• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.360-364
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• 2018

A facile method to fabricate freestanding CuO nanoleaves and CuO nanowires-based films was demonstrated. $Cu(OH)_2$ nanoleaves and nanowires were prepared by a hydrolysis reaction in aqueous solution including pyridine and NaOH with the tailored concentrations at room temperature. The films of freestanding CuO nanoleaves and CuO nanowires can be successfully obtained via the simple vacuum infiltration following a thermal dehydration reaction. The morphologies and crystallinity of the $Cu(OH)_2$ nanoleaves/nanowires and CuO nanoleaves/nanowires were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and FT-IR. The films fabricated with freestanding CuO nanoleaves and nanowires in this study may be applicable for building high-efficiency organic binder-free devices, such as gas sensors, batteries, photoelectrodes for water splitting and so on.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.2865-2870
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• 2013

Ni-Ag core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized by polyol process and microemulsion technique successfully. In the polyol process, a chemical reduction method for preparing highly dispersed pure nickel and Ag shell formation have been reported. The approach involved the control of reaction temperature and reaction time in presence of organic solvent (ethylene glycol) as a reducing agent for Ag cation with poly(vinyl-pyrrolidone) (PVP. Mw = 40000) as a capping agent. In microemulsion method, the emulsion was prepared by water/cetyltrimetylammonium bromide (CTAB)/cyclohexane. The size of microemulsion droplet was determined by the molar ratio of water to surfactant (${\omega}_o$). The core-shell formation along with the change in structural phase and stability against oxidation at high temperature heat treatments of nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction and TEM analysis. Under optimum conditions the polyol process gives the Ni-Ag core-shell structures with 13 nm Ni core covered with 3 nm Ag shell, while the microemulsion method gives Ni core diameter of 8 nm with Ag shell of thickness 6 nm. The synthesized Ni-Ag core-shell nanoparticles were stable against oxidation up to $300^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.122-127
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• 2006

Fundamental studies were carried out for an effective removal and recovery of silver from waste photo-developing solution by solvent extraction. The organic solvents examined for silver-extraction were ALIQUAT 336, D2EHPA, KELEX 100, and TBP. ALIQUAT 336, which is an anionic exchanger, was found to be efficient for the extraction of silver and the reason for this was considered to be due to the chloride ion contained in its structure. The extent of silver extraction was examined to increase with the concentration of ALIQUAT 336 until it reached 0.6 M and no more extraction was observed above this concentration. The extraction of silver by ALIQUAT 336 was found to reach its pseudo-equilibrium within a few minutes after the reaction started and additional slight increase in silver extraction was observed until 30 minutes of reaction time. The observed differences in silver extraction for artificial and actual waste solutions were considered to be based upon the different ionic form of silver-containing species in these solutions.

• Proceedings of the Petrological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.3-11
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• 2000

The earth environment consists of four spheres : geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. The geosphere consists mostly of minerals. It, however, contains some water and air in its shallow depth. Although hydrosphere and atmosphere consist predominantly of water and air, respectively, both contain some minerals. The biosphere consisting of various organisms is present in the interfaces of geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. The natural environment of the earth is continuously changing by the interaction of four spheres. It suggests that out relevant environmental problems can not be revolved without understanding the natural relationship of these four spheres. Minerals in our environment are very important because they are the main constituent materials of the earth and they control our environment. The roles of minerals in our environment have not been understood even in the scientific society. Thus their roles have been neglected. Review of studies on the environmental mineralogy so far made at our laboratory and others show that minerals control the environment in various ways. Minerals neutralize the acid water as well as acid rain. Minerals in soils and rocks are major neutralizer of the acid rain. Salinization of sea water is attributed to the ionic substitution between minerals and sea water. Some minerals control the humidity of the air. Corals, the products of biomineralization, are the main carbon controller of the air. Minerals also adsorb heavy metals, organic pollutants and radioactive nuclides. Such remarkable functions for controlling the environment come from the mineral-water reaction and biomineralization. All these phenomena are subjects of the environmental mineralogy, a new field of earth science.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.329-335
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• 2008

Volatile organic compounds emitted to the atmosphere can cause adverse effects on human health and participate in photochemical smog formation reactions. The destruction of a series of VOCs has been carried out by non-thermal plasma in other researches. And the characteristic of non-thermal plasma was operated at atmospheric pressure and low temperature. A new type non-thermal plasma reactor was investigated combined Glidarc plasma with water jet in this research. Also, it was found that the water-jet had an significant effect on the toluene removal efficiency. But too much water content does not favor toluene decomposition by decreasing of reaction temperature. The input toluene concentration, gas flow rate, water flow rate and specific energy input were used as experiment variables. The toluene removal efficiency, energy efficiency and specific energy input were 75.3%, 146.6 g/kWh and $1.12kWh/m^3$ at a water flow rate of 100 mL/min.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.3733-3737
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• 2013

