• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.24-24
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• 2018

One of the challenges in tissue engineering is the design of optimal biomedical scaffolds, which can be governed by topographical surface characteristics, such as size, shape, and direction. Of these properties, we focus on the effects of nano - to micro - sized hierarchical surface. To fabricate the hierarchical surface structure on poly(${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone) (PCL) film, we employed a nano/micro-casting technique (NCT) and modified plasma process. The micro size topography of PCL film was controlled by sizes of the micro structures on lotus leaf. Also, the nano-size topography and hydrophilicity of PCL film were controlled by modified plasma process. After the plasma treatment, the hydrophobic property of the PCL film was significantly changed into hydrophilic property, and the nano-sized structure was well developed, as increasing the plasma exposure time and applied power. The surface properties of the modified PCL film were investigated in terms of initial cell morphology, attachment, and proliferation using osteoblast-like-cells (MG63). In particular, initial cell attachment, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation in the hierarchical structure were enhanced dramatically compared to those of the smooth surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.208.2-208.2
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• 2016

Many researchers have paid attention to the studies on the interaction between non-thermal plasma and aqueous solutions for biomedical applications. The gas composition in the plasma is very important. Oxygen and nitrogen are the main gases of interest in biological applications. Especially, we focus on the oxygen concentration. In this experiment, we studied the role of oxygen concentration in plasma induced chemical reactions in solution. At first, the amount of ions are measured according to changing the oxygen concentration. And we checked the relationship between these ions and pH value. Secondly, when the oxygen concentration is changed, it identified the type and amount of radical generated by the plasma. In order to confirm the effect of these chemical property change to biological material, hemoglobin and RBCs are chosen. RBCs are one of the common basic biological cells. Thirdly, when plasma treated according to oxygen concentration in nitrogen feeding gas, oxidation of hemoglobin and RBC is checked. Finally, membrane oxidation of RBC is measured to examine the relation between hemoglobin oxidation and membrane damage through relative hemolysis and Young's modulus. Our results suggest that reactive species generated by the plasma differsdepending on the oxygen concentration changes. The pH values are decreased when oxygen concentration increased. OH decrease and NO increase are also observed. These reactive species makes change of chemical properties of solution. We also able to confirm that the difference in these reactive species to affect the oxidation of the Hb and RBCs. The Hb and RBCs are more oxidized with the high oxygen concentration conditions. But membrane is damaged more by plasma treatment with only nitrogen gas. It is shown that red blood cells membrane damage and oxidation of hemoglobin are not directly related.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.275-283
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• 2023

The demand for skincare has increased due to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a focus on skincare devices and technologies designed to improve the delivery of cosmetics. Among these technologies, skincare medical devices that utilize plasma therapy (Plasma) and sonophoresis (Sono) are commonly used in dermatology clinics. However, there is still a lack of quantitative analysis for transdermal absorption effects of Plasma and Sono skincare medical devices. In this study, we quantified enhanced transdermal absorption effects of Plasma and Sono devices through in-silico and ex-vivo studies. The Sono treatment demonstrated an increased transdermal absorption effect, showing a 10~13% difference in penetration compared to the control group in the in-silico experiment, and 159% and 184% increase in the ex-vivo experiment. The Plasma treatment revealed increased transdermal absorption effects, with a 1.0~2.5% penetration difference in the in-silico experiment, and a 124% increase in the ex-vivo experiment compared to the control group. We also observed a synergistic effect from the combined treatment of Plasma and Sono, as indicated by the highest increases of 197% and 242% in penetration. Furthermore, we have determined the optimal device settings and treatment conditions for Plasma-Sono skincare medical devices. Notably, higher on/off durations (Intensity levels) and longer Sono treatments resulted in greater transdermal absorption effects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.523-524
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• 2006

The $TiB_2$ dispersion strengthened copper alloy was attracted as thermal and electrical functional material for the high mechanical strength, high thermal stability and good conductivity of $TiB_2$. In the present study, the focus is on the synthesis of $TiB_2$ dispersed copper alloy by spark plasma sintering process using copper oxide and titanium diboride as raw materials. The mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of sintered bodies were discussed with the sintering parameters, and developed microstructure and phase of sintered bodies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.391.2-391.2
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• 2003

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.66.3-67
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• 2015

Without scrutinizing reflection, the plasma comprising a coronal loop is usually regarded to reside within a flux rope. This picture seems to have been adopted from laboratory plasma pinches, in which a plasma of high density and pressure is confined in the vicinity of the flux rope axis by magnetic tension and magnetic pressure of the concave inward magnetic field. Such a configuration, in which the plasma pressure gradient and the field line curvature vector are almost parallel, however, is known to be vulnerable to ballooning instabilities (to which belong interchange instabilities as a subset). In coronal loops, however, ideal MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) ballooning instabilities are impeded by a very small field line curvature and the line-tying condition. We, therefore, focus on non-ideal (resistive) effects in this study. The footpoints of coronal loops are constantly under random motions of convective scales, which twist individual loop strands quite randomly. The loop strands with the axial current of the same direction tend to coalesce by magnetic reconnection. In this reconnection process, the plasma in the loop system is redistributed in such a way that a smaller potential energy of the system is attained. We have performed numerical MHD simulations to investigate the plasma redistribution in coalescence of many small flux ropes. Our results clearly show that the redistributed plasma is more accumulated between flux ropes rather than near the magnetic axes of flux ropes. The Joule heating, however, creates a different temperature distribution than the density distribution. Our study may give a hint of which part of magnetic field we are looking to in an observation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.593-602
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• 1999

