• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.239-245
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• 2022

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has attracted many attention and applications due to its excellent electrochemical ability. Therefore, standardization of rGO through structural and thermal analysis facilitates quality improvement and management, enabling users to increase efficiency and reduce relevant costs. For rGO and graphene-related materials, it is very important to determine the number of layers and define the resulting difference in physical properties. In this study, 3~4 layers of rGO-1 and 9~10 layers of rGO-2 were obtained from graphene oxide (GO) through a hydrazine reduction process. For the prepared rGOs, X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern obtained a diffraction peak at 2θ≈25° related to (002) reflection was used to calculate the layer numbers by determining interlayer distance and FWHM value. To reduce the angular uncertainty, XRD data analysis was performed with angle correction using standard reference materials for X-ray powder diffraction analysis. Precise interlayer distance and number of layers were determined using OriginLab and open-source XRD diffraction analysis programs using the angle-corrected diffraction data. TG-DSC thermal analysis was performed to further standardize the physical properties of rGO samples.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.661-669
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• 2022

The need for miniaturization, high efficiency, and green energy resources as an energy storage device through the development of various electronic device has emerged. Accordingly, nanomaterials with excellent electrochemical properties, such as graphene and graphene hybrids, are attracting attention as promising materials. In particular, in the electric vehicle industry, cost reduction of secondary batteries is a key factor that can determine the spread of related industries, and it is most important to analyze R&D trends for battery material technology and respond to future technological development directions. Therefore, in this study, we tried to suggest a direction for R&D activities in the future by analyzing patent trends for graphene anode material technology for secondary batteries and deriving implications. As a result, in the case of anode material technology, the proportion of foreigners in the US and European patent markets was higher than in the Korean and Japanese patent markets, which means that the US and European marketability is high. In addition, Japanese applicants are filing high-level applications not only in the Japanese patent market but also in other countries suggests that Japan is leading the technology in this field. Lastly, the proportion of research institutes in the patent market of Korea and the US remains high compared to that of Japan and Europe, indicating that the commercialization of technology is still slow in those countries. Therefore research institutes and companies in Korea will have to establish their own strategies for developing and securing materials using the results of patent trends in major countries and major companies analyzed in this study.

• 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.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2024

The durability of the catalyst support has a significant effect on the durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). The accelerated durability evaluation of the catalyst support is performed at a high voltage (1.0 to 1.5 V), and the catalyst and ionomer binder in the catalyst layer are also deteriorated, hindering the evaluation of the durability of the support. The existing protocol (DOE protocol) was improved to find conditions in which the support, which is a durability evaluation target, deteriorates further. A protocol (MDOE) was developed in which the relative humidity was lowered by 35% and the number of voltage changes was reduced. After repeating the 1.0 ↔ 1.5 V voltage change cycle, the catalyst mass activitiy (MA), electrochemical active area (ECSA), electrical double layer capacity (DLC), Pt dissolution and particle growth were analyzed. Reaching 40% reduction in mass activity, the MDOE protocol took only 500 cycles, reducing the number of voltage changes compared to the DOE method and increasing the degradation of the carbon support by 50% compared to the DOE protocol.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.588-593
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• 2022

Terephthalaldehyde (TPA) is introduced as a cross liker to enhance electron transfer of hemin-based cathodic catalyst consisting of polyethyleneimine (PEI), carbon nanotube (CNT) for hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction (HPRR). In the cyclic voltammetry (CV) test with 10 mM H₂O₂ in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4), the current density for HPRR of the suggested catalyst (CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA) shows 0.2813 mA cm^-2 (at 0.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl), which is 2.43 and 1.87 times of non-cross-linked (CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI) and conventional cross liker (glutaraldehyde, GA) used catalyst (CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA), respectively. In the case of onset potential for HPRR, that of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA is observed at 0.544 V, while those of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI and CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA are 0.511 and 0.471 V, respectively. These results indicate that TPA plays a role in facilitating electron transfer between the electrodes and substrates due to the π-conjugated cross-linking bonds, whereas conventional GA cross-linker increases the overpotential by interrupting electron and mass transfer. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results also display the same tendency. The charge transfer resistance (R_ct) of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA decreases about 6.2% from that of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI, while CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA shows the highest R_ct. The polarization curve using each catalyst also supports the superiority of TPA cross liker. The maximum power density of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA (36.34±1.41 μWcm^-2) is significantly higher than those of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI (27.87±0.95 μWcm^-2) and CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA (25.57±1.32 μWcm^-2), demonstrating again that the cathode using TPA has the best performance in HPRR.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2002

Numerous hormones are involved in the regulation of reproduction. Among them, estrogen and progesterone are the most important ovarian steroid hormones regulating female fertility. On the other hand, diverse stressors impede female receptivity and fertility. Since norepinephrine(NE) and epinephrine(E) are released from the adrenal during stress, it might play a role in stress-induced disruptions of fEmale reproductive parameters. The present study was performed to analyze the changes in adrenal catecholaminergic activities in cycling rats. The tissue content and secretion level of catecholamines were determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical detector(HPLC-ECD). Adrenomedullary content of norepinephrine(NE) was increased on proestrus stage (59.47 $\pm$ 6.86 ug/gland), peaked on diestrus I stage(65.22 $\pm$ 5.99 ug/gland), and was nadir on diestrus II stage(41.63 $\pm$ 1.33 ug/gland). The highest E content was observed on proestrus stage(361.86 $\pm$ 15.58 ug/gland) while the lowest level was on diestrus II stage(285.58 $\pm$ 12.25 ug/gland). In addition to these observations, a significant reduction of the NE : E ratio was observed (1 : 4.81 on diestrus I vs 1 : 6.13～7.02 on other stages). In vitro secretion of adrenal NE and E was increased on proestrus stage, peaked on estrus stage, and decreased on diestrus II stage. Interestingly, the NE : E ratio in conditioned media was significantly increased on estrus stage (1 : 3.32 vs 1 : 2.34～2.65 on other stages. The biosynthesis of NE and E is mediated by tyrosine hydroxylase(TH) and phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase(PNMT) which acts conversion of tyrosine into DOPA and NE into E, respectively. These finding demonstrated that sex steroids, during setrous cycle, seem to be able to modify the adrenal catecholamines biosynthesis and secretion with stage-specific manner by modulation of the enzyme activities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.249-255
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• 2009

The performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC) can be affected by many factors including the rate of organic matter oxidation, the electron transfer to electrode by electrochemical bacteria, proton diffusion, the concentration of electron acceptor, the rate of electron acceptor reduction and internal resistance. the performance of MFC using oxygen as electron acceptor can be influenced by oxygen concentration as limit factors in cathode compartment. Many studies have been performed to enhance electricity production from MFC. The series or parallel stacked MFC connected several MFC units can use to increase voltages and currents produced from MFCs. In this study, a single MFC (S-MFC) and a stacked MFC (ST-MFC) using acetate as electron donor and oxygen as electron acceptor were used to investigate the influence of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in cathode compartment on MFC performance. The power density (W/$m^3$) of S-MFC was in order DO 5 > 3 > 7 > 9 mg/L, the maximum power density (W/$m^3$) of S-MFC was 42 W/$m^3$ at DO 5 mg/L. The power density (W/$m^3$) of ST-MFC was in order DO 5 > 7 > 9 > 3 mg/L and the maximum power density (W/$m^3$) of STMFC was 20 W/$m^3$ at DO 5 mg/L. These results suggest that the DO concentration of cathode chamber should be considered as important limit factor of MFC operation and design for stacked MFC as well as single MFC. The results of ST-MFC operation showed the voltage decrease of some MFC units by salt formation on the surface of anode, resulting in decrease total voltage of ST-MFC. Therefore, connecting MFC units in parallel might be more appropriate way than series connections to enhance power production of stacked MFC.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.261-272
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• 1992

Tetradentate Schiff base Cobalt(II)(3MeOSED)$(H_2O)_2$ complexe was synthesized and allowed to react with dry oxygen to form oxygen adducts of Cobalt(III) complexes such as ${\mu}$-peroxo type [Co(III)(3MeOSED)(DMF)]$_2O_2$ and [Co(III)(3MeOSED)(DMSO)]$_2O_2$in DMF and DMSO or superoxo type [Co(III)(3MeOSED)(Py)]$O_2$ in pyridine. The oxygen adducted complex was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and DPP method with glassy carbon electrode in 0.1M TEAP-DMF (-DMSO,-Py) as supporting electrolyte solution. As a result the reduction reaction process occurred to four steps including prewave Of $O_2^-$in 1 : 1 oxygen adducted superoxo type [Co(III)(3MeOSED)(Py)]$O_2$complex and three steps not including prewave of $O_2^-$ in 1 : 2 oxygen adducted ${\mu}$-peroxo type [Co(III)-(3MeOSED)(DMF)]$_2O_2$ and [Co(III)(3MeOSED)(DMSO)]$_2O_2$. A superoxo type [Co(III)(3MeOSED)(L)]$O_2\;(L: CH_3OH)$ was generated with oxygen in methanol. Selectively oxidized hydrazobenzene $(H_2AB)$ to trans-azobenzene(t-AB) and the rate constant k for oxidation reaction of the following equation is $(2.96 {\pm} 0.2)$${\times}$ $10^{-1}$M/sec. $H_2AB$ + Co (II)(3MeOSED)$(L_2)+O_2\;{\rightleftarrow^K}$ [Co(III)(3MeOSED)(L)]$O_2{\cdot}H_2AB{\longrightarrow^K}$ Co(II(3MeOSED)$(L)_2$+t-AB+$H_2O_2 $.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.258-263
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• 2023

In this study, conductive polymers and the enzyme tyrosinase (Tyr) were deposited on the surface of a screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE), which can be fabricated as a disposable sensor chip, and applied to the detection of bisphenol F (BPF), an endocrine disruptor with proven links to male diseases and thyroid disorders, using electrochemical methods. On the surface of the SPCE working electrode, which was negatively charged by oxygen plasma treatment, a positively charged conductive polymer, poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA), a negatively charged polymer compound, poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS), and another layer of PDDA were layered by electrostatic attraction in the order of PDDA, PSS, and finally PDDA. Then, a layer of Tyr, which was negatively charged due to pH adjustment to 7.0, was added to create a PDDA-PSS-PDDA-Tyr sensor for BPF. When the electrode sensor is exposed to a BPF solution, which is the substrate and target analyte, 4,4'-methylenebis(cyclohexa-3,5-diene-1,2-dione) is generated by an oxidation reaction with the Tyr enzyme on the electrode surface. The reduction process of the product at 0.1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) generating 4,4'-methylenebis(benzene-1,2-diol) was measured using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetries, resulting in a change in the peak current with respect to the concentration of BPF. In addition, we compared the detection performance of BPF using an ionic liquid electrolyte as an alternative to phosphate-buffered saline, which has been used in many previous sensing studies. Furthermore, the selectivity of bisphenol S, which acts as an interfering substance with a similar structure to BPF, was investigated. Finally, we demonstrated the practical applicability of the sensor by applying it to analyze the concentration of BPF in real samples prepared in the laboratory.