• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 2013

In this study, ageing characteristics of an industrial hollow-fiber membrane module were investigated after 50 months of drinking water production. For this purpose, the industrial module was opened to make 18 smaller modules with hollow-fibers taken from different parts of the industrial module. These modules were probed by the use of a magnetic nanoparticle (NP) challenge test based on magnetic susceptibility (K) measurement of permeate. No magnetic susceptibility was detected in permeate when the challenge test was performed on an intact membrane module, indicating the complete retention of nanoparticles by the membrane. The compromised membrane module can be successfully detected by means of magnetic susceptibility measurement in permeate. So, this study clearly demonstrates that ageing of ultrafiltration membranes can be monitored by measuring the magnetic susceptibility of permeate from an ultrafiltration membrane module. These results showed that the hollow fibers in the center zones of the bundle would age faster than those in the outer zones around the bundle. This result is in agreement with numerical simulation (Daurelle et al. 2011).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.295-295
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• 2013

Supercapacitors with higher energy and power density are attracting growing attention for their wide range of potential applications such as portable electronic equipments, hybrid vehicle and cellular devices. In various classes of materials for supercapacitors, the redox pseudocapacitive materials such as conducting polymers and metal oxides have been most widely studied recently. The nanostructuring of the electrode surface has also been focused on since it can provide large surface area and consequently easy diffusion of ions in the capacitors. Among the active materials, in this work, we have used polyaniline (PANi) and manganese oxide ($MnO_2$). PANi is one of the promising electrode and active materials due to its desirable properties such as high electrochemical activity, high doping level and stability. $MnO_2$ is also widely studied material for supercapacitors since it is relatively cheap and environmentally friendly. In this work, we fabricated PANi hollow nanospheres by polymerizing aniline monomers on the polystyrene (PS) nanospheres and then dissolving the inner PS spheres. This nanostructuring of the PANi surface can provide large surface area and hence easy diffusion of electrolyte ions. We also incorporated $MnO_2$ nanoparticles into the PANi hollow nanospheres and investigated its electrochemical properties. It is expected that the combination of these two active materials with slightly different working potential windows show synergetic effects such as broader working potential range and enhanced specific capacitance.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.85-102
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• 2008

The development of reliable synthetic routes to polymer nanomaterials with well-defined size and morphology is a critical research topic in contemporary materials science. The ability to generate nanometer-sized polymer materials can offer unprecedented, interesting insights into the physical and chemical properties of the corresponding materials. In addition, control over shape and geometry of polymer nanoparticles affords versatile polymer nanostructures, encompassing nanospheres, core-shell nanoparticles, hollow nanoparticles, nanorods/fibers, nanotubes, and nanoporous materials. This review summarizes a diverse range of synthetic methods (broadly, hard template synthesis, soft template synthesis, and template-free synthesis) for fabricating polymer nanomaterials. The basic concepts and significant issues with respect to the synthetic strategies and tools are briefly introduced, and the examples of some of the outstanding research are highlighted. Our aim is to present a comprehensive review of research activities that concentrate on fabrication of various kinds of polymer nanoparticles.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.178-183
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• 2016

Semiconductor gas sensors based on metal oxide are widely used in a number of applications, from health and safety to energy efficiency and emission control. Nanomaterials including nanowires, nanorods, and nanoparticles have dominated the research focus in this field owing to their large number of surface sites that facilitate surface reactions. Recently, metal oxide hollow structures using soft templates have been developed owing to their high sensing properties with large-area uniformity. Here, we provide a brief overview of metal oxide hollow structures and their gas-sensing properties from the aspects of template size, morphology, and additives. In addition, a gas-sensing mechanism and perspectives are presented.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.42-50
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• 2013

This paper describes the electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of small biomolecules on the surface of Pt-Ru nanoparticles supported by $TiO_2$-hollow sphere prepared for use in sensor applications or fuel cells. The $TiO_2$-hollow sphere supports were first prepared by sol-gel reaction of titanium tetraisopropoxide with poly(styrene-co-vinylphenylboronic acid), PSB used as a template. Pt-Ru nanoparticles were then deposited by chemical reduction of the $Pt^{4+}$ and $Ru^{3+}$ ions onto $TiO_2$-hollow sphere ($Pt-Ru@TiO_2-H$). The prepared $Pt-Ru@TiO_2-H$ nanocomposites were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and elemental analysis. The electrocatalytic efficiency of Pt-Ru nanoparticles was evaluated via ethanol, methanol, dopamine, ascorbic acid, formalin, and glucose oxidation. The cyclic voltammograms (CV) obtained during the oxidation studies revealed that the $Pt-Ru@TiO_2-H$ nanocomposites showed high electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of biomolecules. As a result, the prepared Pt-Ru catalysts doped onto $TiO_2$-H sphere nanocomposites supports can be used for non-enzymatic biosensor or fuel cell anode electrode.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.326-332
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• 2020

