• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.635-644
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• 2023

Due to the rapid development of the livestock industry, particularly due to residual pharmaceutical antibiotics, environmental populations have been negatively affected. Herein, we report a ZnO/melamine-functionalized carboxylic-rich graphene oxide (ZFG) photocatalyst for visible light-driven photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride in aqueous solutions. The properties of the photocatalysts were evaluated by XRD, FTIR, XPS, Fe-SEM, HR-TEM, TGA, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, zeta potential, and electrochemical measurements. The photocatalytic activity was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. The photocatalytic properties of the ZFG photocatalyst evaluated against the tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) antibiotic under visible light irradiation showed superior photodegradation of 96.27% within 60 min at an initial pH of 11. The enhancement of photocatalytic degradation was due to the introduction of functionalized graphene, which increases the light-harvesting capability and molecular adsorption capability in addition to minimizing the recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers due to its role as an electron acceptor and mediator.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.432-438
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• 2018

Microalgae hold promise as a renewable energy source for the production of biofuel, as they can convert light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. However, cost-efficient harvest of microalgae remains a major challenge to commercial-scale algal biofuel production. We first investigated the potential of electrolytic water as a flocculant for harvesting Tetraselmis sp. Alkaline electrolyzed water (AEW) is produced at the cathode through water electrolysis. It contains mineral ions such as $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $Mg^{2+}$ that can act as flocculants. The flocculation activity with AEW was evaluated via culture density, AEW concentration, medium pH, settling time, and ionic strength analyses. The flocculation efficiency was 88.7% at 20% AEW (pH 8, 10 min) with a biomass concentration of 2 g/l. The initial biomass concentration and medium pH had significant influences on the flocculation activity of AEW. A viability test of flocculated microalgal cells was conducted using Evans blue stain, and the cells appeared intact. Furthermore, the growth rate of Tetraselmis sp. in recycled flocculation medium was similar to the growth rate in fresh F/2 medium. Our results suggested that AEW flocculation could be a very useful and affordable methodology for fresh biomass harvesting with environmentally friendly easy operation in part of the algal biofuel production process.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.66-69
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• 2017

In recent year, energy harvesting technologies from the ambient environments such as light, motion, wireless waves, and temperature again a lot of attraction form research community [1-5] due to its efficient solution in order to substitute for conventional power delivery methods, especially in wearable together with on-body applications. The drawbacks of battery-powered characteristic used in commodity applications lead to self-powered, long-lifetime circuit design. Thermoelectric generator, a solid-state sensor, is useful compared to the harvesting devices in order to enable self-sustained low-power applications. TEG based on the Seebeck effect is utilized to transfer thermal energy which is available with a temperature gradient into useful electrical energy. Depending on the temperature difference between two sides, amount of output power will be proportionally delivered. In this work, we illustrated a low-input voltage energy harvesting circuit applied discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) method for getting an adequate amount of energy from thermoelectric generator (TEG) for a specific wearable application. With a small temperature gradient harvested from human skin, the input voltage from the transducer is as low as 60mV, the proposed circuit, fabricated in a $0.6{\mu}m$ CMOS process, is capable of generating a regulated output voltage of 4.2V with an output power reaching to $40{\mu}W$. The proposed circuit is useful for powering energy to battery-less systems, such as wearable application devices.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.112-117
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• 2024

The Internet of Things (IoT) device is a key component for Industry 4.0, which is the network in homes, factories, buildings, and infrastructures to monitor and control the systems. To demonstrate the IoT network, batteries are widely utilized as power sources, and the batteries inevitably require repeated replacement due to their limited capacity. Magneto-mechano-electric (MME) generators are one of the candidate to develop self-powered IoT systems since MME generators can harvest electricity from stray alternating current (AC) magnetic fields arising from electric power cables. Herein, we report a magneto-mechano-triboelectric generator enabled by a ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composite. In the triboelectric nylon matrix, a ferromagnetic carbonyl iron powder (CIP) was introduced to induce magnetic force near the AC magnetic field for MME harvesting. Additionally, a ferroelectric ceramic powder was also added to the MME composite material to enhance the charge-trapping capability during triboelectric harvesting. The final ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composite-based MME triboelectric harvester can generate an open-circuit voltage and a short-circuit current of 110 V and 8 μA, respectively, which were enough to turn on a light emitting diode (LED) and charge a capacitor. These results verify the feasibility of the MME triboelectric generator for not only harvesting electricity from an AC magnetic field but also for various self-powered IoT applications.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.483-487
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• 2022

