• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.75-79
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• 2015

Recently, $Cu_2ZnSn(S_xSe_{1-x})_4$ (CZTSSe) has been received a tremendous attraction as light absorber material in thin film solar cells (TFSCs), because of its earth abundance, inexpensive and non-toxic constituents and versatile material characteristics. Kesterite CZTSSe thin films were synthesized by sulfo-selenization of sputtered Cu/Sn/Zn stacked metallic precursors. The sulfo-selenization of Cu/Sn/Zn stacked metallic precursor thin films has been carried out in a graphite box using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) technique. Annealing process was done under sulfur and selenium vapor pressure using Ar gas at $520^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. The effect of tuning Se/(S+Se) precursor composition ratio on the properties of CZTSSe films has been investigated. The XRD, Raman, FE-SEM and XRF results indicate that the properties of sulfo-selenized CZTSSe thin films strongly depends on the Se/(S+Se) composition ratio. In particular, the CZTSSe TFSCs with Se/(S+Se) = 0.37 exhibits the best power conversion efficiency of 4.83% with $V_{oc}$ of 467 mV, $J_{sc}$ of $18.962mA/cm^2$ and FF of 54%. The systematic changes observed with increasing Se/(S+Se) ratio have been discussed in detail.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.52-52
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• 2018

Only approximately 30% of fossil fuel energy is used; therefore, it is desirable to utilize the huge amounts of waste energy. Thermoelectric (TE) materials that convert heat into electrical power are a promising energy technology. The TE materials can be formed either as thin films or as bulk semiconductors. Generally, thin-film TE materials have low energy conversion rates due to their thinness compared to that in bulk. However, an advantage of a thin-film TE material is that the efficiency can be smartly engineered by controlling the nanostructure and composition. Especially nanostructured TE thin films are useful for mitigating heating problems in highly integrated microelectronic devices by accurately controlling the temperature. Hence, there is a rising interest in thin-film TE devices. These devices have been extensively investigated. It is demonstrated that transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors (TAOS) can be excellent thermoelectric (TE) materials, since their thermal conductivity (${\kappa}$) through a randomly disordered structure is quite low, while their electrical conductivity and carrier mobility (${\mu}$) are high, compared to crystalline semiconductors through the first-principles calculations and the various measurements for the amorphous In-Zn-O (a-IZO) thin film. The calculated phonon dispersion in a-IZO shows non-linear phonon instability, which can prevent the transport of phonon. The a-IZO was measured to have poor ${\kappa}$ and high electrical conductivity compared to crystalline $In_2O_3:Sn$ (c-ITO). These properties show that the TAOS can be an excellent thin-film transparent TE material. It is suggested that the TAOS can be employed to mitigate the heating problem in the transparent display devices.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2020

Development of efficient methods for clean energy production became a critical issue to improve the quality of human lives. Solar cells is considered as one of the alternative solutions to resolve the issue. Although Si-based solar cells are only popularly utilized for practical applications, high manufacturing cost is considered as a serious drawback for further versatile applications. Thus, different types of are being investigated aiming to replace the Si-based solar cells. Recently, perovskite solar cells (PSC) are considered as a potential replacement for Si-based solar cells due to their low production cost, high power conversion efficiency, light weight and possibility of flexible device fabrication. Thus, we have reviewed the challenges of PSC faced with practical application, particularly on stability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.266-269
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• 2009

Iron-based soft magnetic materials are widely used as cores, such as transformer transformers, motors, and generators. Reducing losses generated from soft magnetic materials of these applications results in improving energy conversion efficiency. Recently, the new P/M soft magnetic material realized an energy loss of 68 W/kg with a drive magnetic flux of 1 T, at a frequency of 1 kHz, rivaling general-purpose electromagnetic steel sheet in the low frequency range of 200 Hz to 1 kHz. In this research, the effect of rolling parameters on soft magnetic properties of Fe-based powder cores was investigated. The Fe-based soft magnetic plates were produced by the hot powder rolling process after both pure Fe and Fe-4%Si powders were canned, evacuated, and sealed in Cu can. The soft magnetic properties such as energy loss and coercive power were measured by B-H curve analyzer. The soft magnetic properties of rolled sheets were measured under conditions of a magnetic flux density of 1 T at a frequency of 200 kHz. It was found that rolling reduction ratio is the most effective parameter on reducing both energy loss and coercivity because of increasing aspect ratio with reduction ratio. By increasing aspect ratio from 1 to 9 through hot rolling of pure Fe powder, a significant loss reduction of one-third that of SPS sample was achieved.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2018

