• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.72-77
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• 1996

In the process of solar energy conversion into electrical energy using the photoelectrochemical cell containing the sensitizer, rose bengal and supersensitizer. $I^-$, the photocurrent is stabilized and durable. But the long time span of irradiation causes the decrease of photocurrent monotonically. Spectroscopic and electrochemical analyses of rose bengal solution containing $I^-$ revealed that the decrease of concentration of rose bengal was attributed to the reaction of rose bengal in the dark with $I_2$ formed as a result of the possible photocatalytic reaction of rose bengal with $I^-$.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.35
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• pp.59-65
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• 2015

As the fossil fuels are depleted nowadays, development of alternative energies is absolutely required in the world. Efficient production of hydrogen by water-splitting using solar energy can be one of the methods to solve the global energy and environmental problems. But this method has a problem of low conversion efficiency. The application of graphene can be one method to help increase the conversion efficiency. For this reason, mass production of high quality graphene is required. In this study, we prepared graphene using the chemical exfoliation method. We applied the Hummer's method and Tour's method to oxidize the graphite and could get the different Graphene Oxide(GO) from different process conditions. We also tried to convert the GO to graphene by thermal reduction and could remove functional group of GO effectively. The control of oxidation conditions was quite important to obtain the high quality graphene.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

Recent industrialization has led to a high demand for the use of fossil fuels. Therefore, the need for producing hydrogen and its utilization is essential for a sustainable society. For an eco-friendly future technology, photoelectrochemical water splitting using solar energy has proven promising amongst many other candidates. With this technique, semiconductors can be used as photocatalysts to generate electrons by light absorption, resulting in the reduction of hydrogen ions. The photocatalysts must be chemically stable, economically inexpensive and be able to utilize a wide range of light. From this perspective, cuprous oxide($Cu_2O$) is a promising p-type semiconductor because of its appropriate band gap. However, a major hindrance to the use of $Cu_2O$ is its instability at the potential in which hydrogen ion is reduced. In this study, gold is used as a bottom electrode during electrodeposition to obtain a preferential growth along the (111) plane of $Cu_2O$ while imperfections of the $Cu_2O$ thin films are removed. This study investigates the photoelectrochemical properties of $Cu_2O$. However, severe photo-induced corrosion impedes the use of $Cu_2O$ as a photoelectrode. Two candidates, $TiO_2$ and $SnO_2$, are selected for the passivation layer on $Cu_2O$ by by considering the Pourbaix-diagram. $TiO_2$ and $SnO_2$ passivation layers are deposited by atomic layer deposition(ALD) and a sputtering process, respectively. The investigation of the photoelectrochemical properties confirmed that $SnO_2$ is a good passivation layer for $Cu_2O$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.2185-2189
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• 2010

Closely arranged CdSe and Zn doped CdSe vertical nanorod bundles were grown directly on FTO coated glass by using electrodeposition method. Structural analysis by XRD showed the hexagonal phase without any precipitates related to Zn. FE-SEM image showed end capped vertically aligned nanorods arranged closely. From the UV-vis transmittance spectra, band gap energy was found to vary between 1.94 and 1.98 eV due to the incorporation of Zn. Solar cell parameters were obtained by assembling photoelectrochemical cells using CdSe and CdSe:Zn photoanodes, Pt cathode and polysulfide (1M $Na_2S$ + 1M S + 1M NaOH) electrolyte. The efficiency was found to increase from 0.16 to 0.22 upon Zn doping. Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) indicate that the charge-transfer resistance on the FTO/CdSe/polysulfide interface was greater than on FTO/CdSe:Zn/polysulfide. Cyclic voltammetry results also indicate that the FTO/CdSe:Zn/polysulfide showed higher activity towards polysulfide redox reaction than that of FTO/CdSe/polysulfide.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.174-179
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• 2011

The mesoscopic $Sb_2S_3$-sensitized photoelectrochemical solar cells using cobalt redox electrolyte exhibit nonlinear behavior of power conversion efficiency with illuminated sun intensity. From the measurement of bulk diffusion and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies, we suggest that the nonlinearity of device performance with illuminated sun intensity is attributed not to the slow bulk diffusion problem of cobalt electrolyte but to the limited mass transport in narrowed pore volume in mesoscopic $TiO_2$ electrode.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.263-270
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• 2000

