• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.27-33
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• 2014

This paper presents a brief summary on a relatively new plasma aided electrolytic surface treatment process for light metals. A brief discussion regarding the advantages, principle, process parameters and applications of this process is discussed. The process owes its origin to Sluginov who discovered an arc discharge phenomenon in electrolysis in 1880. A similar process was studied and developed by Markov and coworkers in 1970s who successfully deposited an oxide film on aluminium. Several investigation thereafter lead to the establishment of suitable process parameters for deposition of a crystalline oxide film of more than $100{\mu}m$ thickness on the surface of light metals such as aluminium, titanium and magnesium. This process nowadays goes by several names such as plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO), micro-arc oxidation (MOA), anodic spark deposition (ASD) etc. Several startups and surface treatment companies have taken up the process and deployed it successfully in a range of products, from military grade rifles to common off road sprockets. However, there are certain limitations to this technology such as the formation of an outer porous oxide layer, especially in case of magnesium which displays a Piling Bedworth ratio of less than one and thus an inherent non protective oxide. This can be treated further but adds to the cost of the process. Overall, it can be said the PEO process offers a better solution than the conventional coating processes. It offers advantages considering the fact that he electrolyte used in PEO process is environmental friendly and the temperature control is not as strict as in case of other surface treatment processes.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2010

$(Ba(Zr_{0.85}Y_{0.15})O_{3-\delta})$ oxide, showing high protonic conductivity at high temperatures and good chemical stability with $CO_2$ are referred to as hydrogen separation membrane. For high efficiency of hydrogen separation ($H_2$ flux and selectivity) and low fabrication cost, ultimate thin and dense BZY-Ni layer has to be coated on a porous substrate such as $ZrO_2$. Aerosol depostion (AD) process is a novel technique to grow ceramic film with high density and nano-crystal structure at room-temperature, and may be applicable to the fabrication process of AD integration ceramic layer effectively. XRD, SEM, X-ray mapping measurements were conducted in order to analyze the characteristics of BZY-Ni membrane fabricated by AD process. it is observed that it is homogeneous distribution for BZY-Ni. The result of $H_2$ permeation rate suggests that BZY-Ni composite is higher than BZY.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.631-635
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• 2017

We report facile solution processing of mesoporous hematite (${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$) thin films for high efficiency solar-driven water splitting. $Fe_2O_3$ thin films were prepared on fluorine doped tin oxide(FTO) conducting substrates by spin coating of a precursor solution followed by annealing at $550^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. in air ambient. Specifically, the precursor solution was prepared by dissolving non-toxic $FeCl_3$ as an Fe source in highly versatile dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO) as a solvent. The as-deposited and annealed thin films were characterized for their morphological, structural and optical properties using field-emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The photoelectrochemical performance of the precursor (${\alpha}-FeOOH$) and annealed (${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$) films were characterized and it was found that the ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ film exhibited an increased photocurrent density of ${\sim}0.78mA/cm^2$ at 1.23 V vs. RHE, which is about 3.4 times higher than that of the ${\alpha}-FeOOH$ films ($0.23mA/cm^2$ at 1.23 V vs. RHE). The improved performance can be attributed to the improved crystallinity and porosity of ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ thin films after annealing treatment at higher temperatures. Detailed electrical characterization was further carried out to elucidate the enhanced PEC performance of ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ thin films.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

In this article, I will introduce recent developments of environmental-friendly materials fabricated using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Advantages of ALD include fine control of the thin film thickness and formation of a homogeneous thin fim on complex-structured three-dimensional substrates. Such advantages of ALD can be exploited for fabricating environmental-friendly materials. Porous membranes such as anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) can be used as a substrate for $TiO_2$ coating with a thickness of about 10 nm, and the $TiO_2$-coated AAO can be used as filter of volatile organic compound such as toluene. The unique structural property of AAO in combination with a high adsorption capacity of amorphous $TiO_2$ can be exploited in this case. $TiO_2$ can be also deposited on nanodiamonds and Ni powder, which can be used as photocatalyst for degradation of toluene, and $CO_2$ reforming of methane catalyst, respectively. One can produce structures, in which the substrates are only partially covered by $TiO_2$ domains, and these structures turns out to be catalytically more active than bare substrates, or complete core-shell structures. We show that the ALD can be widely used not only in the semiconductor industry, but also environmental science.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2002

Effects of coating treatment of metallic Cu, Ni-P film on $SiC_p$, for $SiC_p$/iron aluminide composites were studied. Porous hybrid preforms were fabricated by reactive sintering after mixing the coated $SiC_p$, Fe and Al powders. Then the final composites were manufactured by squeeze casting after pouring AC4C Al alloy melts in preforms. The change of reactive temperature, density, microstructure of the preforms and microstructure of the composites were investigated. The exprimental results were summarized as follows. The thickness of Cu and Ni-P metallic layer formed on $SiC_p$ by electroless plating method were about $0.5{\mu}m$ and coated uniformly. There was no remakable change in the ignition temperature with variation of the mixing ratio of Fe and Al powder while in the case of coated $SiC_p$ it was lower about $20^{\circ}C$ than in the non-coated $SiC_p$. The maximum reaction temperature increased with increasing Al contents, but decreased with increasing $SiC_p$ contents. Expansion ratio of preform after reactive sintering increased with amount of Cu coated $SiC_p$. In the case of Fe-70at.%Al, the expansion ratio was about 7% up to 8wt.% of $SiC_p$, addition but further addition of $SiC_p$, increased the ratio significantly. And in the case of Fe-50 and 60at.%Al, it was about 20% up to 16wt.% of $SiC_p$ addition and about 28% in 24wt.% of $SiC_p$, addition. The microstructures of compounds showed that the grains became finer as amount of $SiC_p$, and mixing ratio of iron powder increased and the shape of compounds was changed gradually from irregular to spheroidal.