• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.493-498
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• 2019

In polymer exchange membrane fuel cells, it is crucial to fabricate a highly active and thin Pt catalyst layer for the smooth mass transport of dissolved oxygen and water. Although a highly loaded platinum (Pt) catalyst based on the hydrothermal synthesis has been reported in several studies, its growing behaviors and kinetics were yet to be understood. In this study, we investigated the growth of Pt crystal in suspension after the reduction step depending on a stirring time and evaluated the electrochemical activity. For only a couple of hours in the early stage, Pt colloids were adsorbed on the Pt-carbon catalyst and the Pt crystal was grown. After that, the small Pt colloid was formed by another nucleation step, which did not involve the growth of Pt crystal. We reveal that the Pt-Carbon catalyst with stirring for 6 h showed a high activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.56 no.12
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• pp.885-892
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• 2018

Molybdenum disulfide ($MoS_2$) based electrocatalysts have been proposed as substitutes for platinum group metal (PGM) based electrocatalyst to hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in water electrolysis. Here, we studied $MoS_2/CNFs$ hybrid catalyst prepared by electrospinning method with heat treatment for polymer electrolyte membrane(PEM) water electrolysis to improve the HER activity. The physicochemical and electrochemical properties such as average diameter, crystalline properties, electrocatalitic activity for HER of synthesized $MoS_2/CNFs$ were investigated by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Raman Spectroscopy (Raman) and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV). The as spun ATTM/PVP nanofibers were prepared by sol-gel and electrospinning method. Subsequently, the $MoS_2/CNFs$ was dereived from reduction heat treatment of ATTM at the ATTM/PVP nanofibers and carbonization heat treatment. Synthesized $MoS_2/CNFs$ electrocatalyst had an average diameter of $179{\pm}30nm$. We confirmed that the $MoS_2$ layers in $MoS_2/CNF$ electrocatalyst consist of 3~4 layers from the Raman results. In addition, We confirmed that the $MoS_2$ layers in $MoS_2/CNF$ catalyst consist of 7.47% octahedral 1T phase $MoS_2$, 63.77% trigonal prismatic 2H phase $MoS_2$ with 28.75% $MoO_3$ through the XRD, Raman and XPS results. It was shown that $MoS_2/CNFs$ had the overpotential of 0.278 V at $10mA/cm^2$ and tafel slope of 74.8 mV/dec in 0.5 M sulfuric acid ($H_2SO_4$) electrolyte.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2023

Development of efficient and stable electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under acidic conditions is desirable goal for commercializing proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electroyzer. Herein, we report iridium-doped hydrogenated titanate (Ir-HTO) nanobelts as a promising catalyst with a low-Ir content for the acidic OER. Addition of low-Ir (~ 3.36 at%) into the single-crystalline HTO nanobelts with large exposed {100} facets significantly boost catalytic activity and stability for OER under acidic conditions. The Ir-HTO outperforms the commenrcial benchmark IrO₂ catalyst; an overpotential for delivering 10 mA cm^-2 current density was reduced to about 25% for the Ir-HTO. Moreover, the catalytic performance of Ir-HTO is positioned as the most efficient electrocatalyst for the acidic OER. An improved intrinsic catalytic activity and stability are also confirmed for the Ir-HTO through in-depth electrochemical characterizations. Therefore, our results suggest that low-Ir doped single-crystalline HTO nanobelts can be a promising catalyst for efficient and durable OER under acidic conditions.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.341-347
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• 2023

In PEMFC, PtCo/C alloy catalysts are widely used because of good performance and durability. However, few studies have been reported on the durability of carbon supports of PtCo/C evaluated at high voltages (1.0~1.5 V). In this study, the durability of PtCo/C catalysts and Pt/C catalysts were compared after applying the accelerated degradation protocol of catalyst support. After repeating the 1.0↔1.5V voltage change cycles, the mass activity, electrochemical surface area (ECSA), electric double layer capacitance (DLC), Pt dissolution and the particle growth were analyzed. After 2,000 cycles of voltage change, the current density per catalyst mass at 0.9V decreased by more than 1.5 times compared to the Pt/C catalyst. This result was because the degradation rate of the carbon support of the PtCo/C catalyst was higher than that of the Pt/C catalyst. The Pt/C catalyst showed more than 1.5 times higher ECSA reduction than the PtCo/C catalyst, but the corrosion of the carbon support of the Pt/C catalyst was small, resulting in a small decrease in I-V performance. In order to improve the high voltage durability of the PtCo/C catalyst, it was shown that improving the durability of the carbon support is essential.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.25-38
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• 2020

