• ETRI Journal
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.226-234
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• 2012

The novelty of this study resides in the fabrication of stoichiometric and stress-reduced $Si_3N_4/SiO_2/Si_3N_4$ triple-layer membrane sieves. The membrane sieves were designed to be very flat and thin, mechanically stress-reduced, and stable in their electrical and chemical properties. All insulating materials are deposited stoichiometrically by a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition system. The membranes with a thickness of 0.4 ${\mu}m$ have pores with a diameter of about 1 ${\mu}m$. The device is fabricated on a 6" silicon wafer with the semiconductor processes. We utilized the membrane sieves for plasma separations from human whole blood. To enhance the separation ability of blood plasma, an agarose gel matrix was attached to the membrane sieves. We could separate about 1 ${\mu}L$ of blood plasma from 5 ${\mu}L$ of human whole blood. Our device can be used in the cell-based biosensors or analysis systems in analytical chemistry.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.433-438
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• 2011

In this study, CdS combined activated carbon/$TiO_2$ (CdS-AC/$TiO_2$) composites were prepared by a sol-gel method to improve the photocatalytic performance of $TiO_2$. These composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and UV-vis analysis. The photocatalytic activities were examined by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The photodegradation rate of MB under visible light irradiation reached 90.1% in 120 min. The kinetics of MB degradation was plotted alongside the values calculated from the Langmuir-Hinshelwood equation. The 0.2 CAT sample showed the best photocatalytic activity, which might be due to an increase in the photo-absorption effect by activated carbon and the cooperative effect of CdS.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.433-438
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• 2010

Fe-carbon/$TiO_2$ composites were prepared by a sol-gel method using AC, ACF, CNT and $C_{60}$ as carbon precursors and were characterized by means of BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The activity of the prepared photocatalysts was investigated by degradation reaction of methylene blue (MB) irradiated with UV lamp. Effects of different carbon sources and irradiation time on photocatalytic activity were also investigated. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of the Fe-carbon/$TiO_2$ composites was much higher than that of pristine $TiO_2$ and Fe/$TiO_2$ composites. The prominent photocatalytic activity of Fecarbon/$TiO_2$ composites could be attributed to both the effects of photo-adsorption and electron transfer by carbon substrate. In addition, the higher photocatalytic activity of Fe-carbon/$TiO_2$ composites can be compared with that of carbon/$TiO_2$ and Fe /$TiO_2$ composites due to cooperative effects between Fe and carbon.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.8.1-8.1
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• 2011

Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) materials have been widely used as an electron collector in DSSC. This is required to have an extremely high porosity and surface area such that the dye can be sufficiently adsorbed and be electronically interconnected, resulting in the generation of a high photocurrent within cells. In particular, their geometrical structures and crystalline phase have been extensively investigated as important issues in improving its photovoltaic efficiency. In this study, we present a new strategy to fabricate a photoelectrode having a periodic structured $TiO_2$ film templated from 1D or 3D polystyrene (PS) microspheres array. Monodisperse PS spheres of various radiuses were used for colloidal array on FTO glasses and two types of photoelectrode structures with different $TiO_2$ materials were investigated respectively. One is the igloo-shaped electrode prepared by $TiO_2$ deposition by RF-sputtering onto 2D microsphere-templated substrates. At the interface between the film and substrate, there are voids formed by the decomposition of PS microspheres during the calcination step. These holes might be expected to play the predominant roles as scattering spherical voids to promote a light harvesting effect, a spacious structure for electrolytes with higher viscosity and effective paths for electron transfer. Additionally the nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ phase prepared by the RF-sputtering method was previously reported to improve the electron drift mobility within $TiO_2$ electrodes. This yields solar cells with a cell efficiency of 2.45% or more at AM 1.5 illumination, which is a very remarkable result, considering its $TiO_2$ electrode thickness (<2 ${\mu}m$). This study can be expanded to obtain higher cell efficiency by higher dye loading through the increase of surface area or multi-layered stacking. The other is the inverse opal photonic crystal electrode prepared by titania particles infusion within 3D colloidal arrays. To obtain the enlargement of ordered area and high quality of crystallinity, the synthesis of titania particles coated with a organic thin layer were applied instead of sol-gel process using the $TiO_2$ precursors. They were dispersed so well in most solvents without aggregates and infused successfully within colloidal array structures. This ordered mesoporous structure provides the large surface area leading to the enough adsorption of dye molecules and have an light harvesting effect due to the photonic band gap properties (back-and-forth reflection effects within structures). A major advantage of this colloidal array template method is that the pore size and its distribution within $TiO_2$ photoelectrodes are determined by those of latex beads, which can be controlled easily. These materials may have promising potentials for future applications of membrane, sensor and so on as well as solar cells.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.2178-2182
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• 2011

Recently, the synthesis of ordered macroporous materials has received much attention due to its potential use as photonic band gap materials.$^1$ In this study, we have used the three-dimensional (3D) latex array template impregnated with benzenesulfonic acid (BSA), which is capable of catalyzing the reaction using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a precursor and distilled water. The polystyrene (PS) templates were reacted with TEOS in $scCO_2$ at 40 $^{\circ}C$ and at 80 bar. In the reactor, TEOS was filtrated into the PS particle lattice. After the reaction, porous silica materials were obtained by calcinations of the template. The stability test of the PS template in pure $CO_2$ was conducted before the main experiment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that the reaction in $scCO_2$ takes place only on the particle surface. This new method using $scCO_2$ has advantages over conventional sol-gel processes in its capability to control the fluid properties such as viscosity and interfacial tension. It has been found that the reaction in $scCO_2$ occurs only on the particle surface, making the proposed technique as more rapid and sustainable method of synthesizing inverse opal materials than conventional coating processes in the liquid phase and in the vapor phase.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.225-232
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• 2010