The Pt/copper oxide/n-Si electrodes were fabricated by depositing copper oxide thin film of 500${\AA}$ and very thin Pt layer on the n-type (100) Si substrate. hotoelectrochemical properties and stability profiles of the electrodes were investigated as a function of deposition time of Pt layer. As the deposition time of Pt layer increased up to 10 seconds, the photocurrent and quantum efficiency were increased and then decreased with further depositing time. The better cell stability was observed for the electrode with longer deposition time. The improvements in above photoelectrochemical properties indicate that Pt layer acts as a catalyst layer at electrode/electrolyte interface as well as a protective layer. The decreasing tendency of the photocurrent and efficiency for the electrode with Pt layer deposited above 20 seconds was explained as an increases in probbility of electron-hole pair recombination and also the absorbing photon loss at electrode surface due to the excessive thickness of Pt layer. The results were confirmed by impedance spectroscopy, mutiple cycle voltammograms and microstructural analyses.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.217-222
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• 2021

Although monolayer black phosphorus (BP) and few-layer BP nanosheets (NSs) have been extensively studied as promising alternatives to graphene, research has focused primarily on atomically thin-layered BP in an isolated form. In order to realize the practical applications of BP-related devices, a BP film based on continuous networking of few-layer BP NSs should be developed. In this study, a transparent BP film with high quality was fabricated via a vacuum filtration method. An oxygen-free water solvent was used as an exfoliation medium to avoid significant oxidation of the few-layer BP NSs in liquid-phase exfoliation. The exfoliation efficiency from bulk BP to the few-layer BP NSs was estimated at 22%, which is highly efficient for the production of continuous BP film. The characteristics of the high-quality BP film were determined as 98% transparency, minimum oxidation of 18%, structural stability, and an appropriate bandgap of about 1.8 eV as a semiconductor layer. In order to demonstrate the potential of the BP film for photocatalytic activity, we performed photoelectrochemical water oxidation of the transparent BP film. Although its performance should be improved for practical applications, the BP film could function as a photoanode, which offers a new potential semiconductor in water oxidation. We believe that if the BP film is adequately engineered with other catalysts the photocatalytic activity of the BP film will be improved.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.377-389
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• 2022

The current global energy supply depends heavily on fossil fuels. This makes technology such as direct water splitting from harvesting solar energy in photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems potentially attractive due to its a promising route for environmentally benign hydrogen production. In this study, undoped and nickel-doped molybdenum oxide photoanodes (called photoanodes S₁ and S₂ respectively) were synthesized through electrodeposition by applying -1.377 V vs Ag/AgCl (3 M KCl) for 3 hours on an FTO-coated glass substrate immersed in molibdatecitrate aqueous solutions at pH 9. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used for microstructural and compositional characterizations of the photoanodes. In addition, the optical and photoelectrochemical characterizations of these photoanodes were performed by UV-Visible spectroscopy, and linear scanning voltammetry (LSV) respectively. The results showed that all the photoanodes produced exhibit conductivity and catalytic properties that make them attractive for water splitting application in a photoelectrochemical cell. In this context, the photoanode S₂ exhibited better photocatalytic activity than the photoanode S₁. In addition, photoanode S₂ had the lowest optical band-gap energy value (2.58 eV), which would allow better utilization of the solar spectrum.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.2689-2693
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• 2012

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and $C_{60}$-encapsulated SWNTs ($C_{60}@SWNTs$) are introduced to Ru-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells (PECs), and photocurrents are compared between two cells, i.e., an $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/SWNTs/ITO cell and an $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/$C_{60}@SWNTs$/ITO cell. [L = 2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid, DAPV = di-(3-aminopropyl)-viologen, and ITO = indium-tin oxide] The photocurrents are increased by 70.6% in the presence of $C_{60}@SWNTs$. To explain the photocurrent increase, the reverse-field emission method is used, i.e., $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/SWNTs/ITO cell (or $RuL_2(NCS)_2$/DAPV/$C_{60}@SWNTs$/ITO cell) as an anode and a counter electrode Pt as a cathode in the external electric field. The improved field emission properties, i.e., ${\beta}$ (field enhancement factor) and emission currents in the reverse-field emission with $C_{60}@SWNTs$ indicate the enhancement of the PEC electric field, which implies the improvement of the electron transfer rate along with the reduced charge recombination in the cell.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2016

The production of oxygen and hydrogen from solar water splitting has been considered to be an ultimate solution for energy and environmental issues, and over the past few years, nano-sized semiconducting metal oxides alone and with graphene have been shown to have great promise for use in photocatalytic water splitting. It is challenging to find ideal materials for photoelectrochemical water splitting, and these have limited commercial applicability due to critical factors, including their physico-chemical properties, the rate of charge-carrier recombination and limited light absorption. This review article discusses these main features, and recent research progress and major factors affect the performance of the water splitting reaction. The mechanism behind these interactions in transition metal oxides and graphene based nano-structured semiconductors upon illumination has been discussed in detail, and such characteristics are relevant to the design of materials with a superior photocatalytic response towards UV and visible light.