Photoelectrochemical water splitting has been considered as the most promising technology for generating hydrogen energy. Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) compounds have currently attracted tremendous attention due to their outstanding ability towards the catalytic water-splitting hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we report the synthesis method of various transition metal dichalcogenide including MoS₂, MoSe₂, WS₂, and WSe₂ nanosheets as excellent catalysts for solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen evolution. Photocathodes were fabricated by growing the nanosheets directly onto Si nanowire (NW) arrays, with a thickness of 20 nm. The metal ion layers were formed by soaking the metal chloride ethanol solution and subsequent sulfurization or selenization produced the transition metal chalcogenide. They all exhibit excellent PEC performance in 0.5 M H₂SO₄; the photocurrent reaches to 20 mA cm^-2 (at 0 V vs. RHE) and the onset potential is 0.2 V under AM1.5 condition. The quantum efficiency of hydrogen generation is avg. 90%. The stability of MoS₂ and MoSe₂ is 90% for 3h, which is higher than that (80%) of WS₂ and WSe₂. Detailed structure analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for before/after HER reveals that the Si-WS₂ and Si-WSe₂ experience more oxidation of Si NWs than Si-MoS₂ and Si-MoSe₂. This can be explained by the less protection of Si NW surface by their flake shape morphology. The high catalytic activity of TMDs should be the main cause of this enhanced PEC performance, promising efficient water-splitting Si-based PEC cells.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.291-303
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• 2020

Marine organism-derived toxins have negative effects not only on human health but also in aquaculture, fisheries, and marine ecosystems. However, traditional analytical methods are insufficient in preventing this threat. In this paper, we reviewed new rapid methods of toxin detection, which have been improved by adopting diverse types of nanomaterials and technologies. Moreover, we herein describe the main strategies for toxin detection and their related sensing performance. Notably, to popularize and commercialize these newly developed technologies, simplifying the process of pre-treating real samples real samples is very important. As part of these efforts, numerous studies have reported pretreatment methods based on the antibody-immobilized magnetic nanoparticles, and some cases have applied nanoparticles to enhance the sensing performance by utilizing the intrinsic catalytic activity. Furthermore, some reports have introduced fluorescent nanoparticles, such as quantum dots, to represent the lower detection limits of conventional enzyme-based colorimetric methods and lateral flow assays. Some studies using electrochemical measurements based on aptamer-nanoparticle complexes have also been announced. In addition, as the response to new toxins generated by changes in the marine environment is still lacking, further research on diagnostic and detection is also greatly needed for these kinds of marine toxins and their derivatives.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2010

A solid oxide fuel cells(SOFC) is a clean energy technology which directly converts chemical energy to electric energy. When the SOFC is used in cogeneration then the efficiency can reach higher than 80%. Also, it has flexibility in using various fuels like natural gases and bio gases, so it has an advantage over polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells in terms of fuel selection. A typical cathode material of the SOFC in conjunction with yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ) electrolyte is still Sr-doped $LaMnO_3$(LSM). Recently, application of mixed electronic and ionic conducting perovskites such as Sr-doped $LaCoO_3$(LSCo), $LaFeO_3$(LSF), and $LaFe_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_3$(LSCF) has drawn much attention because these materials exhibit lower electrode impedance than LSM. However, chemical reaction occurs at the manufacturing temperature of the cathode when these materials directly contact with YSZ. In addition, thermal expansion coefficient(TEC) mismatch with YSZ is also a significant issue. It is important, therefore, to develop cathode materials with good chemical stability and matched TEC with the SOFC electrolyte, as well as with high electrochemical activity.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1485-1491
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• 2015

