• Advances in nano research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-56
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• 2014

The significant growth of the Si photovoltaic industry has been so far limited due to the high cost of the Si photovoltaic system. In this regard, the most expensive factors are the intrinsic cost of silicon material and the Si solar cell fabrication processes. Conventional Si solar cells have p-n junctions inside for an efficient extraction of light-generated charge carriers. However, the p-n junction is normally formed through very expensive processes requiring very high temperature (${\sim}1000^{\circ}C$). Therefore, several systems are currently under study to form heterojunctions at low temperatures. Among them, carbon nanotube (CNT)/Si hybrid solar cells are very promising, with power conversion efficiency up to 15%. In these cells, the p-type Si layer is replaced by a semitransparent CNT film deposited at room temperature on the n-doped Si wafer, thus giving rise to an overall reduction of the total Si thickness and to the fabrication of a device with cheaper methods at low temperatures. In particular, the CNT film coating the Si wafer acts as a conductive electrode for charge carrier collection and establishes a built-in voltage for separating photocarriers. Moreover, due to the CNT film optical semitransparency, most of the incoming light is absorbed in Si; thus the efficiency of the CNT/Si device is in principle comparable to that of a conventional Si one. In this paper an overview of several factors at the basis of this device operation and of the suggested improvements to its architecture is given. In addition, still open physical/technological issues are also addressed.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.163-174
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• 2018

This article studies the free and forced vibrations of the carbon nanotubes CNTs embedded in an elastic medium including thermal and dynamic load effects based on nonlocal Euler-Bernoulli beam. A Winkler type elastic foundation is employed to model the interaction of carbon nanotube and the surrounding elastic medium. Influence of all parameters such as nonlocal small-scale effects, high temperature change, Winkler modulus parameter, vibration mode and aspect ratio of short carbon nanotubes on the vibration frequency are analyzed and discussed. The non-local Euler-Bernoulli beam model predicts lower resonance frequencies. The research work reveals the significance of the small-scale coefficient, the vibrational mode number, the elastic medium and the temperature change on the non-dimensional natural frequency.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.72-72
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• 2010

탄소나노튜브(carbon nanotubes : CNTs)는 뛰어난 전기적, 물리적인 특성을 가지고 있기 때문에 다양한 분야에서 이를 활용하려는 노력들이 활발히 이루어지고 있다. CNTs의 전기적인 특성은 직경에 의해 결정되므로, 직경을 균일하게 제어하는 일이 CNTs를 기반으로 한 전자소자 응용에 가장 중요한 사항이라 할 수 있다. 일반적으로 화학기상증착법(chemical vapor deposition, CVD)으로 합성된 CNTs의 직경은 촉매의 크기에 의존하기 때문에, 촉매의 크기를 제어하기 위한 다양한 연구들이 활발히 진행되고 있다[1-3]. 하지만 CNTs의 성장온도 근처에서 촉매 입자는 표면 확산(surface diffusion)에 의해 응집(agglomeration)되기 때문에 작고 균일한 크기의 촉매를 얻기 어렵다. 본 연구에서는 Si(001) 기판 위에 지지층(supporting layer)인 Al의 두께를 변화시켜 증착하고, 열적산화과정을 통해 $Al_2O_3$ 층을 형성한 후 Fe을 증착하여 CNTs를 합성하였다. $Al_2O_3$ 지지층과 Fe 촉매입자의 구조와 화학적 상태를 원자힘현미경 (atomic force microscopy, AFM), 주사전자현미경 (scanning electron microscopy, SEM), 투과전자현미경 (transmission electron microscopy, TEM), X-선 광전자 분광기(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy)를 통해 분석하였고, 성장된 CNTs는 SEM, TEM, 라만 분광법 (Raman spectroscopy)을 통해 분석하였다. 그 결과, $Al_2O_3$ 층은 두께에 따라 각기 다른 표면 거칠기(RMS roughness)와 결정립(grain)의 크기를 갖게 되며, 이러한 표면구조가 Fe 촉매입자의 표면확산에 의한 응집에 관여하여 CNTs의 직경에 영향을 미치는 것을 확인하였다. 또한 $Al_2O_3$ 지지층의 두께가 15 nm인 경우, Fe의 응집현상이 억제되어 좁은 직경분포를 지닌 고순도 단일벽 탄소나노튜브(Single-walled CNTs)가 성장되는 것을 확인하였다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.999-1005
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• 2011

