• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.43-55
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• 2023

Mass transport through nanoporous structures such as nanopores or nanochannels has fundamental electrochemical implications and many potential applications as well. These structures can be particularly useful for water treatment, energy conversion, biosensing, and controlled delivery of substances. Earlier research focused on creating nanopores with diameters ranging from tens to hundreds of nanometers that can selectively transport cationic or anionic charged species. However, recent studies have shown that nanopores with diameters of a few nanometers or even less can achieve more complex and versatile transport control. For example, nanopores that mimic biological channels can be functionalized with specific receptors to detect viruses, small molecules, and even ions, or can be made hydrophobic and responsive to external stimuli, such as light and electric field, to act as efficient valves. This review summarizes the latest developments in nanopore-based systems that can control mass transport based on the size of the nanopores (e.g., length, diameter, and shape) and the physical/chemical properties of their inner surfaces. It also provides some examples of practical applications of these systems.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.91-97
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• 2023

Electrochemical (EC) CO₂ reduction is a promising method to convert CO₂ into valuable hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals ecofriendly. Here, we report on a facile method to synthesize surface-controlled SnO₂/Cu(OH)₂ nanowires (NWs) and its EC reduction of CO₂ to HCOOH and CO. The SnO₂/Cu(OH)₂ NWs (-16 mA/cm²) showed superior electrochemical performance compared to Cu(OH)2 NWs (-6 mA/cm²) at -1.0 V (vs. RHE). SnO₂/Cu(OH)₂ NWs showed the maximum Faradaic efficiency for conversion to HCOOH (58.01 %) and CO (29.72 %). The optimized catalyst exhibits a high C1 Faradaic efficiency stable electrolysis for 2 h in a KHCO₃ electrolyte. This study facilitates the potential for the EC reduction of CO₂ to chemical fuels.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2015

Composition-controlled ternary components chalcogenides germanium tin sulfide ($Sn_xGe_{1-x}S$) nanoparticles were synthesized by a novel gas-phase laser photolysis reaction of tetramethyl germanium, tetramethyl tin, and hydrogen sulfide mixture. Subsequent thermal annealing of as-grown amorphous nanoparticles produced the crystalline orthorhombic phase nanoparticles. All these composition-tuned nanoparticles showed excellent cycling performance of the lithium ion battery. The germanium sulfide nanoparticles exhibit a maximum capacity of 1200 mAh/g after 70 cycles. As the tin composition (x) increases, the capacity maintains better at the higher discharge/charge rate. This novel synthesis method of tin germanium sulfide nanoparticles is expected to contribute to expand their applications in high-performance energy conversion systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.440-440
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• 2009

Semiconductor nanowires offer exciting possibilities as components of solar cells and have already found applications as active elements in organic, dye-sensitized, quantum-dot sensitized, liquid-junction, and inorganic solid-state devices. Among many semiconductors, silicon is by far the dominant material used for worldwide photovoltaic energy conversion and solar cell manufacture. For silicon wire to be used for solar device, well aligned wire arrays need to be fabricated vertically or horizontally. Macroscopic silicon wire arrays suitable for photovoltaic applications have been commonly grown by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process using metal catalysts such as Au, Ni, Pt, Cu. In the case, the impurity issues inside wire originated from metal catalyst are inevitable, leading to lowering the efficiency of solar cell. To escape from the problem, the wires of purity of wafer are the best for high efficiency of photovoltaic device. The fabrication of wire arrays by the electrochemical etching of silicon wafer with photolithography can solve the contamination of metal catalyst. In this presentation, we introduce silicon wire arrays by electrochemical etching method and then fabrication methods of radial p-n junction wire array solar cell and the various merits compared with conventional silicon solar cells.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.238-244
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• 2009

We investigated the electrochemical properties of lithium/molybdenum sulfide(Li/MoS$_2$) using tetra (ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether(TEGDME) electrolyte. The Li/TEGDME/MoS$_2$ cell showed the first discharge capacity of 288mAhg$^{-1}$. From the XRD, SEM results of the MOS$_2$ electrode in various cut-off voltage during charge-discharge process, MoS$_2$ partly changed into Li$_2$S and Mo during discharge and Li$_2$S partly recovered into MOS$_2$ and Li during charge. Full charged MOS$_2$ electrode showed lump shape of big size, which might be related to agglomerate of MoS$_2$ particles. Therefore, the degradation might be related to decrease of active material for electrochemical reaction by agglomeration of MOS$_2$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.13-16
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• 2008

Solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) is an electrochemical energy conversion system with high efficiency and low-emission of pollution. In order to reduce the operating temperature of SOFC system under $800^{\circ}C$, the thickness reduction of YSZ electrolyte to be as thin as possible, e.g., less than 10 ${\mu}m$ are considered with the microstructure control and optimum design of unit cell. Methods for reducing the thickness of YSZ electrolyte have been investigated in coin cell. Moreover, a large unit cell($8cm{\times}8cm$) for SOFC was fabricated using an anode-supported electrolyte assembly with a thinner electrolyte layer, which was prepared by a tape casting method with a co-sintering technique. we studied the design factors such as active layer, electrolyte thickness, cathode composition, etc,. by the coin type of unit cell ahead of the fabrication process of a large unit cell and also reviewed about the evaluation technique of a large size unit cell such as interconnect design, sealing materials and current collector and so forth. Electrochemical evaluations of the unit cells, including measurements such as power density and impedance, were performed and analyzed. Maximum power density and polarization impedance of coin cell were 0.34W/$cm^2$ and $0.45{\Omega}cm^2$ at $800^{\circ}C$, respectively. However, Maxium power density of a large unit cell($5cm{\times}5cm$) decreased to 0.21W/$cm^2$ at $800^{\circ}C$ due to the increase of ohmic resistance. However, It was found that the potential value of a large unit cell loaded by 0.22A/$cm^2$ showed 0.76V at 100hrs without the degradation of unit cell.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2014

