersed fluorescent colloidal nanoparticles using the PLA from ceramicbulk target in liquid phase without any surfactant. Furthermore, novel methodbased on simultaneous motion tracking of several individual nanoparticles isproposed for the convenient determination of nanoparticle sizedistributions. Finally, we report that the GaAs nanocrystals issynthesized successfully on the surface of PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate)microspheres by modified PLD technique using a particle fluidizationunit. The characteristics of the laser deposited GaAs nanocrytalswere then investigated. It should be noted that this is the first successfultrial to apply the PLD process nanocrystals on spherical polymermatrices. The present process is found to be a promising method fororganic/inorganic hybridization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.181-181
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• 2016

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c-Si:H$) films have attracted much attention as materials of the bottom-cells in Si thin film tandem photovoltaics due to their low bandgap and excellent stability against light soaking. However, in PECVD, the source gas $SiH_4$ must be highly diluted by $H_2$, which eventually results in low deposition rate. Moreover, it is known that high-rate ${\mu}c-Si:H$ growth is usually accompanied by a large number of dangling-bond (DB) defects in the resulting films, which act as recombination centers for photoexcited carriers, leading to a deterioration in the device performance. During film deposition, Si nanoparticles generated in $SiH_4$ discharges can be incorporated into films, and such incorporation may have effects on film properties depending on the size, structure, and volume fraction of nanoparticles incorporated into films. Here we report experimental results on the effects of nonoparticles incorporation at the different substrate temperature studied using a multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD method in which such incorporation can be significantly suppressed in upstream region by setting the gas flow velocity high enough to drive nanoparticles toward the downstream region. All experiments were performed with the multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD reactor at RT, 100, and $250^{\circ}C$, respectively. The gas flow rate ratio of $SiH_4$ to $H_2$ was 0.997. The total gas pressure P was kept at 2 Torr. The discharge frequency and power were 60 MHz, 180 W, respectively. Crystallinity Xc of resulting films was evaluated using Raman spectra. The defect densities of the films were measured with electron spin resonance (ESR). The defect density of fims deposited in the downstream region (with nonoparticles) is higher defect density than that in the upstream region (without nanoparticles) at low substrate temperature of RT and $100^{\circ}C$. This result indicates that nanoparticle incorporation can change considerably their film properties depending on the substrate temperature.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.27.1-27.1
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• 2011

The recent extensive research of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures such as nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) has been the driving force to fabricate new kinds of nanoscale devices in electronics, optics and bioengineering. We attempt to produce silicon oxide nanowires (SiOxNWs) in a simple way without complicate deposition process, gaseous Si containing precursors, or starting material of $SiO_2$. Nickel (Ni) nanoparticles (NPs) were applied on Si wafer and thermally treated in a furnace. The temperature in the furnace was kept in the ranges between 900 and $1,100^{\circ}C$ and a mixture of nitrogen ($N_2$) and hydrogen ($H_2$) flowed through the furnace. The SiOxNWs had widths ranging from 100 to 200 nm with length extending up to ~10 ${\mu}m$ and their structure was amorphous. Ni NPs were acted as catalysts. Since there were no other Si materials introduced into the furnace, the Si wafer was the only Si sources for the growth of SiOxNWs. When the Si wafer with deposition of Ni NPs was heated, the liquid Ni-Si alloy droplets were formed. The droplets as the nucleation sites induce an initiation of the growth of SiOxNWs and absorb oxygen easily. As the droplets became supersaturated, the SiOxNWs were grown, by the reaction between Si and O and continuously dissolving Si and O onto NPs. Photoluminescence (PL) showed that blue emission spectrum was centered at the wavelength of 450 nm (2.76 eV). The details of growth mechanism of SiOxNWs and the effect of Ni NPs on the formation of SiOxNWs will be presented.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.389-393
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• 2008

Nano-sized $TiO_2$-60 wt% SrO composite powders were synthesized by a sol-gel method using titanium isopropoxide and $Sr(OH)_2\;{\cdot}\;8H_2O$ as precursors. 3, -5, -7 wt%Ag spot-coated $TiO_2$-60 wt% SrO composite powders were synthesized by a Ag electroless deposition method using $TiO_2$-60 wt% SrO composite powders calcined at $1050^{\circ}C$, which mainly exhibited the $SrTiO_3$phase. However, a small number of rutile $TiO_2$, $Sr_2TiO_4$ and $SrO_2$ phases were also detected. In the Ag spot-coated powders synthesized by electroless deposition, nano-sized particles about 5-25 nm in diameter adhered to the $TiO_2$-60 wt% SrO composite powders. The photocatalytic activity of Ag spot-coated $TiO_2$-SrO and $TiO_2$-SrO composite powders for degradation of phenol showed that all of $TiO_2$-SrO composite powders were highly active under UV light irradiation. 7 wt%Ag spot-coated $TiO_2$-60wt.%SrO composite powders had a relatively higher photocatalytic activity than did $TiO_2$-SrO composite powders under visible light.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.399-399
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• 2008

