• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.17-22
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• 2021

Eco-friendly magnesium-air battery is a kind of metal-air battery known as a primary battery with a very high theoretical discharge capacity. This battery is also called a metal-fuel cell from the viewpoint of using oxygen in the atmosphere as a cathode active material and magnesium alloy as a fuel. Since battery performance is determined by the properties of the magnesium alloy used as a anode, more research and development of the magnesium alloy electrode as a anode material are required in order to commercialize it as a high-performance battery. In this study, the commercialized magnesium alloys(AZ31, AZ61) were selected and then electrochemical measurements and discharge test were conducted. Electrochemical properties of magnesium alloys were investigated by OCP changes, Tafel parameters and CV measurement, and the feasibilities of AZ61 alloy with excellent discharge capacity(1410mAhg^-1) as electrode materials were evaluated through CC discharge experiments.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.431-439
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• 2021

This research work aims to investigate the effect of the aerobic bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the mechanical and electrochemical properties of the 316L stainless steel and α-brass. These properties of both the alloys were determined after 7 days of exposure to the controlled and inoculated media at 37℃. The microstructural and electrochemical test results revealed the deleterious effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. After exposure to the inoculated medium, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed the larger pitting and formation of relatively dense biofilm on α-brass compared to 316L stainless steel. The tensile strength and hardness of 316L stainless steel were slightly affected after exposure to the controlled and inoculated media. After exposure to the controlled medium and inoculated media, the tensile strength of the α-brass was least affected but a significant decrease in the hardness (from 165 HV to 124 HV) was observed due to the severe attack induced by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Similarly, the open-circuit potential of the 316L stainless steel in the inoculated medium was measured to be less active (-410 mV vs Ag/AgCl) than α-brass (-550 mV vs Ag/AgCl). In the inoculated medium, potentiodynamic polarization curves confirmed the severe attack of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on α-brass (7.15 × 10^-2 mm/year) compared to 316L stainless steel which registered a corrosion rate of 5.14 × 10^-4 mm/year.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.8-12
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• 2023

In this work, we investigated the thickness of Ag precursor layer to improve the performance of flexible CIGSe solar cells grown on stainless steel (STS) substrates through three-stage co-evaporation with Ga grading followed by alkali treatments. The small amount of incorporated Ag in CIGSe films showed enhancement in the grain size and device efficiency. With an optimal 6 nm-thick Ag layer, the best cell on the STS substrate yielded more than 16%, which is comparable to the soda-lime glass (SLG) substrate. Thus, the addition of controlled Ag combined with alkali post-deposition treatment (PDT) led to increased open-circuit voltage (VOC), accompanied by the increased built-in potential as confirmed by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. It is related to a reduction of charge recombination at the depletion region. The results suggest that Ag alloying and alkali PDT are essential for producing highly efficient flexible CIGSe solar cells.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.559-570
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• 2023

The corrosion of structural steel used in the construction industry is increasing due to the industrialization where many aggressive ions released in the atmosphere. Therefore, in the present study Al coating was deposited by arc and plasma arc thermal spray process and compared their effectiveness in simulated weathering condition i.e. Society of Automotive Engineers(SAE) J2334 solution which mostly contain Cl^- and CO₃^2- ions. Different analytical techniques have been used to characterize the coating and draw the corrosion mechanism. The Al coating deposited by plasma arc thermal spray process exhibited uniform, dense and layer by layer deposition resulting higher bond adhesion values. The open circuit potential(OCP) of Al coating deposited this process is exhibited more electropositive values than arc thermal spray process in SAE J2334 solution with immersion periods. The total impedance of plasma arc thermal spray process exhibited higher than arc thermal spray process. The corrosion rate of the plasma arc thermal sprayed Al coating is reduced by 20% compared to arc thermal spray process after 23 days of immersion in SAE J2334 solution.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.89.1-89.1
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• 2010

Since Gratzel and co-workers developed a new type of solar cell based on the nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ electrode, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted considerable attention on account of their high solar energy-to-conversion efficiencies (11%), their easy manufacturing process with low cost production compared to conventional p-n junction solar cells. The mechanism of DSSC is based on the injection of electrons from the photoexcited dye into the conduction band of nanocrystalline $TiO_2$. The oxidized dye is reduced by the hole injection process from either the hole counter or electrolyte. Thus, the electronic structures, such as HOMO, LUMO, and HOMO-LUMO gap, of dye molecule in DSSC are deeply related to the electron transfer by photoexcitation and redox potential. To date, high performance and good stability of DSSC based on Ru-dyes as a photosensitizer had been widely addressed in the literatures. DSSC with Ru-bipyridyl complexes (N3 and N719), and the black ruthenium dye have achieved power conversion efficiencies up to 11.2% and 10.4%, respectively. However, the Ru-dyes are facing the problem of manufacturing costs and environmental issues. In order to obtain even cheaper photosensitizers for DSSC, metal-free organic photosensitizers are strongly desired. Metal-free organic dyes offer superior molar extinction coefficients, low cost, and a diversity of molecular structures, compared to conventional Ru-dyes. Recently, novel photosensitizers such as coumarin, merocyanine, cyanine, indoline, hemicyanine, triphenylamine, dialkylaniline, bis(dimethylfluorenyl)-aminophenyl, phenothiazine, tetrahydroquinoline, and carbazole based dyes have achieved solar-to-electrical power conversion efficiencies up to 5-9%. On the other hand, organic dye molecules have large ${\pi}$-conjugated planner structures which would bring out strong molecular stacking in their solid-state and poor solubility in their media. It was well known that the molecular stacking of organic dyes could reduce the electron transfer pathway in opto-electronic devices, significantly. In this paper, we have studied on synthesis and characterization of dendritic organic dyes with different number of electron acceptor/anchoring moieties in the end of dendrimer. The photovoltaic performances and the incident photon-to-current (IPCE) of these dyes were measured to evaluate the effects of the dendritic strucuture on the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.117.2-117.2
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• 2011

