• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.491-495
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• 2005

Vanadium pentoxide xerogels with a doping ratio of $Al/V_2O_5$ ranging from 0.01 to 0.05 were synthesized by doping Al into $V_2O_5$ xerogel via the sol-gel process. By using the synthesized $Al_xV_2O_5$, the $Li/Al_xV_2O_5$ cells were assembled to investigate the chemical and electrochemical properties. Surface morphology of the $Al_xV_2O_5$ xerogel showed an anisotropic corrugated sheet-like matrix, and the interlayer distance was about $11.5{\AA}$. The IR spectra of the $Al_xV_2O_5$ revealed that the doped Al was coordinated to the vanadyl group in $V_2O_5$. The $Al_xV_2O_5$ xerogels showed enhanced reversibility and energy density compared with the $V_2O_5$ xerogel. The specific capacity of the $Al_{0.05}V_2O_5$ xerogel was more than 200 mAh/g at 10 mA/g discharge rate, and cycle efficiency was about 90% after the 31st cycling test between 1.9 V and 3.9 V.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.547-553
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• 2017

This study focused on the difference of photocatalytic performance by the incorporation of Pd into the $TiO_2$ framework and suggested five different catalysts composed of $TiO_2$ and x mol% $Pd-TiO_2$ (x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0). A typical sol-gel method was used to synthesize catalysts, and the phenol photodegradation performance of each catalysts was evaluated. The physicochemical and optical properties of catalysts were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM/EDS), ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy (UV/Vis), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), and photocurrent measurements. With the addition of Pd ions, the band gap of catalysts was shortened and the charge separation between photogenerated electrons and holes easily also occurred. As a result, the phenol photo-destruction performance over 0.75 mol% $Pd-TiO_2$ catalyst was 3 times higher than that of pure $TiO_2$. This is believed to be due to Pd ions acted as an electron capturing function during photocatalysis.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2012

Disinfection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in drinking water was investigated by using $TiO_2$ and $TiO_2-SiO_2$ based photocatalyst prepared by sol-gel method. The disinfection test was carried out in an annular flow reactor with circulating sterile water containing the photocatalysts powder under UV-A irradiation. The disinfection activity was proportional to the anatase`s intensity of crystalline peak of the $TiO_2$ photocatalysts. 100% disinfection of E.coli without endotoxin was achieved with $TiO_2$ coated photocatalytic system under UV-A irradiation within 2 h. However, toxic endotoxine was exist in the disinfection of E.colithe under UV-C irradiation even though 100% disinfection of E.colithe within 30 min, which suggest that $TiO_2$ coated photocatalytic system with UV-A is useful tool for the disinfection of E.coli in drinking water.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.112-117
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• 2012

With the development of nanotechnology, nano-consumer products have been popularized. For the past 10 years, potential risk of nanomaterials to human and environment have been raised carefully. Especially, workers, who directly handle nanomaterials in laboratories and manfacturers, will lead to direct exposure of nanomaterials. Therefore, direct exposure assessment and field monitoring of nanomaterials are required to assess and manage the nanomaterial exposure to human and environment. In this work, two nano-manufacturing companies, which had plasma and sol-gel processes, were selected to analyze the main exposure source and process with in-situ SMPS (scanning mobility particle sizer) and ex-situ TEM (transmission electron microscopy). The results showed that the colloidal nanoparticle in liquid phase was easily evaporated and monitored by SMPS. Most serious thing is that the workers does not know about the potential risk of nanomaterials, and thus they are not taking proper protection activities, such as PPE (personal protective equipment). Therefore, exposure assessment for nanomaterial handling facilities should be additionally carried out, and nano-safety management protocols are also provided.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2012

Copper zinc tin sulfide ($Cu_2ZnSnS_4$, CZTS) is a very promising material as a low cost absorber alternative to other chalcopyrite-type semiconductors based on Ga or In because of the abundant and economical elements. In addition, CZTS has a band-gap energy of 1.4~1.5eV and large absorption coefficient over ${\sim}10^4cm^{-1}$, which is similar to those of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$(CIGS) regarded as one of the most successful absorber materials for high efficient solar cell. Most previous works on the fabrication of CZTS thin films were based on the vacuum deposition such as thermal evaporation and RF magnetron sputtering. Although the vacuum deposition has been widely adopted, it is quite expensive and complicated. In this regard, the solution processes such as sol-gel method, nanocrystal dispersion and hybrid slurry method have been developed for easy and cost-effective fabrication of CZTS film. Among these methods, the hybrid slurry method is favorable to make high crystalline and dense absorber layer. However, this method has the demerit using the toxic and explosive hydrazine solvent, which has severe limitation for common use. With these considerations, it is highly desirable to develop a robust, easily scalable and relatively safe solution-based process for the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer with a thickness of 1.5~2.0 ${\mu}m$ and micrometer-scaled grains using two different non-vacuum approaches. The first solution-processing approach includes air-stable non-toxic solvent-based inks in which the commercially available precursor nanoparticles are dispersed in ethanol. Our readily achievable air-stable precursor ink, without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, high toxic solvents, or organic additives, facilitates a convenient method to fabricate a high quality CZTS absorber layer with uniform surface composition and across the film depth when annealed at $530^{\circ}C$. The conversion efficiency and fill factor for the non-toxic ink based solar cells are 5.14% and 52.8%, respectively. The other method is based on the nanocrystal dispersions that are a key ingredient in the deposition of thermally annealed absorber layers. We report a facile synthetic method to produce phase-pure CZTS nanocrystals capped with less toxic and more easily removable ligands. The resulting CZTS nanoparticle dispersion enables us to fabricate uniform, crack-free absorber layer onto Mo-coated soda-lime glass at $500^{\circ}C$, which exhibits a robust and reproducible photovoltaic response. Our simple and less-toxic approach for the fabrication of CZTS layer, reported here, will be the first step in realizing the low-cost solution-processed CZTS solar cell with high efficiency.