In this paper, we design a self-powered Arduino system for solar energy harvesting and explain its operation. To perform the operation, the Arduino system senses the amount of solar energy that changes every moment and adjusts the ratio of the active mode and sleep mode operation time according to a given solar light intensity. If the intensity of sunlight is strong enough, the Arduino system can be continuously driven in active mode and receive sufficient power from sunlight. If not, the system can run in sleep mode to minimize power consumption. As a result, it can be seen that energy consumption can be minimized by reducing power consumption by up to 81.7% when using sleep mode compared to continuously driving active mode. Also, when the light intensity is at an intermediate level, the ratio between the active mode and the sleep mode is appropriately adjusted according to the light intensity to operate. The method of self-control of the operating time ratio of active mode and sleep mode, proposed in this paper, is thought to be helpful in energy-efficient operation of the self-powered systems for wearables and bio-health applications.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.495-504
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• 2021

Energy Harvesting is a technology that can convert wasted energy such as vibration, heat, light, electromagnetic energy, etc. into usable electrical energy. Among them, vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) has high energy conversion efficiency with a small volume; thus, it is expected to be used in various autonomous powering devices, such as implantable medical devices, wearable devices, and energy harvesting from road or automobiles. In this study, wasted vibration energy in an automobile is converted into electrical energy by high-power piezoelectric materials, and the generated electrical energy is found to be an auxiliary power source for the operation of wireless sensor nodes, LEDs, etc. inside an automobile. In order to properly install the PEH in an automobile, vibration characteristics includes frequency and amplitude at several positions in the automobile is monitored initially and the cantilever structured PEH was designed accordingly. The harvesting properties of fabricated PEH is characterized and installed into the engine part of the automobile, where the vibration amplitude is stable and strong. The feasibility of PEH is confirmed by operating electric components (LEDs) that can be used in practice.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.522-530
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• 2018

Brachypodium distachyon has been developed as a monocot model plant for temperate grasses and bioenergy crops. Although B. distachyon research is moving forward rapidly, the study of photoresponses has not been explored. To extend our knowledge of responses to light in monocots, we performed photoresponse analysis of B. distachyon using two inbred lines, Bd21 and Bd21-3. In this study, we first compared growing phenotypes between the two lines and investigated coleoptile and primary leaf growths under dark, far-red, red, and white light conditions. The results showed that the growth of the two lines were similar until tillering stage, but other developmental stages from heading to senescence were much delayed in Bd21-3, which resulted in increased height and tiller numbers. Under different light conditions, primary leaf lengths were kept increasing during the growth period, whereas the coleoptile extension was inhibited 4 to 7 days after growth depending on the light conditions applied. These results suggest that the responses to light in B. distachyon can be examined by measuring coleoptile lengths approximately 7 days after seedling growth. Moreover, we selected light-responsive genes known in Arabidopsis thaliana, such as chlorophyll A/B binding protein (CAB), light-harvesting chlorophyll binding protein (Lhcb) and chalcone synthase (CHS), and confirmed their light-induced gene expression in B. distachyon. Therefore, the present study suggests that the inhibition of coleoptile growth can be used as the parameter to analyze photoresponses in the monocot model plant, and also provide the reference genes whose expression is induced by far-red and red light treatment.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.703-704
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• 2014

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.627-634
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• 2023

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) has attracted considerable attention since its discovery for its catalysis of water splitting to hydrogen and oxygen under visible light irradiation. However, pristine g-C₃N₄ confers only low photocatalytic efficiency and requires surface cocatalysts to reach moderate activity due to a lack of accessible surface active sites. Inspired by the high specific surface area and superior electron transfer of graphene, we developed a strongly coupled binary structure of graphene and g-C₃N₄ aerogel with 3D porous skeleton. The as-prepared 3D structure photocatalysts achieve a high surface area that favors efficient photogenerated charge separation and transfer, enhances the light-harvesting efficiency, and significantly improves the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate as well. The photocatalyst performance is observed to be optimized at the ratio 3:7 (g-C₃N₄:GO), leading to photocatalytic H₂ evolution of 16125.1 mmol. g^-1. h^-1 under visible light irradiation, more than 161 times higher than the rate achieved by bulk g-C₃N₄.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2024

This work focuses on improving the light-harvesting efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells through innovative multi-architecture surface modifications. To create a regular optical structure, a lithographic process was performed to form it on a glass substrate through various etching processes, from Etch-1 to Etch-3. AZO was deposited on top of the structures and re-etched to create a multi-architectural surface. These surface-modified structures improved the light absorption and overall performance of the solar cell through changes in optical and physical properties, which we will analyze. In addition, we investigated the effect of post-cleaning on the etched glass structures through EDX analysis to understand the mechanism of the etching action. The results of this study are expected to provide important guidelines for the design and fabrication of solar cells and other photovoltaic devices.