Since Gratzel and co-workers developed a new type of solar cell based on the nanocrystalline TiO2 electrode, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted considerable attention on account of their high solar energy-to-conversion efficiencies (11%), their easy manufacturing process with low cost production compared to conventional p-n junction solar cells. The mechanism of DSSC is based on the injection of electrons from the photoexcited dye into the conduction band of nanocrystalline TiO2. The oxidized dye is reduced by the hole injection process from either the hole counter or electrolyte. Thus, the electronic structures, such as HOMO, LUMO, and HOMO-LUMO gap, of dye molecule in DSSC are deeply related to the electron transfer by photoexcitation and redox potential. To date, high performance and good stability of DSSC based on Ru-dyes as a photosensitizer had been widely addressed in the literatures. DSSC with Ru-bipyridyl complexes (N3 and N719), and the black ruthenium dye have achieved power conversion efficiencies up to 11.2% and 10.4%, respectively. However, the Ru-dyes are facing the problem of manufacturing costs and environmental issues. In order to obtain even cheaper photosensitizers for DSSC, metal-free organic photosensitizers are strongly desired. Metal-free organic dyes offer superior molar extinction coefficients, low cost, and a diversity of molecular structures, compared to conventional Ru-dyes. Recently, novel photosensitizers such as coumarin, merocyanine, cyanine, indoline, hemicyanine, triphenylamine, dialkylaniline, bis(dimethylfluorenyl)-aminophenyl, phenothiazine, tetrahydroquinoline, and carbazole based dyes have achieved solar-to-electrical power conversion efficiencies up to 5-9%. On the other hand, organic dye molecules have large ${\pi}$-conjugated planner structures which would bring out strong molecular stacking in their solid-state and poor solubility in their media. It was well known that the molecular stacking of organic dyes could reduce the electron transfer pathway in opto-electronic devices, significantly. In this paper, we have studied on synthesis and characterization of dendritic organic dyes with different number of electron acceptor/anchoring moieties in the end of dendrimer. The photovoltaic performances and the incident photon-to-current (IPCE) of these dyes were measured to evaluate the effects of the dendritic strucuture on the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.566-572
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• 2020

In the recent years, thin film solar cells (TFSCs) have emerged as a viable replacement for crystalline silicon solar cells and offer a variety of choices, particularly in terms of synthesis processes and substrates (rigid or flexible, metal or insulator). Among the thin-film absorber materials, SnS has great potential for the manufacturing of low-cost TFSCs due to its suitable optical and electrical properties, non-toxic nature, and earth abundancy. However, the efficiency of SnS-based solar cells is found to be in the range of 1 ~ 4 % and remains far below those of CdTe-, CIGS-, and CZTSSe-based TFSCs. Aside from the improvement in the physical properties of absorber layer, enormous efforts have been focused on the development of suitable buffer layer for SnS-based solar cells. Herein, we investigate the device performance of SnS-based TFSCs by introducing double buffer layers, in which CdS is applied as first buffer layer and ZnMgO films is employed as second buffer layer. The effect of the composition ratio (Mg/(Mg+Zn)) of RF sputtered ZnMgO films on the device performance is studied. The structural and optical properties of ZnMgO films with various Mg/(Mg+Zn) ratios are also analyzed systemically. The fabricated SnS-based TFSCs with device structure of SLG/Mo/SnS/CdS/ZnMgO/AZO/Al exhibit a highest cell efficiency of 1.84 % along with open-circuit voltage of 0.302 V, short-circuit current density of 13.55 mA cm^-2, and fill factor of 0.45 with an optimum Mg/(Mg + Zn) ratio of 0.02.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.505-512
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• 2014