In this study, polymer-fluorinated silica composite hollow fiber membranes were fabricated and applied to a membrane contactor for the recovery of methane dissolved in the anaerobic effluent. To prepare the composite membranes, porous hollow fiber substrates were fabricated with Ultem^®, a commercial polyetherimide (PEI). Subsequently, fluorinated silica particles were synthesized and coated on the surface via strong covalent bonding. Due to the high porosity, our membrane showed a CH₄ flux of 8.25 × 10^-5 ㎤ (STP)/㎠·s at the liquid velocity of 0.03 m/s which is much higher that that of commercial polypropylene membrane designed for degassing processes. This is attributed to our membrane's high porosity as well as a superior surface hydrophobicity (120~122°) resulted from the coating with fluorinated silica nanoparticles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.181-181
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• 2016

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (${\mu}c-Si:H$) films have attracted much attention as materials of the bottom-cells in Si thin film tandem photovoltaics due to their low bandgap and excellent stability against light soaking. However, in PECVD, the source gas $SiH_4$ must be highly diluted by $H_2$, which eventually results in low deposition rate. Moreover, it is known that high-rate ${\mu}c-Si:H$ growth is usually accompanied by a large number of dangling-bond (DB) defects in the resulting films, which act as recombination centers for photoexcited carriers, leading to a deterioration in the device performance. During film deposition, Si nanoparticles generated in $SiH_4$ discharges can be incorporated into films, and such incorporation may have effects on film properties depending on the size, structure, and volume fraction of nanoparticles incorporated into films. Here we report experimental results on the effects of nonoparticles incorporation at the different substrate temperature studied using a multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD method in which such incorporation can be significantly suppressed in upstream region by setting the gas flow velocity high enough to drive nanoparticles toward the downstream region. All experiments were performed with the multi-hollow discharge plasma CVD reactor at RT, 100, and $250^{\circ}C$, respectively. The gas flow rate ratio of $SiH_4$ to $H_2$ was 0.997. The total gas pressure P was kept at 2 Torr. The discharge frequency and power were 60 MHz, 180 W, respectively. Crystallinity Xc of resulting films was evaluated using Raman spectra. The defect densities of the films were measured with electron spin resonance (ESR). The defect density of fims deposited in the downstream region (with nonoparticles) is higher defect density than that in the upstream region (without nanoparticles) at low substrate temperature of RT and $100^{\circ}C$. This result indicates that nanoparticle incorporation can change considerably their film properties depending on the substrate temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.1-1
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• 2011

We developed a new generalized synthetic procedure, called as "heat-up process," to produce uniform-sized nanocrystals of many transition metals and oxides without a size selection process. We were able to synthesize uniform magnetite nanocrystals as much as 1 kilogram-scale from the thermolysis of Fe-oleate complex. Clever combination of different nanoscale materials will lead to the development of multifunctional nano-biomedical platforms for simultaneous targeted delivery, fast diagnosis, and efficient therapy. In this presentation, I would like to present some of our group's recent results on the designed fabrication of multifunctional nanostructured materials based on uniform-sized magnetite nanoparticles and their medical applications. Uniform ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles of <3 nm were synthesized by thermal decomposition of iron-oleate complex in the presence of oleyl alcohol. These ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles exhibited good T1 contrast effect. In in vivo T1 weighted blood pool magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), iron oxide nanoparticles showed longer circulation time than commercial gadolinium complex, enabling high resolution imaging. We used 80 nm-sized ferrimagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals for T2 MRI contrast agent for tracking transplanted pancreatic islet cells and single-cell MR imaging. We reported on the fabrication of monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles immobilized with uniform pore-sized mesoporous silica spheres for simultaneous MRI, fluorescence imaging, and drug delivery. We synthesized hollow magnetite nanocapsules and used them for both the MRI contrast agent and magnetic guided drug delivery vehicle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.18-20
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.467-467
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• 2011

Reflecting the growing importance of nanomaterials in science and technology, controlling the porosity combined with well-defined structural properties has been an ever-demanding pursuit in the related fields of frontier researches. A number of reports have focused on the synthesis of various nanoporous materials so far and, recently, the nanomaterials with multimodal porosity are getting an emerging importance due to their improved material properties compared with the mono porous materials. However, most of those materials are obtained in bulk phases while the spherical nanoparticles are one of the most practical platforms in a great number of applications. Here, we report on the synthesis of the core-shell silica nanoparticles with double mesoporous shells (DMSs). The DMS nsnoparticles are spherical and monodispersive and have two different mesoporous shells, i.e., the bimodal porosity. It is the first example of the core-shell silica nanoparticles with the different mesopores coexisting in the individual nanoparticles. Furthermore, the carbon and silica hollow capsules were also fabricated via a serial replication process.