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based ultrafine fibers and carbon fibers were produced by wet-spinning, and the crystal sizes and thermal and mechanical properties of the fibers were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the superfine fibrils in the surfaces of the PAN/polyvinyl acetate (PVA) blend fibers increased slightly with increasing PAN content before removal of the PVA. Differential scanning calorimetry indicated that the PAN and PVA in the blend fibers do not mix and, therefore, each maintains their inherent thermal characteristics. The crystal sizes of the blend fibers prepared by removing PVA with water increased at 5 wt % water. The extent of the reaction of the PAN carbon fibers, as calculated from the FT-IR spectra, is maximized at the stepwise temperature of $230^{\circ}C$, and the density increased significantly above this temperature. The carbon fibers had relatively good mechanical properties, as shown by their tensile strength and modulus values of 2396 MPa and 213 GPa, respectively.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 2010

An amperometric ascorbic acid selective sensor utilizing the transfer reaction of proton liberated from the dissociation of ascorbic acid in aqueous solution across an elliptic micro-hole water/organic gel interface is demonstrated. This redox inactive sensing platform offers an alternative way for the detection of ascorbic acid to avoid a fouling effect which is one of the major concerns in redox based sensing systems. The detection principle is simply measuring the current change with respect to the assisted transfer of protons by a proton selective ionophore (e.g., ETH 1778) across the micro-hole interface between the water and the polyvinylchloride-2-nitrophenyloctylether gel phase. The assisted transfer reaction of protons generated from ascorbic acid across the polarized micro-hole interface was first characterized using cyclic voltammetry. An improved sensitivity for the quantitative analysis of ascorbic acid was achieved using differential pulse stripping voltammetry with a linear response ranging from 1 to $100\;{\mu}M$ concentrations of ascorbic acid. As a demonstration, the developed sensor was applied for analyzing the content of vitamin-C in different types of commercial pharmaceutical tablets and syrups, and a satisfactory recovery from these samples were also obtained.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2005

Thin-film humidity sensors were prepared using inorganic/organic hybrid polyelectrolytes, which were prepared from the sol-gel reaction of copolymers of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethylpropylammonium bromide (MEPAB), n-butyl methacrylate (BMA), and 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TSPM) with tetraethyl ortho-silicate (TEOS). The humidity-sensitive polyelectrolytes were composed of the copolymers having the following mole ratios of MEPAB, BMA, and TSPM: 60/30/10, 55/30/15, and 50/30/20. We found that the impedance varied with the content of MEPAB or TEOS; it ranged from $10^{7} to 10^{3}\Omega$ between 20 and $95\%$ relative humidity, which is the range required for a humidity sensor operating at ambient humidity. In addition we investigated a number of characteristics of these humidity sensors, such as their hysteresis, response time, temperature dependence, frequency dependence, water durability, and long-term stability.

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2016

As an attempt to replacing petroleum-based chemicals with bio-based ones, synthesis of furfural from biomass-derived xylose attracts much attention in recent days. Conventionally, furfural from xylose has been produced via the utilization of highly corrosive, toxic, and environmentally unfriendly mineral acids such as sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid. In this study, microwave-assisted biphasic reaction process in the presence of novel bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts was developed for the eco-benign and effective synthesis of furfural from xylose. The microwave was irradiated for reaction acceleration and a biphasic system consisting of $H_2O$ : MIBK (1 : 2) was designed for continuous extraction of furfural into the organic phase in order to reduce the undesired side products formed by decomposition/condensation/oligomerization in the acidic aqueous phase. Moreover, sulfonated amorphous carbonaceous materials were prepared from wood powder, the most abundant lignocellulosic biomass. The prepared catalysts were characterized by FT-IR, XPS, BET, elemental analysis and they were used as bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts for the dehydration of xylose into furfural more effectively. For further optimization, the effect of temperature, reaction time, water/organic solvent ratio, and substrate/catalyst ratio on the xylose conversion and furfural yield were investigated and 100% conversion of xylose and 74% yield of furfural was achieved within 5 h at $180^{\circ}C$. The bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts could be used three times without any significant loss of activity. This greener protocol provides highly selective conversion of xylose to furfural as well as facile isolation of product and bio-based heterogeneous acid catalysts can alternate the environmentally-burdened mineral acids.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.421-427
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• 2015

In ASM model, organic matters are classified according to their characteristics and general classification into COD and BOD cannot satisfy conditions required by ASM. In this study, it was performed to study classification of organic matters required by ASM on the basis of microorganisms' respiration rate subject to wastewater and sludge treatment. As results of analysis of the organic matter's appearance, it was found that there were some differences in composition of organic matters between wastewaters. It is considered that it is an important characteristic of wastewater that should be understood in treating wastewater in each process. Therefore, it is considered that appearance of organic matters in each wastewater identified by this study will be used as important basic data for operation of municipal wastewater treatment plant. It was identified that SS was an important factor affecting nitrification through organic matter and ammonium nitrogen change analysis according to reaction time in the nitrification. It is considered that the nitrification has close relationship with choice of optimal retention time.