• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.609-614
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• 2012

We report on the NO gas sensing properties of non-directional ZnO nanofibers synthesized using a typical electrospinning technique. These non-directional ZnO nanofibers were electrospun on an $SiO_2$/Si substrate from a solution containing poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and zinc nitrate hexahydrate dissolved in distilled water. Calcination processing of the ZnO/PVA composite nanofibers resulted in a random network of polycrystalline ZnO nanofibers of 50 nm to 100 nm in diameter. The diameter of the nanofibers was found to depend primarily on the solution viscosity; a proper viscosity was maintained by adding PVA to fabricate uniform ZnO nanofibers. Microstructural measurements using scanning electron microscopy revealed that our synthesized ZnO nanofibers after calcination had coarser surface morphology than those before calcination, indicating that the calcination processing was sufficient to remove organic contents. From the gas sensing response measurements for various NO gas concentrations in dry air at several working temperatures, it was found that gas sensors based on electrospun ZnO nanofibers showed quite good responses, exhibiting a maximum sensitivity to NO gas in dry air at an operating temperature of $200^{\circ}C$. In particular, the non-directional electrospun ZnO nanofiber gas sensors were found to have a good NO gas detection limit of sub-ppm levels in dry air. These results illustrate that non-directional electrospun ZnO nanofibers are promising for use in low-cost, high-performance practical NO gas sensors.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.304-310
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• 1998

Carbothermal reduction has been one of the important processes for the production of ceramic raw materials such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, boron carbide, etc. The process has also been one of several trials for the recovery of ZnO from ZnO-containing waste. It usually involves two consecutive steps: the evolution of Zn vapor and its oxidation with air. In this study a ZnO-containing raw material is reduced by carbon at $1250^{\circ}C$ and the evolved Zn vapor is oxidized with air, resulting in fine powders of ZnO. computer programs, THERMO and PYROSIM developed by MINTEK, are used to simulate the process thermodynamically and the results are compared with the experimental results. It is shown that the ZnO-containing raw material can be reduced and can form fine ZnO with the yield as high as 98.7% under a proper condition. Based on these results, a process is engineered for the production of ZnO in a rotary kiln at a rate of 3 tons/day. The produced ZnO powders show properties suitable to the usual applications in ceramic industries with a purity of > 95wt% and an average particle size of ∼3${\mu}m$.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.155-158
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• 2017

In this paper, ZnO Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) were fabricated by a sol-gel method using a low-temperature process, and their physical and electrical characteristics were analyzed. To lower the process temperature to $200^{\circ}C$, we used a zinc nitrate hydrate ($Zn(NO_3)_2{\cdot}xH_2O$) precursor. Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) analysis showed that the zinc nitrate hydrate precursor solution had 1.5% residual organics, much less than the 6.5% of zinc acetate dihydrate at $200^{\circ}C$. In the sol-gel method, organic materials in the precursor disrupt formation of a high-quality film, and high-temperature annealing is needed to remove the organic residuals, which implies that, by using zinc nitrate hydrate, ZnO devices can be fabricated at a much lower temperature. Using an X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) and an X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS), $200^{\circ}C$ annealed ZnO film with zinc nitrate hydrate (ZnO (N)) was found to have an amorphous phase and much more oxygen vacancy ($V_o$) than Zn-O bonds. Despite no crystallinity, the ZnO (N) had conductance comparable to that of ZnO with zinc acetate dihydrate (ZnO (A)) annealed at $500^{\circ}C$ as in TFTs. These results show that sol-gel could be made a potent process for low-cost and flexible device applications by optimizing the precursors.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.299-306
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• 2014

ZnO pillared saponite was synthesized via a microwave hydrolysis method. To enhance interfacial compatibility between zinc oxide (ZnO) pillared saponite and poly lactic acid (PLA), ZnO pillared organic saponite was prepared by intercalation modification of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. Moreover, PLA/ZnO pillared organic saponite nanocomposites were prepared by melting processing. The microstructure analysis of PLA/ZnO pillared organic saponite nanocomposites showed that ZnO pillared organic saponite was exfoliated and homogeneouslydispersed in PLA matrix. The property results showed that ZnO pillared organic saponite improved the mechanical properties and thermal stabilities of PLA/ZnO pillared organic saponite nanocomposites. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) demonstrated that ZnO pillared organic saponite restrained the appearance of cold crystallization, lowered the glass transition temperature and melting temperature of PLA, and improved the crystallinity of PLA. The results demonstrated that ZnO pillared organic saponite had a good interfacial compatibility and heterogeneous nucleation effect in PLA matrix, and also played an active role in accelerating the crystallization process of PLA.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-18
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• 2012