The effects of strain-induced crystallization (SIC) on the mechanical properties of elastomeric composites as functions of extension ratio (${\lambda}$), multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT) content, and carbon black (CB) content are investigated. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis shows that the degree of crystallinity increases with the increase in the CB and CNT content. As ${\lambda}$ increases, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composites increases, and the latent heat of crystallization (LHc) of the composites is maximum at ${\lambda}$=1.5. It is found that the mechanical properties have a linear relation with LHc, depending on the CNT content. According to the TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), the weight loss of the composite matrix is 94.3% and the weight of the composites decreases with the filler content. The ratio of tensile modulus ($E_{comp}/E_{matrix}$) is higher than that of tensile strength (${\sigma}_{comp}/{\sigma}_{matrix}$) because of the CNT orientation inside the elastomeric composites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.135-135
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• 2016

Recently flexible electrode materials have attracted attention in various electrical devices. In general, copper(Cu) is widely used electrical conductive material. However, Cu film showed drastically reduction of electrical conductivities under an applied tensile strain of 10%. These poor mechanical characteristics of Cu have difficulty applying in flexible electronic applications. In this study, mechanical flexibilities of Cu thin film were improved by hybridization with carbon nanotubes(CNTs) and laser sintering. First, thin carbon nanotube films were fabricated on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate(PET) substrate by using ultrasonic spray coating of CNT dispersed solution. After then, physically connected CNT-Cu NPs films were formed by utilizing ultrasonic spray coating of Cu nanoparticles dispersed solution on prepared CNT thin films. Finally, CNT-Cu thin films were firmly connected by laser sintering. Therefore, electrical stabilities under mechanical stress of CNT-Cu hybrid thin films were compared with Cu thin films fabricated under same conditions to confirm improvement of mechanical flexibilities by hybridization of CNT and Cu NPs.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.15-20
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• 2017

In this paper, two types of assemblies using CNT-filled SACAs (with 0.03 wt% CNTs and without CNT) were prepared to investigate the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the reliability properties of solderable anisotropic conductive adhesives (SACAs) with a low-melting-point alloy (LMPA). Two types of reliability test including thermal shock (TS: -55 to $125^{\circ}C$, 1000 cycles) and high-temperature and high-humidity (HTHH: $85^{\circ}C$, 85% RH, 1000 h) tests were conducted. The SACA assemblies with and without CNTs showed stable electrical reliability properties due to the formation of wide and stable metallurgical interconnection between corresponding metallizations by the molten LMPA fillers. Although the mechanical pull strength of CNT-filled SACA assemblies was decreased after thermal aging (because of the excessive layer growth and planarization of the IMCs), the CNT-filled SACA with 0.03wt% CNTs showed enhanced mechanical reliability properties compared with the SACA assemblies no CNTs. This enhancement in mechanical performance was due to the reinforcement effect of the CNTs. These results demonstrate that CNTs within the CNT-filled SACAs can improve the reliability properties of CNT-filled SACAs joints due to their superior physical properties.

• Carbon letters
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.126-129
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• 2012

Nanocomposite films were made by a simple solution casting method in which multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and magnetite nanoparticles ($Fe_3O_4$) were used as dopant materials to enhance the electrical conductivity of chitosan nanocomposite films. The films contained fixed CNT concentrations (5, 8, and 10 wt%) and varying $Fe_3O_4$ content. It was determined that a 1:1 ratio of CNT to $Fe_3O_4$ provided optimal conductivity according to dopant material loading. X-ray diffraction patterns for the nanocomposite films, were determined to investigate their chemical and phase composition, revealed that nanoparticle agglomeration occurred at high $Fe_3O_4$ loadings, which hindered the synergistic effect of the doping materials on the conductivity of the films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2003

It is well Down that the growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using a transition metal catalyst is greatly enhanced in a nitrogen environment. We show here that the enhanced growth is closely related to the activated nitrogen and it's incorporation into the CNT wall and cap during growth. This behavior is consistent with theoretical calculations of CNx thin films, showing that nitrogen incorporation to the graphitic basal plane reduces the elastic strain energy for curving the graphitic layer. Enhanced CNT growth by nitrogen incorporation is thus due to a decrease in the activation energies required for nucleation and growth of the tubular graphitic layer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.456-461
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• 2007

In this study, a surface treatment method using accelerated Ar ions was experimented for exposing the carbon nanotubes (CNT) from the screen-printed CNT paste. After making a cathode electrode on the glass substrate, photo sensitive CNT paste was screen-printed, and then back-side was exposed by UV light. Then, the exposed CNT paste was selectively remained by development. After post-baking, the remained CNT paste was bombarded by accelerated Ar ions for removing some binders and exposing only CNTs. As results, the field emission characteristics were strongly depended on the accelerating energy, bombardment time, and the power of RF plasma ion source. When Ar ions accelerated with 100 eV energy from the 100 W RF plasma source are bombarded on the CNT paste surface for 10 min, the emission level and the uniformity were best.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.120.2-120.2
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• 2007