• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.281.2-281.2
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• 2013

Since heavy metal ions included in water or food resources have critical effects on human health, highly sensitive, rapid and selective analysis for heavy metal detection has been extensively explored by means of electrochemical, optical and colorimetric methods. For example, quantum dots (QDs), such as semiconductor QDs, have received enormous attention due to extraordinary optical properties including high fluorescence intensity and its narrow emission peaks, and have been utilized for heavy metal ion detection. However, the semiconductor QDs have a drawback of serious toxicity derived from cadmium, lead and other lethal elements, thereby limiting its application in the environmental screening system. On the other hand, Graphene oxide (GO) has proven its superlative properties of biocompatibility, unique photoluminescence (PL), good quenching efficiency and facile surface modification. Recently, the size of GO was controlled to a few nanometers, enhancing its optical properties to be applied for biological or chemical sensors. Interestingly, the presence of various oxygenous functional groups of GO contributes to opening the band gap of graphene, resulting in a unique PL emission pattern, and the control of the sp2 domain in the sp3 matrix of GO can tune the PL intensity as well as the PL emission wavelength. Herein, we reported a photoluminescent GO array on which heavy metal ion-specific DNA aptamers were immobilized, and sensitive and multiplex heavy metal ion detection was performed utilizing fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the photoluminescent monolayered GO and the captured metal ion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.245.2-245.2
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• 2013

Solution processed organic photovoltaic devices have relatively less attention compared to polymer photovoltaic devices even though they have high possibility to be developed because they have both advantages of polymer and organic, such as solution processable, no synthetic batch dependence of photovoltaic performance, high purity and high charge carrier mobility as well as relatively high efficiency (~7%). In addition, solution processed organic photovoltaic devices have an advantage of easiness to study the relationship between the molecular structure and photovoltaic performance due to its simple structure. In this work, five isoindigo based low band gap donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) small molecules with different electron donating strength were synthesized for investigating the relationship between the molecular structure and photovoltaic performance, especially, investigating the effects of different electron donating effect of donor group in isoindigo backbone to photovoltaic device performance. The variation of electron donating strength of donor group strongly affected the optical, thermal, electrochemical and photovoltaic device performances of isoindigo organic materials. The highest power conversion efficiency of ~3.2% was realized in bulk heterojuction photovoltaic device consisted of the ID3T as donor and PC70BM as acceptor. This work demonstrates the great potential of isoindigo moieties as electron deficient units as well as guideline for synthesis of donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) small molecules for realizing highly efficient solution processed organic photovoltaic devices.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.120-132
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• 2021

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bio-electrochemical device that generates electricity by utilizing bacterial catalytic activity that degrades wastewater. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) is the core component of MFC that decides its performance, and Nafion membrane is the most widely used PEM. In spite of the excellent performance of Nafion, it has drawbacks such as high cost, biofouling issue, and non-biodegradable property. Recent studies in MFC attempted to synthetize the alternative membrane for Nafion by incorporating various polymers, sulfonating, fluorinating, and doping other chemicals. This review summarizes characteristics and performances of different composite membrane based MFCs, mostly focusing on PEM.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 2019

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted great attention as sustainable energy devices. The efficiency and long-term stability of DSSCs are greatly influenced by electrode materials and electrolytes. In this review, we focused on the electrolytes of DSSCs. Polymer electrolyte membranes have been proposed as an alternative to conventional liquid electrolytes in DSSCs. Conventional liquid electrolytes can exhibit a high efficiency, but due to some problems such as poor long-term stability of device and leakage of liquid, much interest in polymer electrolyte membranes continues to rise and the papers on polymer electrolytes membranes have been extensively reported recently. This review covers the concept and development of polymer electrolyte membranes for DSSCs, and discusses the efficiency and electrochemical properties of DSSCs, highlighting the modification of polymer matrix, the introduction of additives such as organic-inorganic plasticizers and ionic liquids.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.425-431
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• 2019

As rechargeable metal-air batteries will be ideal energy storage devices in the future, an active cathode electrocatalyst is required with bi-functionality on both oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during discharge and charge, respectively. Here, a class of perovskite cathode catalyst with a micro-tubular structure has been developed by controlling bi-functionality from different Ru and Ni dopant ratios. A micro-tubular structure is achieved by the activated carbon fiber (ACF) templating method, which provides uniform size and shape. At the perovskite formula of $LaCrO_3$, the dual dopant system is successfully synthesized with a perfect incorporation into the single perovskite structure. The chemical oxidation states for each Ni and Ru also confirm the partial substitution to B-site of Cr without any changes in the major perovskite structure. From the electrochemical measurements, the micro-tubular feature reveals much more efficient catalytic activity on ORR and OER, comparing to the grain catalyst with same perovskite composition. By changing the Ru and Ni ratio, the $LaCr_{0.8}Ru_{0.1}Ni_{0.1}O_3$ micro-tubular catalyst exhibits great bi-functionality, especially on ORR, with low metal loading, which is comparable to the commercial catalyst of Pt and Ir. This advanced catalytic property on the micro-tubular structure and Ru/Ni synergy effect at the perovskite material may provide a new direction for the next-generation cathode catalyst in metal-air battery system.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.55-62
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• 2021