Uniform $TiO_2$ blocking layers (BLs) are fabricated using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis deposition (USPD) method. To improve the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the BL thickness is controlled by using USPD times of 0, 20, 60, and 100 min, creating $TiO_2$ BLs of 0, 40, 70, and 100 nm, respectively, in average thickness on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass. Compared to the other samples, the DSSC containing the uniform $TiO_2$ BL of 70 nm in thickness shows a superior power conversion efficiency of $7.58{\pm}0.20%$ because of the suppression of electron recombination by the effect of the optimized thickness. The performance improvement is mainly attributed to the increased open-circuit voltage ($0.77{\pm}0.02V$) achieved by the increased Fermi energy levels of the working electrodes and the improved short-circuit current density ($15.67{\pm}0.43mA/cm^2$) by efficient electron transfer pathways. Therefore, optimized $TiO_2$ BLs fabricated by USPD may allow performance improvements in DSSCs.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.23-30
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• 2011

This paper presents a Single-Inductor Multiple-Output (SIMO) DC-DC Converter with a negative feedback selection circuit to improve a regulation property at light load and to generate independent multiple outputs. The conventional SIMO DC-DC converter with a fixed negative feedback circuit cannot regulate correctly at light load. The SIMO DC-DC converter with the proposed negative feedback selection circuit has been designed in 0.35um 2-poly 3-metal BCDMOS. This converter is dual output boost converter with the 1.5V input and 2.5V, 3.0V output. The power conversion efficiency varies from 59% at 10mA loads to 85% at 50mA loads.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.220-227
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• 2014

This paper presents a control method of Single-Inductor Dual-Output DC-DC Converter using Common mode feedback and differential feedback loops. To generate duty used for differential mode feedback loop, this paper propose relative sawtooth circuit using current divider circuit which makes ramp signal with variable dead-time. Two outputs of the Single-Inductor Dual-Output DC-DC Converter are specified for 2.8 V and 4.2 V with input voltage 2.5 V. The maximum conversion efficiency of designed SIDO DC-DC Converter is 95% at total output power of 539mW. Cross regulations of Boost1 and Boost2 are 3.57% and 4% each, when increasing twice times output current.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1861-1866
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• 2012

The new semiconducting copolymers with 4,4-dialkyl-$4H$-cyclopenta[2,1-$b$:3,4-$b^{\prime}$]dithiophene and 2,2-dimethyl-$2H$-benzimidazole units were synthesized. The fused aromatic rings, such as cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) unit, can make the polymer backbone more rigid and coplanar, which induces long conjugation length, narrow band gap, and strong intermolecular ${\pi}-{\pi}$ interaction. The stacking ability was controlled through attaching of linear or branched alkyl side chains. The spectra of PEHCPDTMBI and PHCPDTMBI in the solid films show absorption bands with maximum peaks at 401, 759 and 407, 768 nm, and the absorption onsets at 925 and 954 nm, corresponding to band gaps of 1.34 and 1.30 eV, respectively. The devices comprising PHCPDTMBI with $TiO_X$ showed a $V_{OC}$ of 0.39 V, a $J_{SC}$ of 1.14 $mA/cm^2$, and a $FF$ of 0.34, giving a power conversion efficiency of 0.15%. The PHCPDTMBI with linear alkyl chain on CPDT shows good solubility in organic solvent with higher PCE value than that of PEHCPDTMBI.

• Ceramist
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.184-199
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• 2020

The solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are the one of the most promising energy conversion devices which can directly convert chemical energy into electric power with high efficiency and low emission. The lowering operating temperature below 800 ℃ has been considered as the mostly considerable research and development for commercialization. The major issue is to maintain reasonably high performance of SOFCs at reduced temperatures due to increment of polarization resistance of electrodes and electrolyte. Thus, the alternative materials with high catalytic activities and fast oxygen ion conductivity are required. For recent advances in electrolyte materials and technology, newly designed, highly conductive electrolyte materials and structural engineering of them provide a new path for further reduction in ohmic polarization resistance from electrolytes. Here, a powerful strategy of the bilayer concept with various oxide electrolytes of SOFCs are briefly reviewed. These recent developments also highlight the need for electrolytes with greater conductivity to achieve a high performance, thus providing a useful guidance for the rational design of cell structures for SOFCs. Moreover, cell design, materials compatibility, processing methods, are discussed, along with their role in determining cell performance. Results from state-of-the-art SOFCs are presented, and future prospects are discussed.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.501-512
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• 2018

Radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor tag provides several advantages including battery-less operation and low cost, which are suitable for long-term monitoring. This paper presents a self-powered RFID temperature sensor tag for online temperature monitoring in substation. The proposed sensor tag is used to measure and process the temperature of high voltage equipments in substation, and then wireless deliver the data. The proposed temperature sensor employs a novel phased-locked loop (PLL)-based architecture and can convert the temperature sensor in frequency domain without a reference clock, which can significantly improve the temperature accuracy. A two-stage rectifier adopts a series of auxiliary floating rectifier to boost its gate voltage for higher power conversion efficiency. The sensor tag chip was fabricated in TSMC $0.18{\mu}m$ 1P6M CMOS process. The measurement results show that the proposed temperature sensor tag achieve a resolution of $0.15^{\circ}C$/LSB and a temperature error of $-0.6/0.7^{\circ}C$ within the range from $-30^{\circ}C$ to $70^{\circ}C$. The proposed sensor tag achieves maximum communication distance of 11.8 m.