• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.424-428
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• 2008

We prepared an ionic gel polymer electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) without leakage problem. Triiodide compound (BTDI) was synthesized by the reaction of benzene tricarbonyl trichloride with diethylene glycol monotosylate and subsequent substitution of tosylate by iodide using NaI. Bisimidazole was prepared by the reaction of imidazole with the triethylene glycol ditosylate under strongly basic condition provided by NaH. BTDI and bisimidazole dissolved in an ionic liquid were injected into the cells and permeated into the $TiO_2$ nanopores. In situ crosslinking was then carried out by heating to form a network structure of poly(imidazolium iodide), thereby converting the ionic liquid electrolytes to a gel or a quasi-solid state. A monomer (BTDI and bisimidazole) concentration in the electrolytes of as low as 30 wt% was sufficient to form a stable gel type electrolyte. The DSSCs based on the gel polymer electrolytes showed a power conversion efficiency of as high as 1.15% with a short circuit current density of $5.69\;mAcm^{-2}$, an open circuit voltage of 0.525 V, and a fill factor of 0.43.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.373-380
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• 2004

The production of sweet (su) and super sweet corns (sh2) has been economically feasible in Korea in recent years. Major factors limiting super sweet corn production are low germination and low seedling vigor. Since seed quality is closely related to seed maturity, the optimum harvest time for the seed production of sweet and super sweet corns was studied and the quality of seeds with varying maturities was investigated in 2001 and 2002 cropping seasons. The parents of the sweet corn seeds were Hybrid Early Sunglow and 'Golden Cross Bantam 70' and those of super sweet corn were Xtrasweet 82 and 'For­tune'. Seeds were harvested at 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 days after silking (DAS). As the seeds developed, seed weight of sweet corn increased and the seed moisture content decreased faster than that of super sweet corn. Germination rates of sweet corn seeds harvested 21 and 28 DAS at $25^{\circ}C$ and emergence rates in the cold soil test were significantly lower than those of seeds harvested after 42 DAS in both years. Although the germination rates of super sweet corn seeds with varying maturities showed similar patterns as sweet corn seeds at $25^{\circ}C$, the emergence rate of super sweet corn seeds in cold soil test continuously increased with seed maturity. This suggests that seed quality of super sweet corn should be tested in a cold soil test to estimate field emergence. As the seeds developed, leakage of total sugars and electrolytes from the both sweet and super sweet corn seeds decreased up to 42 or 49 DAS. The $\alpha-amylase$ activities of both sweet and super sweet corn seeds increased with seed maturity from 21 to 35 or 49 DAS depending on genotype and year. The optimum harvest time for the seed production of sweet corn was 42 DAS and 49 DAS for super sweet corn considering emergence rate and plumule dry weight in the cold soil test, leakage of sugars and electrolytes from the seeds, and $\alpha-amylase$ activity.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.113-117
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• 2001

Specific capacitance and charge-discharge rate of EDLC using activated carbon electrode were affected by the compositions of electrolytes, the conditions of charge-discharge and physical properties of activated carbon materials. The activated carbon electrode was prepared by dip coating method. Charge-discharge test and electrochemical experiments were carried out for various kinds of organic electrolytes. Effects of charge and discharge current density on the specific capacitance were studied. Characteristics of leakage current, self-discharge and time-voltage curves in optimum conditions of organic electrolytes were compared with conventional $1M-Et_4NBF_4/PC$ electrolyte. The EDLC using MSP-20(specific surface area: $2000m^2/g$) electrode and $1M-LiPF_6/PC-DEC(1:1)$ was exhibited th highest specific capacitance of 130F/g and low polarization resistances. The EDLC using MSP-20 electrode at $1M-LiPF_6/PC-DEC(1:1)$ was small leak current of 0.0004A for 15min, long voltage retention of 0.8V after 100h and linear time-voltage curves with small IR-drop.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.381-388
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• 2004

In Korea, production of super sweet corn has been economically feasible and is substituting for traditional sweet corn due to better flavor in recent years. Major limiting factors for super sweet corn production are low field emergence and low seedling vigor. The optimum water potential (WP) for the priming of normal and aged seeds of dent, sweet (su) and super sweet (sh2) corns was studied to improve low seed quality. Seeds were primed at 0, -0.3, -0.6, -0.9, and -1.2 MPa of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8000 solution at $15^{\circ}C$ for 2 days. Priming effects differed depending on the type of corn, seed quality, and WP of PEG solution. Although WP of priming solution did not influence the emergence rate of extremely high quality normal dent corn seeds, it reduced time to $50\%$ emergence (T50) and increased plumule weight. In contrast, the emergence rate of aged field corn was improved by seed priming at 0 MPa and plumule weight and $\alpha-amylase$ activity was enhanced. The optimum WP for both normal and aged sweet and super sweet corn seeds was between -0.3 and -0.6 Mpa. At the optimum WP emergence rate, $\alpha-amylase$ activity, and content of DNA and soluble protein increased, while T50 and leakage of total sugars and electrolytes reduced.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.201-206
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• 2003