Transparent conductive indium zinc oxide thin films were prepared by spin-coating a sol-gel solution. Zinc acetate dihydrate [$Zn(CH_3COO)_2{\cdot}2H_2O$] and indium acetate [In$(CH_3COO)_3$] were used as starting precursors, and 2-methoxyethanol with 1-propanol as solvents. Upon annealing in a temperature range from 500 to $1000^{\circ}C$, the thin film crystallizes into polycrystalline $In_2O_3$(ZnO). The lowest electrical resistivity was obtained at an annealing temperature of $700^{\circ}C$ as $2{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. Average optical transmittances were higher than 80% at all annealing temperatures. These experimental results confirm that the sol-gel spin-coating can be a good simplified practical method for forming transparent electrodes.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.1116-1125
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• 2023

Zinc oxide film is a transparent conductive material and is used in optoelectronic devices in various fields. Therefore, characterization of the zinc oxide film will play a very important role in improving the performance of optoelectronic devices. Here, we will evaluate the morphological and structural characteristics of such a zinc oxide film based on the solution process. Specifically, the sol-gel method will be repeatedly performed to observe the change in material properties of the zinc oxide film according to the number of times of spin-coating. It was confirmed that crystallization proceeded as a result of performing the sol-gel method repetitively 5 times under constant solution conditions. At 7 times or more, the element composition and crystallinity tended to converge to a specific value. The average crystal size of the final zinc oxide film was calculated to be about 10.7 nm. In this study, the number of processes showing optimal crystallization was 7 times. The results and methodology of this study can be applied while varying various solution process variables and are expected to contribute to establishing optimal process conditions.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.1-5
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• 2021

Field-effect transistors based on solution-processed metal oxide semiconductors has attracted huge attention due to their intrinsic characteristics of optical and electrical characteristics with benefits of simple and low-cost process. Especially, spray-pyrolysis has shown excellent device performance which compatible to vacuum-processed Field-effect transistors. However, the high annealing temperature for crystallization of MOS and narrow range of precursors has impeded the progress of the technology. Here, we demonstrated the nc-ZnO/ZnO films performed by spray-pyrolysis with incorporating ZnO nanoparticles into typical ZnO precursor. The films exhibit preserving morphological properties of poly-crystalline ZnO and enhanced electrical characteristics with potential for low-temperature processability. The influence of nanoparticles within the film was also researched for realizing ZnO films providing good quality of performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.235.2-235.2
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• 2015

The front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films must exhibit good transparency, low resistivity and excellent light scattering properties for high efficiency amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells. The light trapping phenomenon is limited due to non-uniform and low aspect ratio of the textured glass [1]. We present the low cost electrochemically deposited uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods with various aspect ratios for a-Si thin film solar cells. Since the major drawback of the electrochemically deposited ZnO nanorods was the high sheet resistance and low transmittance that was overcome by depositing the RF magnetron sputtered AZO films as a seed layer with various thicknesses [2]. The length and diameters of the ZnO nanorods was controlled by varying the deposition conditions. The length of ZnO nanorods were varied from 400 nm to $2{\mu}m$ while diameter was kept higher than 200 nm to obtain different aspect ratios. The uniform ZnO nanorods showed higher haze ratio as compared to the commercially available FTO films. We also observed that the scattering in the longer wavelength region was favored for the high aspect ratio of ZnO nanorods and much higher aspect ratios degraded the light scattering phenomenon. Therefore, we proposed our low cost and uniform ZnO nanorods for the high efficiency of thin film solar cells.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.224-229
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• 2010

Transparent conductive oxide films have been widely used in the field of flat panel display (FPD). Transparent conductive Indium Zinc Oxide (IZO) thin films with excellent chemical stability have attracted much attention as an alternative material for Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) films. In this study, using $In_2O_3$ and ZnO powder mixture with a ratio of 90 : 10 wt% as a target, IZO films are prepared on polynorbornene (PNB) substrates by electron beam evaporation. The effect of thickness and $O_2$ introduction flow rate on the optical, electrical, structural properties and surface composition of deposited IZO films were investigated by UV/Visible spectrophotometer, 4-point probe method, SEM, XRD and XPS.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.269-273
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• 1997

Chemical composition of cement powder influences the setting time and early compressive strength development. The setting time increases as the amounts of zinc oxide and magnesium oxide are increased. For one day compressive strength development, a cement powder with a composition 90% ZnO, 8% MgO and 2% silica resulted in the highest strength (greater than 1, 090 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$). Cement-forming liquids also need to be buffered, with both aluminum and zinc ions, for a good consistency and a higher strength of the zinc phosphate cement. These liquids control the setting reactions.