In present study, a conventional sol-gel method was used to prepare Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$ composites, a kind of composite photocatalysts, whose capability was evaluated by degrading methylene blue (MB) solution. The particle size, surface structure, crystal phase and elemental identification of the composites prepared were characterized by BET, SEM, XRD and EDX, respectively. The spectra of MB concentration degraded under visible light were obtained by UV/Vis spectrophotometer. These obtained spectra demonstrated the photocaltalytic activity from removal concentrations of MB. It was considered that these photonic activities are induced by a strong synergetic reaction among ACF, $TiO_2$ and Fe in the composite photocatalysts under visible light.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.281-281
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• 2010

Very low refractive index (<1.4) materials have been proved to be the key factor improving the performance of various optical components, such as reflectors, filters, photonic crystals, LEDs, and solar cell. Highly porous SiO2 are logically designed for ultralow refractive index materials because of the direct relation between porosity and index of refraction. Among them, ordered macroporous SiO2 is of potential material since their theoretically low refractive index ~1.10. However, in the conventional synthesis of ordered macroporous SiO2, the time required for the crystallization of organic nanoparticles, such as polystyrene (PS), from colloidal solution into well ordered template is typical long (several days for 1 cm substrate) due to the low interaction between particles and particle - substrate. In this study, polystyrene - polyacrylic acid (PS-AA) nanoparticles synthesized by miniemulsion polymerization method have hydrophilic polyacrylic acid tails on the surface of particles which increase the interaction between particle and with substrate giving rise to the formation of PS-AA film by simply spin - coating method. Less ordered with controlled thickness films of PS-AA on silicon wafer were successfully fabricated by changing the spinning speed or concentration of colloidal solution, as confirmed by FE-SEM. Based on these template films, a series of macroporous SiO2 films whose thicknesses varied from 300nm to ~1000nm were fabricated either by conventional sol - gel infiltration or gas phase deposition followed by thermal removal of organic template. Formations of SiO2 films consist of interconnected air balls with size ~100 nm were confirmed by FE-SEM and TEM. These highly porous SiO2 show very low refractive indices (<1.18) over a wide range of wavelength (from 200 to 1000nm) as shown by SE measurement. Refraction indices of SiO2 films at 633nm reported here are of ~1.10 which, to our best knowledge, are among the lowest values having been announced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.37-37
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• 2010

Silicate-silsesquioxane or siloxane-silsesquioxane hybrid thin films are strong candidates as matrix materials for ultra low dielectric constant (low-k) thin films. We synthesized the silicate-silsesquioxane hybrid resins from tetraethoxyorthosilicate (TEOS) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) through hydrolysis and condensation polymerization by changing their molar ratios ([TEOS]:[MTMS] = 7:3, 5:5, and 3:7), spin-coating on Si(100) wafers. In the case of [TEOS]:[MTMS] 7:3, the dielectric permittivity value of the resultant thin film was measured at 4.30, exceeding that of the thermal oxide (3.9). This high value was thought to be due to Si-OH groups inside the film and more extensive studies were performed in terms of electronic, ionic, and orientational polarizations using Debye equation. The relationship between the mechanical properties and the synthetic conditions of the silicate-silsesquioxane precursors was also investigated. The synthetic conditions of the low-k films have to be chosen to meet both the low orientational polarization and high mechanical properties requirements. In addition, we have investigated a new solution-based approach to the synthesis of semiconducting chalcogenide films for use in thin-film transistor (TFT) devices, in an attempt to develop a simple and robust solution process for the synthesis of inorganic semiconductors. Our material design strategy is to use a sol-gel reaction to carry out the deposition of a spin-coated CdS film, which can then be converted to a xerogel material. These devices were found to exhibit n-channel TFT characteristics with an excellent field-effect mobility (a saturation mobility of ${\sim}\;48\;cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$) and low voltage operation (< 5 V). These results show that these semiconducting thin film materials can be used in low-cost and high-performance printable electronics.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2010

Titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) particles deposited on different quantitative Fe-treated carbon nanotube (CNT) composites with high photocatalytic activity of visible light were prepared by a modified sol-gel method using TNB as a titanium source. The composites were characterized by BET, XRD, SEM, TEM and EDX, which showed that the BET surface area was related to the adsorption capacity for each composite. From TEM images, surface and structural characterization of for the CNT surface had been carried out. The XRD results showed that the Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$ composite mostly contained an anatase structure with a Fe-mediated compound. EDX results showed the presence of C, O, and Ti with Fe peaks in the Fe-CNT/$TiO_2$ composites. The photocatalytic activity of the composites was examined by degradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution under visible light, which was found to depend on the amount of CNT. The highest photocatalytic activity among the different composites was related to the optimal content of CNT in the Fe-CNT/$TiO_2$ composites. In particular, the photocatalytic activity of the Fe-CNT/$TiO_2$ composites under visible light was better than that of the CNT/$TiO_2$ composites due to the introduction of Fe particles.