A new donor-accepter-donor-accepter-donor (D-A-D-A-D) type 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-thiophene-based acceptor unit 2,5-di(4-(5-bromo-4-octylthiophen-2-yl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-7-yl)thiophene ($DTBTTBr_2$) was synthesized. Copolymerized with fluorene and indeno[1,2-b]fluorene electron-rich moieties, two alternating narrow band gap (NBG) copolymers PF-DTBTT and PIF-DTBTT were prepared. And two copolymers exhibit broad and strong absorption in the range of 300-700 nm with optical band gap of about 1.75 eV. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels vary between -5.43 and -5.52 eV and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels range from -3.64 to -3.77 eV. Potential applications of the copolymers as electron donor material and $PC_{71}BM$ ([6,6]-phenyl-$C_{71}$ butyric acid methyl ester) as electron acceptors were investigated for photovoltaic solar cells (PSCs). Photovoltaic performances based on the blend of PF-DTBTT/$PC_{71}BM$ (w:w; 1:2) and PIF-DTBTT/$PC_{71}BM$ (w:w; 1:2) with devices configuration as ITO/PEDOT: PSS/blend/Ca/Al, show an incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 2.34% and 2.56% with the open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) of 0.87 V and 0.90 V, short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) of $6.02mA/cm^2$ and $6.12mA/cm^2$ under an AM1.5 simulator ($100mA/cm^2$). The photocurrent responses exhibit the onset wavelength extending up to 720 nm. These results indicate that the resulted narrow band gap copolymers are viable electron donor materials for polymer solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.219-224
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• 2012

We study for long-term performance of amorphous silicon solar cells under light exposure. The performance is predicted with a kinetic model in which the carrier lifetimes are determined by the defect density. In particular, the kinetic model is described by the stretched-exponential relaxation of defects to reach equilibrium. In this report, we simulate the light-induced degradation of the amorphous silicon solar cells with the kinetic model and AMPS-1D computer program. And data measured for outdoor performances of various solar cells are compared with the simulated results. This study focuses on examining the light-induced degradation for the following amorphous silicon pin solar cells: thickness${\approx}$300 nm, built-in potential${\approx}$1.05 V, defect density (at t=0)${\approx}5{\times}10^{15}cm^{-3}$, short-circuit current density (at t=0)${\approx}15.8mA/cm^2$, fill factor (at t=0)${\approx}0.691$, open-circuit voltage (at t=0)${\approx}0.865V$, conversion efficiency (at t=0)${\approx}9.50%$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.153-153
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• 2010

p-i-n 형 비정질 실리콘 박막 태양전지에서 p층은 창물질(window material)로서 전기 전도도가 크고, 빛 흡수가 적어야한다. p층의 두께가 얇으면 p층 전체가 depletion layer가 되고 충분한 diffusion potential을 얻을 수 없어 open-circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$)가 작아진다. 반대로 p층 두께가 두꺼워지면 빛 흡수가 증가하고, 표면 재결합이 문제가 되어 변환효율이 감소한다. 밴드갭이 큰 물질로 창층을 제작하게 되면 보다 짧은 파장의 입사광이 직접 i층을 비추므로 Short-circuit current ($I_{sc}$) 와 fill factor를 증가시킬 수 있다. 하여 본 연구에서는 기존의 창층으로 사용되는 Boron을 doping한 p-type a-Si:H 대신에 $N_2O$를 첨가한 p-type a-$SiO_x$:H의 $N_2O$ flow rate에 따른 밴드갭의 변화에 관한 연구를 수행하였다. p-type a-$SiO_x$:H Layer는 $SiH_4$, $H_2$, $N_2O$, $B_2H_6$ 가스를 혼합하여 증착하게 되는데 $SiH_4$, 가스와 $H_2$ 가스의 혼합비는 1:20, $B_2H_6$ 농도는 0.5%로 고정 하였으며 $N_2O$의 flow rate을 가변하며 증착하였다. $N_2O$의 가변조건은 5에서 50sccm으로 가변하여 증착하며 일반적으로 사용되는 RF-PECVD (13.56MHz)를 이용하였고 증착 온도는 175도, 전극간의 거리는 40mm, 파워와 압력은 30W, 700mTorr로 고정하여 진행하였다. 전기적 특성을 알아보기 위해 eagle 2000 Glass를 사용하였고 구조적 특성은 p-type wafer를 사용하여 각각 대략 200nm의 두께로 증착하였다. 증착 두께는 Ellipsometry를 이용하였으며 전기 전도도는 Agilent사의 4156c를 구조적특성은 FT-IR을 사용하여 측정하였다. Conductivity(${\sigma}_d$)는 $N_2O$가 증가함에 따라 $8.73\;{\times}\;10^{-6}$에서 $5.06\;{\times}\;10^{-7}$으로 감소하였고 optical bandgap ($E_{opt}$)은 1.71eV에서 2.0eV로 증가함을 알 수 있었다. 또한 reflective index(n)의 경우는 4.32에서 3.52로 감소함을 나타내었다. 기존의 p-type a-Si:H에 비해 상당한 $E_{opt}$을 가지므로 빛 흡수에 의한 손실을 줄임으로서 $V_oc$를 향상 시킬 수 있으며 동시에 짧은 파장에서의 입사광이 직접 i층을 비추므로 $I_{sc}$와 FF를 향상 시킬 수 있으리라 예상된다. 다소 낮은 전도도만 개선한다면 고효율의 박막 태양전지를 제작 할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.