In Korea, a good recycled product (GR) certification system was introduced in 1997 to improve resource and energy use efficiency. However, in industry and society, recycled products are not used well because of the lack of awareness of recycled materials. In this study, the status of domestic and international quality standards for nickel materials was investigated, and the purity and electrochemical properties of nickel sulfate prepared from ore and nickel sulfate recovered from waste lithium-ion batteries were evaluated during the electroplating process. As a result of the test, it was found that there is no quality difference between recycled nickel sulfate and high-purity nickel sulfate reagents when used in the electroplating industry.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.710-718
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• 2021

Recently, due to high theoretical capacitance and excellent ion diffusion rate caused by the 2D layered crystal structure, transition metal hydroxides (TMHs) have generated considerable attention as active materials in supercapacitors (or electrochemical capacitors). However, TMHs should be designed using morphological or structural modification if they are to be used as active materials in supercapacitors, because they have insulation properties that induce low charge transfer rate. This study aims to modify the morphological structure for high cycling stability and fast charge storage kinetics of TMHs through the use of nickel cobalt hydroxide [NiCo(OH)₂] decorated on nickel foam. Among the samples used, needle-like NiCo(OH)₂ decorated on nickel foam offers a high specific capacitance (1110.9 F/g at current density of 0.5 A/g) with good rate capability (1110.9 - 746.7 F/g at current densities of 0.5 - 10.0 A/g). Moreover, at a high current density (10.0 A/g), a remarkable capacitance (713.8 F/g) and capacitance retention of 95.6% after 5000 cycles are noted. These results are attributed to high charge storage sites of needle-like NiCo(OH)₂ and uniformly grown NiCo(OH)₂ on nickel foam surface.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.369-378
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• 2022

The recycling of solid waste materials to fabricate carbon-based electrode materials is of great interest for low-cost green supercapacitors. In this study, porous carbon foam (PCF) was prepared from waste floral foam (WFF) as an electrode material for supercapacitors. WFF was directly carbonized at various temperatures of 600, 800, and 1,000 ℃ under an inert atmosphere. The WFF-derived PCF (C-WFF) was found to have a specific surface area of 458.99 m²/g with multi-modal pore structures. The supercapacitive behavior of the prepared C-WFF was evaluated using a three-electrode system in a 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. As a result, the prepared C-WFF as an active material showed a high specific capacitance of 206 F/g at 1 A/g, a rate capability of 36.4 % at 20 A/g, a specific power density of 2,500 W/kg at an energy density of 2.68 Wh/kg, and a cycle stability of 99.96 % at 20 A/g after 10,000 cycles. These results indicate that the C-WFF prepared from WFF could be a promising candidate as an electrode material for high-performance green supercapacitors.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.434-444
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• 2022

Corrosion inhibitors based on Zn-Al hydrotalcites containing benzoate (ZnAlHB) with different molar ratios of Zn/Al were prepared with a co-precipitation process. Compositions and structures of the resulting hydrotalcites were studied with suitable spectroscopic methods such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and surface zeta potential measurements, respectively. Results of physico-chemical studies showed that crystallite sizes, compositions of products, and surface electrical properties were significantly changed when the molar ratio of Zn/Al was increased. The release of benzoate from hydrotalcites also differed slightly among samples. Anticorrosion abilities of hydrotalcites intercalated with benzoate at a concentration of 3 g/L on carbon steel were analyzed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), polarization curve, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and SEM. Corrosion inhibition abilities of benzoate modified hydrotalcites in 0.1 M NaCl showed an upward trend with increasing Zn/Al ratio. The reason for the dependence of corrosion resistance on the Zn/Al ratio was discussed, including changes in the microstructure of hydrotalcites such as crystal size, density, uniformity, and formation of ZnO.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.59-66
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• 2022

To investigate the rate-determining step of nickel, cobalt and copper electrowinning, experiments were conducted by varying the electrolyte temperature and agitation speed using a rotating disc electrode. Analyzing the rate-determining step by calculating the activation energy in the electrowinning process, it was found that nickel electrowinning is controlled by a mixed mechanism (partly by chemical reaction and partly by mass transport), cobalt is controlled by chemical reaction, and copper is controlled by mass transfer. Electrowinning of nickel, cobalt and copper was performed by varying the electrolyte temperature and agitation speed, and the comparison of the current efficiencies was used the determine the rate-determining step.