Li-air cell is an exotic type of energy storage and conversion device considered to be half battery and half fuel cell. Its successful commercialization highly depends on the timely development of key components. Among these key components, the catalyst (i.e., the core portion of the air electrode) is of critical importance and of the upmost priority. Indeed, it is expected that these catalysts will have a direct and dramatic impact on the Li-air cell's performance by reducing overpotentials, as well as by enhancing the overall capacity and cycle life of Li-air cells. Unfortunately, the technological advancement related to catalysts is sluggish at present. Based on the insights gained from this review, this sluggishness is due to challenges in both the commercialization of the catalyst, and the fundamental studies pertaining to its development. Challenges in the commercialization of the catalyst can be summarized as 1) the identification of superior materials for Li-air cell catalysts, 2) the development of fundamental, material-based assessments for potential catalyst materials, 3) the achievement of a reduction in both cost and time concerning the design of the Li-air cell catalysts. As for the challenges concerning the fundamental studies of Li-air cell catalysts, they are 1) the development of experimental techniques for determining both the nano and micro structure of catalysts, 2) the attainment of both repeatable and verifiable experimental characteristics of catalyst degradation, 3) the development of the predictive capability pertaining to the performance of the catalyst using fundamental material properties. Therefore, under the current circumstances, it is going to be an extremely daunting task to develop appropriate catalysts for the commercialization of Li-air batteries; at least within the foreseeable future. Regardless, nano materials are expected to play a crucial role in this field.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.680-686
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• 2013

Tungsten oxide films were prepared by an electrochemical deposition method for use as the anode in rechargeable lithium batteries. Continuous potentiostatic deposition of the film led to numerous cracks of the deposits while pulsed deposition significantly suppressed crack generation and film delamination. In particular, a crack-free dense tungsten oxide film with a thickness of ca. 210 nm was successfully created by pulsed deposition. The thickness of tungsten oxide was linearly proportional to deposition time. Compositional and structural analyses revealed that the as-prepared deposit was amorphous tungsten oxide and the heat treatment transformed it into crystalline triclinic tungsten oxide. Both the as-prepared and heat-treated samples reacted reversibly with lithium as the anode for rechargeable lithium batteries. Typical peaks for the conversion processes of tungsten oxides were observed in cyclic voltammograms, and the reversibility of the heat-treated sample exceeded that of the as-prepared one. Consistently, the cycling stability of the heat-treated sample proved to be much better than that of the as-prepared one in a galvanostatic charge/discharge experiment. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using electrolytic tungsten oxide films as the anode in rechargeable lithium batteries. However, further works are still needed to make a dense film with higher thickness and improved cycling stability for its practical use.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.298-305
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• 2016

The development of non-precious metal based electrocatalysts is highly desired for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as alternates to noble metal based ORR electrocatalysts. Herein, we report mononulcear copper(II) complex $[CuLbpy]ClO_4$ (L=4-[(2-hydroxyphenylimino)methyl]benzoic acid) containing poly(allylamine.HCl) polymer (PAlACuLbpy) as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). PAlACuLbpy was mixed with poly(acrylic acid) and tetraethylortho silicate to prepare a composite and then deposited on the screen printed electrode surface. The modified electrode (PAlACuLbpy/PCE) is highly stable and showed a quasi-reversible redox behavior with $E_{1/2}=-0.2V$ vs. Ag/AgCl(3 M KCl) in 0.1 M phosphate buffer at pH 7 under argon atmosphere. PAlACuLbpy/PCE exhibited a remarkable ORR activity with an onset potential of -0.1 V vs Ag/AgCl in 0.1 M PB (pH 7) in the presence of oxygen. The kinetics for ORR was studied by rotating disk voltammetry in neutral aqueous medium and the results indicated that the number of electrons involving in the ORR is four and the conversion products are water and hydrogen peroxide.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.79-86
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• 2019

Most of low-grad heat (< $200^{\circ}C$) generated from industrial process and human body, is abandoned as waste heat. To harvest the waste heat, the thermoelectrics (TE) technology has been widely investigated so far. However, TE suffers from poor performance and high material cost. As an alternative to the TE device, the thermoelectrical cell (TEC) is gaining growing attention these days. The TEC features several advantages such as high Seebeck coefficient, low cost and design flexibility compared to TE, but its commercial viability was limited by its low heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency. However, recent reports have demonstrated that the performance of TEC can be markedly improved by employing novel electrode/electrolyte materials and by optimizing cell design. This article summarizes the recent progress of TECs in terms of the redox couples, electrolyte solvents and additives, electrode materials and cell design.