• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.2029-2035
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• 2013

The impact of phosphorous (P)-doping on the electrochemical performance and surface chemistry of soft carbon is investigated by means of galvanostatic cycling and ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). P-doping plays an important role in storing more Li ions and discernibly improves reversible capacity. However, the discharge capacity retention of P-doped soft carbon electrodes deteriorated at $60^{\circ}C$ compared to non-doped soft carbon. This poor capacity retention could be improved by vinylene carbonate (VC) participating in forming a protective interfacial chemistry on soft carbon. In addition, the effect of P-doping on exothermic thermal reactions of lithiated soft carbon with electrolyte solution is discussed on the basis of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results.

• Carbon letters
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2009

Various silanes, amino silane, vinyl silane, TESPD, and ZS (TESPD/zinc soap complex), are added into chlorinated isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (CIIR)/soft clay/carbon black (CB). The vulcanization characteristics, the processability, and the mechanical properties are measured. In soft clay/CB filled CIIR system, there are no significant changes in Mooney viscosity among compounds. Vinyl silane added compound shows a low extrusion torque. All the silane added compounds shows an increased modulus. The mechanical properties are significantly increased when the S2 is added into CIIR/soft clay/CB compounds.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.746-752
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• 2016

In this study, soft carbon was prepared by carbonization of carbon precursor (pitch) obtained from PFO (pyrolysis fuel oil) heat treatment. Three carbon precursors prepared by the thermal reaction were 3903 (at $390^{\circ}C$ for 3 h), 4001 (at $400^{\circ}C$ for 1 h) and 4002 (at $400^{\circ}C$ for 2 h). After the prepared soft carbon was ground to a particle size of $25{\sim}35^{\circ}C$, the soft carbon was synthesised by the chemical treatment with boric acid ($H_3BO_3$). The prepared soft carbon were analysed by XRD, FE-SEM and XPS. Also, the electrochemical performances of soft carbon were investigated by constant current charge/discharge test, cyclic voltammetry and impedance tests in the electrolyte of $LiPF_6$ dissolved inorganic solvents (EC:DMC=1:1 vol%+VC 3 wt%). The coin cell using soft carbon of $25{\sim}35^{\circ}C$ with 3903 soft carbon ($H_3BO_3$/Pitch=3:100 in weight) has better initial capacity and efficiency (330 mAh/g, 82%) than those of other coin cells. Also, it was found that the retention rate capability of 2C/0.1C was 90% after 30 cycles.

• Carbon letters
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.190-197
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• 2009

Various silanes, amino silane, vinyl silane, sulfur silane (TESPD), and ZS (TESPD/zinc soap complex), are added into chlorinated isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (CIIR)/soft clay/carbon black (CB) and CIIR/hard clay/CB compounds and they are investigated with respect to the vulcanization characteristics, the processability, and the mechanical properties. Comparing hard clay and soft clay filled compounds, hard clay (Suprex) filled system shows a higher die C tear than the soft clay (GK) filled one. The other properties (Mooney, extrusion torque/pressure, torque rise ($M_H-M_L$), modulus at 300%) are close to each other. Among various silanes, the ZS treated hard clay (Suprex) compound shows the highest mechanical property following hard clay(S)/vinyl silane(V) and soft clay(GK)/vinyl silane(V) compounds. The TESPD and the ZS effectively helps a formation of a strong 3-dimensional network structure between silica and CIIR via coupling reaction due to bifunctional nature of TESPD. In addition to that, the ZS added compounds show both a better processability and mechanical properties compared to the S2 ones at low concentration due to improved compatibility between zinc soap and CIIR matrix. Only the ZS added compound shows both improved processabilities (Mooney, Extrusion torque-& pressure) and improved mechanical properties (degree of crosslinking, elongation modulus, tear, and fatigue to failure counts) on both CIIR/hard clay/CB and CIIR/soft clay/CB compounds.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.288-294
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• 2014

The study on the migration of carbon in T23/T91 dissimilar metal welds for the boiler was conducted at $600^{\circ}C$ with an increase of aging time from 1 to 100 hrs. Following results were obtained. The heavily etched dark band tended to increase from a molten boundary owing to an increase of aging time, which leads to form hard (T91) and soft (T23) zones with different hardness. It was found that carbon was migrated from T23 area to T91 area due to different carbon activities. In addition, soft and hard zones were formed in regional area mainly resulted from carbide dissolutions and precipitates.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.187-195
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• 2003