Differential responses of red pepper plant and cultured cells to enhanced ${\gamma}$-ray($^{60}$ Co) and ultraviolet(UV) stress were investigated. In seed treatment, 1 Gy of ${\gamma}$-ray increased seedling dry weight up to 19.1%, but 50 Gy treatment markedly ingibited seed germination and subsequent growth of seedling. UV treatment to seed did not change the germination ability of seeds and the growth of seedlings regardless of duration of UV treatment until 24 hrs. In case of UV treatment to seedlings, plant injury was seriously progressed even after the seedlings were returned to no UV condition, and eventually all the leaves showed chlorosis by the stress. However, progress of plant injury by ${\gamma}$-ray stress slower than that caused by UV stress, and even at the high dose of ${\gamma}$-ray 50 Gy, did not caused the cholrosis of stressed plant leaf. Amount of electrolytes leakage from plant leaf by UV treatment for 24hrs was increased up to 28.8 folds in comparison with untreated control, whereas that of 50 Gy of ${\gamma}$-ray was increased only 1.2 folds. UV stress induced the production of capsidiol, antimicrobial phytoalexin, by activation of gene expression involved in capsidiol biosynthesis, such as sesquiterpene cyclase and cyclase and cytochrome P450 hydroxylase in the leaf and cultured cell, but ${\gamma}$-ray stress induced neither the production of capsidiol nor expression of the genes.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2004

The responses of soybean seeds were evaluated to accelerated aging and gamma irradiation with regard to germination, seed leakage, seed leachate component and dry weight of hypocotyl and primary root of the germinating seed. Accelerated aging significantly reduced the final germination rate while gamma irradiation increased the final germination rate. Furthermore, the interactive effects occurred that the final germination rate of 5-day aged seeds increased considerably in response to 4 Gy of gamma irradiation. The extent to which the electrolyte was leaked from the seeds (conductivity) was significantly affected by accelerated aging and showed a close negative correlation with the germination rate. Gamma irradiation, however, did not significantly affect the electrical conductivity of seed leachate. The accelerated aging significantly increased the concentrations of the particular electrolytes leaked from the seeds while the gamma irradiation did not affect those concentrations. Of the electrolytes leaked from the seeds, Ca and Mg showed relatively lower concentrations while K showed greater concentrations than others. Moreover, N and P showed similar responses to aging treatment. Aging treatment significantly affected dry weight (DW) of hypocotyls and primary root. Also, gamma irradiation decreased DW of hypocotyls and primary root, particularly for 8 Gy associated with 5 days aging treatment. The data were discussed in terms of the relationships of seed vigor with aging treatment and gamma irradiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.371-372
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• 2005

Supercapacitors are promising devices for delivering high power density. Digital communications, electric vehicles and other devices that require electrical energy at high power levels in relatively short pulses have prompted considerable research on supercapacitors. In recent years, solid electrolytes have been investigated for supercapacitors. Solid electrolytes are advantageous over liquid electrolytes in respect of easy handling and reliability without electrolyte leakage. In this preliminary study, an electrochemical supercapacitor in all solid configuration has been fabricated using CNF-DAAQ and poly-vinylidenefluoride(PVdF). A new type of Supercapacitor was constructed by using carbon nanofibers(CNFs) and DAAQ(l,5-diaminoanthraquinone) monomer. DAAQ was deposited on the carbon nanofibers by chemical polymerization with $(NH_4)_2S_2O_8$ as oxidant in the 0.1M $H_2SO_4$. Dried SPEEK powder was mixed with N-methyl pyrrolidone to make 10 wt.% solution in an ultrasonic bath, the slurry was cast over a glass substrate heated to $70^{\circ}C$ for solvent evaporation. And then we used solid electrolyte of SPEEK. The unit cell consist of DAAQ-CNF/electrolyte/Pt. From the analysis, it is clear that surface of carbon nanofibers was quite uniformly coated with DAAQ. The performance characteristics of the supercapacitors have been evaluated using Cyclic Voltammetry.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.963-968
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• 2009

Liquid crystal (LC; E7 and/or ML-0249)-embedded, poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-co-HFP)-based, polymer electrolytes were prepared for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The electrolytes contained 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (PMII), tetrabutylammonium iodide (TBAI), and iodine ($I_2$), which participate in the $I_3^-/I^-$ redox couple. The incorporation of photochemically stable PVdF-co-HFP in the DSSCs created a stable polymer electrolyte that resisted leakage and volatilization. DSSCs, with liquid crystal(LC)-embedded PVdF-co-HFP-based polymer electrolytes between the amphiphilic ruthenium dye N719 absorbed to the nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ photoanode and the Pt counter electrode, were fabricated. These DSSCs displayed enhanced redox couple reduction and reduced charge recombination in comparison to that fabricated from the conventional PVdF-co-HFP-based polymer electrolyte. The behavior of the polymer electrolyte was improved by the addition of optimized amounts of plasticizers, such as ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC). The significantly increased short-circuit current density ($J_{sc}$, $14.60\;mA/cm^2$) and open-circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$, 0.68 V) of these DSSCs led to a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.42% and a fill factor of 0.65 under a standard light intensity of $100\;mW/cm^2$ irradiation of AM 1.5 sunlight. A DSSC fabricated by using E7-embedded PVdF-co-HFP-based polymer electrolyte exhibited a maximum incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 50%.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.324-328
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• 2008

One hundred-eighty extracts of soil collected from ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) fields were subjected to lettuce germination test, electrolyte leakage, cell viability and antioxidant enzyme activity test. Regardless of various cultivation periods, there was no significant difference in soil pH, the content of organic matter and available phosphate in ginseng fields. Based on lettuce seed germination test, six soil extracts showing inhibition of germination and/or seedling growth were selected for further study. Selected soil extracts markedly inhibited cell viability of ginseng cultured cells but leakage of electrolytes were not affected by the treatment. Enzyme activity of superoxide dimutase in ginseng cultured cells was not affected by the treatment with the soil extracts. However, those of peroxidase and catalase were significantly inhibited by the treatment with soil extracts which showed inhibition of lettuce seed germination and seedling growth.