• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제31권12호
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• pp.3723-3729
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• 2010

We investigated the high-excitation voltage cathodoluminescence (CL) performance of blue light-emitting (ZnS:Ag,Al,Cl) and green light-emitting (ZnS:Cu,Al) phosphors coated with metal oxides ($SiO_2$, $Al_2O_3$, and MgO). Hydrolysis of the metal oxide precursors tetraethoxysilane, aluminum isopropoxide, and magnesium nitrate, with subsequent heat annealing at $400^{\circ}C$, produced $SiO_2$ nanoparticles, an $Al_2O_3$ thin film, and MgO scale-type film, respectively, on the surface of the phosphors. Effects of the phosphor surface coatings on CL intensities and aging behavior of the phosphors were assessed using an accelerating voltage of 12 kV. The MgO thick film coverage exhibited less reduction in initial CL intensity and was most effective in improving aging degradation. Phosphors treated with a low concentration of magnesium nitrate maintained their initial CL intensities without aging degradation for 2000 s. In contrast, the $SiO_2$ and the $Al_2O_3$ coverages were ineffective in improving aging degradation.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.48-55
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• 2013

Objective: The use of nanoparticle products is expected to present a potential harmful effect on consumers. Also, the lack of information regarding inhaled nanoparticles may pose a serious problem. In this study, we addressed this issue by studying pulmonary toxicity after nasal instillation of Al-NPs in SD rats. Methods: The animals were exposed to Al-NPs at 1 mg/kg body weight (low dose), 20 mg/kg body weight (medium dose) and 40 mg/kg body weight (high dose). To determine pulmonary toxicity, bronchoalveolar lavage (ts.AnBAL) fluid analysis and histopathological examination were conducted in rats. In addition, cell viability was investigated at 24 hours after the treatment with Al-NPs. Results: BAL fluid analysis showed that total cells (TC) count and total protein (TP) concentrations increased significantly in all treatment groups, approximately two to three times. Also, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and cytokines such as TNF-alpha and IL-6 dose-dependently increased following nasal instillation of Al-NPs. However, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) levels showed no significant changes in a dose dependant manner in BAL fluid. In the cytotoxicity analysis, the treatment of Al-NPs significantly and dose-dependently induced cell viability loss (20 to 30%) and damage of cell membrane (5 to 10%) in rat normal lung epithelial cells (L2). Conclusions: Our results suggest that inhaled Al-NPs in the lungs may be removed quickly by alveolar macrophages with minimal inflammatory reaction, but Al-NPs have the potential to affect lung permeability. Therefore, extensive toxicity evaluations of Al-NPs are required prior to their practical application as consumer products.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.758-760
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• 2008

Nanoporous AAO (Anodic Aluminum Oxide) membranes have many advantages as a template for variety of magnetic materials. Materials can be embedded into the pores by electrodeposition, sputtering or magnetic-field-assisted infiltration of magnetic nanoparticles. This work focuses on the fabrication of the magnetic structures in the AAO templates by electrodeposition. Our method allows the controlled growth of Co nanostructures within the porous alumina membrane in the form of dots, rods and long wires. The shape of Co nanostructures has been investigated by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The magnetic hysteresis loops of Co nanostructures were measured using SQUID at 5 K and 300 K. The magnetic properties of the Co nanostructures are proportional to their aspect ratios and can be controlled by changing the aspect ratios.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제42권1호
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• pp.27-33
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• 2016

Objectives: Alumina nanoparticles ($Al_2O_3$, Al-NPs) are used for various purposes, including as coating agents and paint additives. Their potential toxicity has raised concern for human health. This study focuses on exploring the toxic effects on the brain and kidneys caused by Al-NPs exposure in rats. Methods: The animals were orally administered Al-NPs at 10, 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight for 28 days following OECD TG 407. To determine the targeted toxicity of Al-NPs, histopathological examination and gene expression analysis were conducted on the rats. Results: The Al-NPs treatment induced kidney tubular dilatation. In the rat cerebrums, the expression levels of 126 genes experienced two-fold or greater increases in response to Al-NPs, including other genes encoding proteins involved in cell differentiation, transcription and signal transduction. In the rat kidneys, the expression levels of 152 genes also showed two-fold or greater increases in response to Al-NPs, including other genes encoding proteins involved in apoptosis, transcription and signal transduction. Conclusion: These results suggest that exposure to Al-NPs influences cellular signal pathways of kidney and cerebrum, and it can be a toxic indicators of nanometrials.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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• 제68권
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• pp.173-179
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• 2018