There are two treatment processes that are currently applied to ships are the biological treatment process using the activated sludge and the electrochemical treatment. However, neither of them are able to remove both nitrogen and phosphorus due to their limited ability to remove organic matters, which are main causes of the red tide. This study was conducted to identify the characteristics of nitrogen removal factors from manure wastewater by replacing the final settling tank in SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) process and applying immersion type hollow fiber membrane. SBR process is known to have an advantage of the least land requirement in special environment such as in ship and the immersion type hollow fiber membrane is more stable in water quality change. As the result, the average in the cases of DO (Dissolved Oxygen) is 2.9(0. 6~3.9) mg/L which was determined to be the denitrifying microorganism activity in anaerobic conditions. The average in the cases of ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) is 98.4~237.3 mV which was determined to be the termination of nitrification since the inflection point was formed on the ORP curve due to decrease in the stirring treatment after the aeration, same as in the cases of DO. Little or no variation in the pH was determined to have positive effect on the nitrification. T-N (Total Nitrigen) removal efficiencies of the finally treated water were 71.4%, 72.3% and 66.5% in relatively average figures, thus was not a distinct prominence. In being applied in ships in the future, the operating conditions and structure improvements are deemed necessary since the MEPC (Marine Environment Protection Committee). 227(64) ship sewage nitrogen is less than the standard of 20 Qi/Qe mg/L or the removal rate of 70%.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.171-176
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• 2006

Sodium iodide symporter (NIS) plays a key role in thyroid hormone production by efficiently accumulating iodide from the circulating blood into the thyocytes, and this is done against an electrochemical gradient. Thyroid transcription factor-l (TTF-l) is a homeodomain-containing protein expressed in embryonic diencephalons, thyroid, and lung and has been found to bind to thyroid specific promoters and to activate their transcriptional activity. TTF-l may be one of the factors capable of activating NIS gene expression in the thyroid gland, thus it accounts for the lower levels of NIS gene expression that are seen in the extrathyroidal tissues. However, a high frequency of TTF-l expression has been observed, especially in primary lung adenocarcinoma. The present study was undertaken in order to elucidate the relationship between the expression of NIS and TTF-l in primary lung adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical studies for NIS and TTF-l were performed in 64 primary lung adenocarcinomas. Immunoreactivities for NIS and TTF-l were found in 49 (76.6%) and 45 (70.3%) out of 64 cases, respectively. Forty-one (83.7%) of the 49 cases with positive NIS immunoreactivity showed positive TTF-l expression, whereas 11 (73.3%) of the 15 cases with negative NIS immunoreactivity showed negative TTF-l expression (P<0.05). So the NIS expression was significantly associated with the TTF-l expression. These findings suggest that TTF-l may be one of the factors capable of activating NIS gene expression in primary lung adenocarcinoma. Further studies are needed to define the relation between NIS and TTF-l for examining the mechanisms of tissue-specific NIS expression.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.304-311
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• 2012

Chlorinated ethylenes such as perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) are widely used as industrial solvents and degreasing agents. Because of improper handling, these highly toxic chlorinated ethylenes have been often detected from contaminated soils and groundwater. Biological PCE dechlorination activities were tested in bacterial cultures inoculated with 10 different environmental samples from sediments, sludges, soils, and groundwater. Of these, the sediment using culture (SE 2) was selected and used for establishing an efficient PCE dechlorinating enrichment culture since it showed the highest activity of dechlorination. The cathode chamber of bioelectrochemical system (BES) was inoculated with the enrichment culture and the system with a cathode polarized at -500 mV (Vs Ag/AgCl) was operated under fed-batch mode. PCE was dechlorinated to ethylene via TCE, cis-dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride. Microbial community analysis with polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) showed that the microbial community in the enrichment culture was significantly changed during the bio-electrochemical PCE dechlorination in the BES. The communities of suspended-growth bacteria and attached-growth bacteria on the cathode surface are also quite different from each other, indicating that there were some differences in their mechanisms receiving electrons from electrode for PCE dechlorination. Further detailed research to investigate electron transfer mechanism would make the bioelctrochemical dechlorination technique greatly useful for bioremediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated ethylenes.