• Clean Technology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2015

A photocatalyst which mixed by the commercialized P25-TiO₂ and a synthesized Ag_xO was used in an appropriate weight ratio to effectively produce hydrogen gas in this study. The Ag_xOs were synthesized with the conventional sol-gel method, and tetramethylammonium hydroxides were added at the synthesis process in order to stabilize the solutions, and then the solutions were heat-treated at the temperatures of -5, 25, and 50 ℃, resulted to obtain the three types of silver oxides. Physicochemical properties of the synthesized Ag_xOs were identified through X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning emission microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In the photolysis results of water/methanol (weight ratio 1:1) solution, the mixture of P25-TiO₂/Ag_xO exhibited a significantly higher hydrogen gases evolution, compared to that of pure P25-TiO₂. Additionally, the addition of H₂O₂ as an supplement oxidant and in Ag_xO synthesized at 50 ℃ improved the hydrogen production efficiency. In particular, the emitted hydrogen gases reached to 13,000 μmol during 8 hours when a mixed catalyst, Ag_xO of 0.1 g and P25-TiO₂ of 0.9 g, were used.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.323-328
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• 2015

Poly(${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone) (PCL) nanofibers and PCL/silica membranes were synthesized by sol-gel derived electrospinning and casting, respectively. Smooth PCL nanofibers were obtained from the precursor containing N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). PCL/silica membranes were prepared by varying the tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) contents from 0 to 40 vol% to investigate the effect of silica addition on mechanical properties and cytotoxicity of the membranes. Although the strength of the membranes decreased from 12 to 8 MPa with increasing the silica content, the strength remained almost constant 7 weeks after dipping in phosphate buffered saline solution (PBS). The strength reduction was attributed to the presence of a patterned surface pores and micro-pores present in the walls between pores. The crystal structure of the membranes was orthorhombic and the crystallite size decreased from 57 to 18 nm with increasing the silica content. From the agar overlay test, the PCL/silica membranes exhibited neither deformation and discoloration nor lysis of L-929 fibroblast cells.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 2006

Effects of V substitution of Fe on the magnetic properties of $Fe_3O_4$ have been investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) measurements on sol-gel-grown films. XRD data indicates that the $V_xFe_{3-x}O_4$ films maintain cubic structure up to x=1.0 with little change of the lattice constant. Analyses on V 2p and Fe 2p levels of the XPS data indicate that V exist as $V^{3+}$ mostly in the $V_xFe_{3-x}O_4$ films with the density of $V^{2+}$ ions increasing with increasing V content. Analyses on the CEMS data indicate that $V^{3+}$ ions substitute tetrahedral $Fe^{3+}$ sites mostly, while $V^{2+}$ ions octahedral $Fe^{2+}$ sites. Results of room-temperature VSM measurements on the films reveal that the saturation magnetization for the x=0.14 sample is larger than that of $Fe_3O_4$, while it becomes smaller than that of $Fe_3O_4$ for $x{\geq}0.5$. The coercivity of the $V_xFe_{3-x}O_4$ films is found to increase with x, attributed to the increase of anisotropy by the substitution of $V^{2+}(d^3)$ ions into the octahedral sites.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2006

Pure and Fe-doped CuO thin-film and powder samples were prepared using a sol-gel method. Undoped CuO films exhibited monoclinic structure and p-type electrical conductivity $(\~10^{-2}\;{\Omega^{-1}\;cm^{-1}$ due to copper deficiency. On the other hand, CuO: Fe films were found to be insulating and Li doping on the films led to a restoration of p-type conductivity and a ferromagnetic hysteresis behaviour at room temperature. The observed properties far the CuO : Fe, Li films can be explained in terms of hole creation by substitution of $Li^+$ for $Cu^{2+}$ sites and mediation of long-range interactions between $Fe^{3+}$ ions by the $Li^+$-induced defect states. CuO: Fe powders exhibited a ferromagnetism at room temperature with its strength being dependent on post-annealing temperature. Mossbauer measurements on the CuO: Fe films and powders revealed that the octahedral $Cu^{2+}$ sites are mostly substituted by $Fe^{3+}$ ions.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.146-151
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• 2000

So fine cobalt oxide xerogel powders were prepared by using a unique solution chemistry associated with the sol-gel process. The effect of thermal treatment on the crystalinity, particle structure, and corresponding electrochemical properties of the resulting xerogel remained amorphous as $Co(OH)_2$ up to $160^{\circ}C$ With an increase in the temperature above $200^{\circ}C$, both the surface area and pore volume decreased sharply, because the amorphous $Co(OH)_2$ decomposed to form CoO that was subsequently oxidized to form crystalline Co304. In addition, the changes in the crystallinity, and particle structure all had significant but coupled effects on the electrochemical properties of the xerogels. A maximum capacitance of 192F1g was obtained for an electrode prepared with the $CoO_x$ Xerogel calcined at$150^{\circ}C$, which was consistent with the maxima exhibited in both the surface area and pore volume. This capacitance was attributed solely to a surface redox mechanism.