Electrochemical characterization was conducted on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-ceramic composite (PVA-CC) separators for supercapacitor applications. The PVA-CC separators were fabricated by mixing various ceramic particles including aluminum oxide ($Al_2O_3$), silicon dioxide ($SiO_2$), and titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) into a PVA aqueous solution. These ceramic particles help to create amorphous regions in the crystalline structure of the polymer matrix to increase the ionic conductivity of PVA. Supercapacitors were assembled using PVA-CC separators with symmetric activated carbon electrodes and electrochemical characterization showed enhanced specific capacitance, rate capability, cycle life, and ionic conductivity. Supercapacitors using the $PVA-TiO_2$ composite separator showed particularly good electrochemical performance with a 14.4% specific capacitance increase over supercapacitors using the bare PVA separator after 1000 cycles. With regards to safety, PVA becomes plasticized when immersed in 6 M KOH aqueous solution, thus there was no appreciable loss in tear resistance when the ceramic particles were added to PVA. Thus, the enhanced electrochemical properties can be attained without reduction in safety making the addition of ceramic nanoparticles to PVA separators a cost-effective strategy for increasing the ionic conductivity of separator materials for supercapacitor applications.

• 센서학회지
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.207-210
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• 2014

$TiO_2$ oxide semiconductor is being widely studied in various applications such as photocatalyst and photosensor. Pd/$TiO_2$ gas sensor is mainly used to detect $H_2$, CO and ethanol. This study focus on increasing hydrogen detection ability of Pd/$TiO_2$ in room temperature through Al-doping. Pd/$TiO_2$ was fabricated by the hydrothermal method. Contacting to Aluminum (Al) foil led to Al doping effect in Pd/$TiO_2$ by thermal diffusion and enhanced hydrogen sensing response. $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were sized at ~30 nm of diameter from scanning electron microscope (SEM) and maintained anatase crystal structure after Al doping from X-ray diffraction analysis. Presence of Al in $TiO_2$ was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at 73 eV. SEM-energy dispersive spectroscopy measurement also confirmed 2 wt% Al in Pd/$TiO_2$ bulk. The gas sensing test was performed with $O_2$, $N_2$ and $H_2$ gas ambient. Pd/Al-doped $TiO_2$ did not response $O_2$ and $N_2$ gas in vacuum except $H_2$. Finally, the normalized resistance ratio ($R_{H2on}/R_{H2off}$) of Pd/Al-doped $TiO_2$ increases about 80% compared to Pd/$TiO_2$.

• 한국분무공학회지
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.65-69
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• 2015

In this study, the thermal performance of vehicle's cooling system is experimentally investigated using the water/coolant-based $Al_2O_3$ nanofluids as working fluids. For the purpose, the water/coolant-based $Al_2O_3$ nanofluids are prepared by twostep method with gum arabic. In order to obtain the well-suspended nanofluids, the agglomerated $Al_2O_3$ nanoparticles are precipitated using centrifugal force and the experiments are performed with supernatant of them. The thermal conductivity is measured by transient hot wire method and the thermal conductivity of nanofluids is enhanced up to 4.8% as compared to that of base fluids. Moreover, the cooling performance of water/coolant-based $Al_2O_3$ nanofluids is evaluated using vehicle's engine simulator under the constant RPM condition. The results show that the cooling performance of automobile engine increases up to 5.9% using prepared nanofluids. To investigate the effect of nanofluids on exhaust gas, the $NO_x$ emission is measured during the operation with respect to time and 10.3% of $NO_x$ emission is decreased. The experimental results imply that the water/coolant-based $Al_2O_3$ nanofluids might be used as a next-generation vehicles' coolant

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제35권7호
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• pp.1973-1978
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• 2014

Here, we present a facile method to synthesize Pt nanoparticles (NPs) and graphene composite materials (Pt/G) via vacuum filtration. Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates were used to separate Pt/G composite and liquid phase. This method can be used to easily tune the mass ratio of Pt NPs and graphene. Pt NPs, graphene, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as building blocks were characterized by a variety of techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. We compared the electrocatalytic activities of Pt/G with Pt NP and CNT films (Pt/CNT) by cyclic voltammetry (CV), CO oxidation, and methanol oxidation. Pt/G was much more stable than pure Pt films. Also, Pt/G had better electrochemical activity, CO tolerance and methanol oxidation than Pt/CNT loaded with the same amount of Pt NPs due to the better dispersion of Pt NPs on graphene flakes without aggregation. We further synthesized Au@Pt disk/G and Pt nanorods/G to determine if our synthetic method can be applied to other NP shapes such as nanodisks and nanorods, for further electrocatalysis studies.