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO structure such as nanowires, nanorods, nanotube, nanowall, etc. have been studied to multifunctional application such as optical, nanoscale electronic and chemical devices because it has a room-temperature wide band gap of 3.37eV, large exiton binding energy(60meV) and various properties. Various synthesis methods including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition, electrochemical deposition, micro-emulsion, and hydrothermal approach have been reported to fabricate various kinds of ZnO nanostructures. But some of these synthesis methods are expensive and difficult of mass production. Wet chemical method has several advantage such as simple process, mass production, low temperature process, and low cost. In the present work, ZnO nanorods are deposited on ITO/glass substrate by simple wet chemical method. The process is perfomed by two steps. One-step is deposition of ZnO seeds and two-step is growth of ZnO nanorods on substrates. In order to form ZnO seeds on substrates, mixture solution of Zn acetate and Methanol was prepared.(one-step) Seed layers were deposited for control of morpholgy of ZnO seed layers by spin coating process because ZnO seeds is deposited uniformly by centrifugal force of spin coating. The seed-deposited samples were pre-annealed for 30min at $180^{\circ}C$ to enhance adhesion and crystallinnity of ZnO seed layer on substrate. Vertically well-aligned ZnO nanorods were grown by the "dipping-and-holding" process of the substrates into the mixture solution consisting of the mixture solution of DI water, Zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine for 4 hours at $90^{\circ}C$.(two-step) It was found that density and morphology of ZnO nanorods were controlled by manipulation of ZnO seeds through rpm of spin coating. The morphology, crystallinity, optical properties of the grown ZnO nanostructures were carried out by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution electron microscopy, photoluminescence, respectively. We are convinced that this method is complementing problems of main techniques of existing reports.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.223.1-223.1
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• 2015

본 연구에서는 지름이 다른 두 개의 디스크가 적층된 구조를 갖는 금 나노 구조체를 제작하고 그 광학적 특성에 대해 연구하였다. 나노임프린팅을 통하여 패턴된 폴리머 포어 어레이에 금 박막을 증착하고, 포어 내부에 증착된 금 나노구조체를 선택적으로 수거하는 방법을 이용하였다 [1]. 특히 금 증착 시, 빗각으로 증착 (oblique-angle deposition)을 하여 지름이 다른 두 개의 디스크가 적층되어 있는 구조를 형성하는 것이 가능하였다. 증착 각도의 조절을 통해 적층된 두 디스크의 지름 비율을 변화시킬 뿐만 아니라, 2차원 디스크 형태의 나노구조체부터 3차원 디쉬 형태의 구조체도 제작이 가능함을 확인하였다. 제안된 하향식 나노공정을 통하여 합성된 금 나노구조체를 이용하여 광열 전환(photothermal heat conversion)과 광 간섭성 단층 (optical coherence tomography) 측정을 진행하였고, 서로 다른 두 개의 디스크가 적층된 형태의 금 나노구조체는 상용 금 나노로드 (Au nanorod) 보다 높은 광 열 전환 효율을 갖을 뿐 아니라 우수한 OCT 이미징 특성을 보였다. 광열 전환 및 OCT 이미징 실험 결과는 각각 플라즈모닉 나노구조의 광흡수, 광산란 특성에 기반하므로, 본 연구를 통하여 제안된 금 나노구조체는 광흡수 및 광산란을 기반한 바이오이미징 나노프로브로 유용하게 사용될 수 있을 것으로 전망된다.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.90-96
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• 2011

We investigated the properties of artificial pinning centers of YBCO multilayer films in which $Y_2O_3$ and ZnO nanoparticles are uniformly introduced by using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. $Y_2O_3$ and ZnO nanoparticles were deposited on top of YBCO buffer layer and the density of nanoparticles was controlled by varying the number of nanoparticle layers. YBCO superconducting layers with total thickness of 250 nm were deposited on top of $Y_2O_3$ and ZnO nanoparticles. Based on analyses of the surface morphology, the transition temperature $T_c$, and the critical current density $J_c$, we discussed the difference between the two kinds of nanoparticles as flux pinning centers.