This paper presents combustion characteristics of LPG-air mixture ignited by the plasma jet in a cylindrical vessel with constant volume, in which our focus is placed on the multi-hole plug configuration. Four types of the plug configuration depending on the number of orifice and the arranged angle are considered, along with two cases of conventional spark ignition for comparison. Not only the flame propagation is photographed at intervals, but the pressure in the combustion chamber is also recorded through the entire combustion process. The results show that the plasma jet ignition enhances the overall combustion rate remarkably in comparison to the spark ignition by generating irregular flame front and penetrating through the unburned mixture. The combustion enhancement rate agrees favorably with the available data, which supports the validity of our experiment. Synthetically estimating, the two-hole sixty-degree plug appears to be the most desirable, in that the maximum pressure as well as the combustion duration is less affected by the sub-energy level than the others. It is also deduced that there may exist an optimal plug configuration capable of rapid combustion for a specific combustion chamber.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.581-586
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• 2006

We have generated the argon plasma in the diode chamber based on the established coaxial electrode type and investigated the emitted visible light for emission spectroscopy. We applied various voltages $2\sim3.5kV$ to the device by 0.5kV, and obtained the emission spectrum data for the focused plasma in the diode chamber on the argon pressure of 330 mTorr. The Ar I and Ar II emission line are observed. The electron temperature and ion density have been measured by the Boltzmann plot and Saha equation from assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) The Ar I and Ar II ion densities have been calculated to be $\sim10^{15}/cc\;and\;~10^{13}/cc$, respectively, from Saha equation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.44-45
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• 2010

We are currently conducting studies on culturing and biocompatibility assessment of various cells such as neural stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells(IPS cells) on carbon nanotube (CNT), on nerve regeneration electrodes, and on silicon wafers with a focus on developing nerve integrated CNT based bio devices for interfacing with living organisms, in order to develop brain-machine interfaces (BMI). In addition, we are carried out the chemical modification of carbon nanotube (mainly SWCNTs)-based bio-nanosensors by the plasma ion irradiation (plasma activation) method, and provide a characteristic evaluation of a bio-nanosensor using bovine serum albumin (BSA)/anti-BSA binding and oligonucleotide hybridization. On the other hand, the researches in the case of "novel plasma" have been widely conducted in the fields of chemistry, solid physics, and nanomaterial science. From the above-mentioned background, we are conducting basic experiments on direct irradiation of body tissues and cells using a micro-spot atmospheric pressure plasma source. The device is a coaxial structure having a tungsten wire installed inside a glass capillary, and a grounded ring electrode wrapped on the outside. The conditions of plasma generation are as follows: applied voltage: 5-9 kV, frequency: 1-3 kHz, helium (He) gas flow: 1-1.5 L/min, and plasma irradiation time: 1-300 sec. The experiment was conducted by preparing a culture medium containing mouse fibroblasts (NIH3T3) on a culture dish. A culture dish irradiated with plasma was introduced into a $CO_2$-incubator. The small animals used in the experiment involving plasma irradiation into living tissue were rat, rabbit, and pick and are deeply anesthetized with the gas anesthesia. According to the dependency of cell numbers against the plasma irradiation time, when only He gas was flowed, the growth of cells was inhibited as the floatation of cells caused by gas agitation inside the culture was promoted. On the other hand, there was no floatation of cells and healthy growth was observed when plasma was irradiated. Furthermore, in an experiment testing the effects of plasma irradiation on rats that were artificially given burn wounds, no evidence of electric shock injuries was found in the irradiated areas. In fact, the observed evidence of healing and improvements of the burn wounds suggested the presence of healing effects due to the growth factors in the tissues. Therefore, it appears that the interaction due to ion/radicalcollisions causes a substantial effect on the proliferation of growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), nerve growth factor (NGF), and transforming growth factor (TGF) that are present in the cells.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.993-998
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• 2011

In this paper we suggest new criteria for the classification of the electrode gap between common and scan electrodes. The electrode gap is categorized as a short, middle, and long gap according to the criteria. Among these structures, we focus on the erase waveform of a mid-gap structure. we report an unstable discharge arising from the erase ramp period in a mid-gap structure. Based on the Vt close curve, we analyze the unstable discharge at various conditions. Our analysis reveals that the unstable discharge is ignited between surface electrodes and caused by un-erased wall charges accumulated on the outer edges of electrodes. By reducing the voltage level of the last sustain pulse, the problem is solved.