The present article is concerned with the overview of carbonaceous materials used as anode materials for lithium ion secondary batteries. This article first classified carbonaceous materials into graphite, soft carbon and hard carbon according to their crystal structures, and then summarised the previous works on the characteristics of lithium intercalation/deintercalation into/from the carbonaceous materials. Finally this article reviewed our recent research works on the mechanism of lithium transport through graphite, soft carbon and hard carbon electrodes from the kinetic view point by the analysis of the theoretical and experimental potentiostatic current transients.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 2014

The process parameter in optimized KOH alkali activation of soft carbon series coke material in high purity was set with DOE experiments design. The activated carbon was produced by performing the activation process based on the set process parameters. The specific surface area was measured and pore size was analyzed by $N_2$ absorption method for the produced activated carbon. The surface functional group was analyzed by Boehm method and metal impurities were analyzed by XRF method. The specific surface area was increased over 2,000 $m^2/g$ as the mixing ratio of activation agent increased. The micro pores in $5{\sim}15{\AA}$ and surface functional group under 0.4 meq/g were obtained. The contents of the metal impurity in activated carbon which is the factor for reducing the electrochemical characteristics was reduced less than 100 ppm through the cleansing process optimization. The electrochemical characteristics of activated carbon in 38.5 F/g and 26.6 F/cc were checked through the impedance measuring with cyclic voltammetry scan rate in 50~300 mV/s and frequency in 10 mHz ~100 kHz. The activated carbon was made in the optimized activation process conditions of activation time in 40 minutes, mixing ratio of activation agent in 4.5 : 1.0 and heat treatment temperature over $650^{\circ}C$.

• Carbon letters
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.277-281
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• 2014

A series of high capacity soft carbons with different phosphorus contents were successfully prepared by carbonizing petroleum cokes treated with hypophosphorous acid at $900^{\circ}C$. The effect of phosphorus content on the electrochemical performance of the soft carbons was extensively investigated. The P-doped soft carbons exhibited greatly enhanced discharge capacities and outstanding rate capabilities with increasing phosphorus content. In addition, the influence of temperature on the electrochemical behaviors of the soft carbons was investigated in a wide temperature range of $25^{\circ}C$ to $50^{\circ}C$. Surprisingly, the electrochemical properties of the pristine and P-doped soft carbons were highly sensitive to the operating temperature, unlike conventional graphite. The pristine and P-doped soft carbons exhibited significantly high discharge capacities of 470 and 522 mAh/g, respectively, at a high temperature of $50^{\circ}C$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.331-336
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• 2019

In this study, required properties and optimized procedure conditions for the pitch based soft carbon anode of lithium ion battery was investigated for improving the initial efficiency and rate performance. Each petroleum residue was thermally treated at 360, 370, and $410^{\circ}C$ for 3 hours to synthesis a pitch and the corresponding pitch shows the softening point of 86, 98, and $152^{\circ}C$, respectively. The elemental analysis and thermal characteristics of the pitch were investigated by EA analysis and TGA. It was noted that the low H/C and improved thermal stability were obtained with the high softening point. The obtained pitch was carbonized at $1,200^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour to produce a soft carbon based anode. As a result of investigating the crystal structure by XRD analysis, it was found that the crystallinity of soft carbon increased with increasing the softening point. It was considered that relatively higher boiling components and decreases in the evaporation component resulted the components participation for cyclization during the heat treatment process. The soft carbon based anode with an improved crystallinity shows the enhanced initial efficiency and rate performance. The mechanism of both improvements was also discusssed based on the developed crystal structure of soft carbon based anode materials.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.1473-1476
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• 2013

Solution-based deposition of $CuIn_xGa_{1-x}Se_2$ (CIGSe) thin films is well known non-vacuum process for the fabrication of CIGSe solar cells. However, due to the usage of organic chemicals in the preparation of CIG precursor solutions, the crystallization of the polycrystalline CIGSe and the performance of CIGSe thin film solar cells were significantly affected by the carbon residues from the organic chemicals. In this work, we have tried to eliminate the carbon residues in the CIG precursor thin films efficiently by using soft-annealing process. By adjusting soft-annealing temperature, it is possible to control the amount of carbon residues in CIG precursor thin films. The reduction of the carbon residues in CIG precursors by high temperature soft-annealing improves the grain size and morphology of polycrystalline CIGSe thin films, which are also closely related with the electrical properties of CIGSe thin film solar cells.