• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2012

Functionalized graphene/epoxy composites were prepared to miprove thermal conductivities of epoxy composites and to maintain electrical insulating property. Graphene oxide (GO) was prepared using Hummers method, and then GO was reacted with aluminum isopropoxide to functionalize $Al(OH)_3$ layer onto GO surface by a simple sol-gel method (Al-GO). GO and Al-GO were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The analyses confirm that GO was coated with a large and dense coverage of $Al(OH)_3$. GO and Al-GO (1 and 3 wt%) were embedded in bisphenol A (DGEBA) to investigate the effects of electrical insulating property. Electrical resistivity showed that Al-GO had better insulating property than GO. Further, the thermal conductivity of GO and Al-GO/epoxy composites was higher than that of neat epoxy resins. In particular, the thermal conductivity of Al-GO/bisphenol F (DGEBF) improved by 23.3% and Al-GO/DGEBA enhanced by 21.8% compared with pure epoxy resins.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.1241-1248
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• 2021

In order to figure out various environmental problems, various governments and companies are investigating more environmentally policies and technologies. In other words, activated carbon is widely used for the adsorption of different harmful gases and waste liquid treatment. However since the required surface properties are different in various industry, depending on the adsorption properties, the development of activated carbon demand in different ways. In this work, we have investigated and developed the activated carbon surface to improve the hydrophilic properties by nitric acid treatment through reforming of activated carbon.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.295-302
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• 2021

Surface modification of recycled plastic film-based aggregates is demonstrated to enhance the interaction between aggregates and cement paste. It is shown that the oxygen(O₂) atmospheric pressure plasma(APP) treatment leads to a drastic increase in hydrophilicity. In case of the plasma treatment at 100W of RF power, 15/4sccm of O₂/Ar flow rate and 30sec of discharging time, the water contact angle on the aggregates surface decreased from 104.5° to 44.0°. In addition, the contact angle of surface modified aggregates kept in air increased with time elapse. Improvement of hydrophilicity can be explained by the formation of new hydrophilic oxygen functional groups which is identified as C-OH, C-O-C, C=O, -COOH by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) analysis and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR). Therefore, it can be concluded that the plasma treatment process is an effective method to improve adhesion of the recycled plastic film-based aggregates and cement paste.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.212-218
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• 2019

To investigate the effect of the oxyfluorination of carbon nanotubes (OF-CNTs) on electroless Ni deposition and electromagnetic interference shielding efficiency (EMI SE), CNTs were treated with a mixture of oxygen and fluorine gases and sequentially deposited with nickel. These samples were then manufactured into thin films on a polyimide film to evaluate their EMI SE. The surface chemical property of OF-CNTs was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. From the results of thermogravimetric and scanning electron microscopic analyses, it was found that both the amount of deposited Ni and the surface morphology changed depending on oxyfluorination. Moreover, the Ni-deposited CNTs pretreated with $O_2:F_2=1:9vol%$ exhibited the maximum EMI SE as approximately 19.4 dB at 1 GHz. These results were attributed to the formation of oxygen and fluorine functional groups on the surface of CNTs due to the oxyfluorination, and the functional groups enabled to deposit a suitable amount of Ni and improve the dispersion in the deposited solution.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2011

In this work, the effect of surface treatment on mesoporous carbons (MCs) supports was investigated by analyzing surface functional groups. MCs were prepared by a conventional templating method using mesoporous silica (SBA-15) for using catalyst supports in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The MCs were treated with different phosphoric acid ($H_3PO_4$) concentrations i.e., 0, 1, 3, 4, and 5 M at 343 K for 6 h. And then Pt-Ru was deposited onto surface treated MCs (H-MCs) by chemical reduction method. The characteristics of Pt-Ru catalysts deposited onto H-MCs were determined by specific surface area and pore size analyzer, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron, transmission electron microscopy, and inductive coupled plasma-mass spectrometer. The electrochemical properties of Pt-Ru/H-MCs catalysts were also analyzed by cyclic voltammetry experiments. From the results of surface analysis, an oxygen functional group was introduced to the surface of carbon supports. From the results, the H4M-MCs carbon supports surface treated with 4 M $H_3PO_4$ led to uniform dispersion of Pt-Ru onto H4M-MCs, resulting in enhancing the electro-catalytic activity of Pt-Ru catalysts.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.479-485
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• 2011

Pt-Bi/C catalysts supported on carbon black with various Pt/Bi ratios were synthesized by a reduction method. Chloroplatinic acid hydrate ($H_2PtCl_6{\cdot}xH_2O$) and bismuth (III) nitrate pentahydrate ($Bi(NO_3)_3{\cdot}5H_2O$) were used as precursors for Pt and Bi, respectively. Before loading metal on carbon, heat treatment and pretreatment of carbon black in an acidic solution was conducted to enhance the degree of dispersion. The physical property of the synthesized catalysts was investigated by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The XRD pattern of untreated Pt-Bi/C catalyst showed BiPt and $Bi_2Pt$ peaks in addition to Pt peaks. These results imply that Bi atoms were incorporated into the Pt crystal lattice by Pt-Bi alloy formation. The catalytic activity for methanol oxidation was measured using cyclic voltammetry in a mixture of 0.5 M $H_2SO_4$ and 0.5 M $CH_3OH$ aqueous solution. The addition of proper amount of Bi was found to significantly improve catalytic activity for methanol oxidation. The catalytic activity for methanol oxidation was closely related to the stability between electrode and electrolyte. In order to investigate the stability of catalysts, chronoamperometry analysis was carried out in the same solution at 0.6 V.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.672-678
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• 2011

In this work, carbon fibers were electrolessly Ni-plated in order to investigate the effect of metal plating on the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMI-SE) of Ni-coated carbon fibers-reinforced epoxy matrix composites. The surfaces of carbon fibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Electric resistance of the composites was tested using a 4-point-probe electric resistivity tester. The EMI-SE of the composites was evaluated by means of the reflection and adsorption methods. From the results, it was found that the EMI-SE of the composites enhanced with increasing Ni plating time and content. In high frequency region, the EMI-SE didn't show further increasing with high Ni content (Ni-CF 10 min) compared to the Ni-CF 5 min sample. In conclusion, Ni content on the carbon fibers can be a key factor to determine the EMI-SE of the composites, but there can be an optimized metal content at a specific electromagnetic frequency region in this system.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.311-320
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• 2020

In this study, the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) was carried out under visible light irradiation using CdS and CdZnS/ZnO photocatalysts prepared by a simple precipitation method. This study focused on examining the effect of physicochemical properties of dye and photocatalyst on the reaction pathway of photocatalytic degradation. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, UV-vis DRS and XPS. Both the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO photocatalysts exhibit an excellent absorption in the visible light and the UV light regions. It was observed that the photocatalytic degradation of MO proceeds via the same reaction mechanism on both the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO photocatalysts. However, the photocatalytic degradation of RhB and MB was found to proceed through a different reaction pathway on the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO catalysts. It is interesting to note that MB dimer was formed on the CdS catalyst at the beginning of the photocatalytic reaction, while the MB monomer was degraded during the overall photocatalytic reaction on CdZnS/ZnO. The above results may be mainly ascribed to the difference of band edge potential of the conduction band in the CdS and CdZnS/ZnO semiconductors and the adsorption property of dye on the catalysts.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.496-507
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• 2022

For the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with ammonia (NH₃-SCR), a V₂O₅WO₃/TiO₂ (VW/nTi) catalyst was prepared using V₂O₅ and WO₃ on a nanodispersed TiO₂ (nTi) support by simple impregnation process. The nTi support was dispersed for 0~3 hrs under controlled bead-milling in ethanol. The average particle size (D₅₀) of nTi was reduced from 582 nm to 93 nm depending on the milling time. The NOx activity of these catalysts with maximum temperature shift was influenced by the dispersion of the TiO₂. For the V_0.5W₂/nTi-0h catalyst, prepared with 582 nm nTi-0h before milling, the decomposition temperature with over 94 % NOx conversion had a narrow temperature window, within the range of 365-391 ℃. Similarly, the V_0.5W₂/nTi-2h catalyst, prepared with 107 nm nTi-2h bead-milled for 2hrs, showed a broad temperature window in the range of 358~450 ℃. However, the V_0.5W₂/Ti catalyst (D₅₀ = 2.4 ㎛, aqueous, without milling) was observed at 325-385 ℃. Our results could pave the way for the production of effective NOx decomposition catalysts with a higher temperature range. This approach is also better at facilitating the dispersion on the support material. NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, FT-IR, and XPS were used to investigate the role of nTi in the DeNOx catalyst.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.201-210
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• 2022

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is the most commonly used fresh food refrigeration insulation in Korea and Europe. Moreover, as the use of disposable packaging materials has increased significantly along with non-face-to-face delivery services since the COVID-19 crisis, social issues related to waste disposal are also being raised. Therefore, in this study, the life cycle of EPS boxes for fresh food is focused on the factors that have a large difference between incineration and landfill including recycling in Europe and Korea in the disposal process after use, and raw materials and energy in the manufacturing process, which account for a large portion of the environmental impact value. We tried to compare the environmental impact of evaluation. Overall, the raw material production stage, box manufacturing stage, and packaging stage have similar processes in Europe and Korea, but unlike Europe, Korea, which lacks landfills and incineration facilities, has focused on expanding the recycling rate. It was necessary to do an environmental impact assessment. Data affecting the environment were derived based on 2019 and 2020 data for Korea and 2017 and 2020 data for Europe. In order to predict the future environmental impact assessment, assumptions about the disposal rate in 2025 and 2030 were introduced and evaluated. As a result of this study, it was found that the raw material production stage of EPS boxes, which have similar processes in both Korea and Europe, has the greatest effect on the global warming effect of Korean EPS boxes. However, Korea, which has a relatively high recycling rate in the disposal process compared to incineration and landfill, showed better environmental performance than Europe in most impact indicators except freshwater eutrophication. In particular, Korea has increased the overall recycling rate compared to Europe by replacing various recyclable materials such as building materials and sundries with XPS (extruded polystyrene) recycled materials. In conclusion, it was found that increasing the recycling rate rather than incinerating and landfilling EPS boxes for fresh food in the domestic EPS industry has relatively less environmental load compared to Europe.