• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.313-320
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• 2019

In this study, cobalt diselenide ($CoSe_2$) and the composites ($CoSe_2@RGO$) of $CoSe_2$ and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal reaction using cobalt ions and selenide source with or without graphene oxide (GO). The formation of $CoSe_2@RGO$ composites was identified by analysis with X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrochemical analyses demonstrated that the $CoSe_2@RGO$ composites have excellent catalytic activity for the reduction of $I_3{^-}$, possibly indicating a synergetic effect of $CoSe_2$ and RGO. As a consequence, the $CoSe_2@RGO$ composites were applied as a counter electrode in DSSC for the reduction of redox couple electrolyte, and exhibiting the comparable power conversion efficiency (7.01%) to the rare metal platinum (Pt) based photovoltaic device (6.77%).

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2019

Biofilms facilitate communication among microorganisms for nutrients and protect them from predators and harmful chemicals such as antibiotics and detergents. Biofilms can also act as cores for the development of clogs in many agricultural irrigation systems and in porous media. In this study, we deployed glass units at a depth of 20 m below the ground surface in the groundwater-surface water mixing zone, and retrieved them after 4 months to investigate the potential colonization of indigenous microbial community and possible mineral-microbe assemblages. We observed the periodic formation of microbial colonies by fluorescence dye staining and microscopy, and analyzed the composition of the microbial community in both the mineral-microbe aggregates and groundwater, by next generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene amplicons using MiSeq platform. During the course of incubation, we observed an increase in both the mineral-microbe aggregates and content of extracellular polymeric substances. Interestingly, the microbial community from the aggregates featured a high abundance of iron redox-related microorganisms such as Geobacter sp., Comamonadaceae sp., and Burkholderiales incertae sedis. Therefore, these microorganisms can potentially produce iron-minerals within the sediment-microbe-associated aggregates, and induce biofilm formation within the groundwater borehole and porous media.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.993-994
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• 2008

Electrochromic (EC) devices are capable of reversibly changing their optical properties upon charge injection and extraction induced by the external voltage. The characteristics of the EC device, such as low power consumption, high coloration efficiency, and memory effects under open circuit status, make them suitable for use in a variety of applications including smart windows and electronic papers. Coloration due to reduction or oxidation of redox chromophores can be used for EC devices (e-paper), but the switching time is slow (second level). Recently, with increasing demand for the low cost, lightweight flat panel display with paper-like readability (electronic paper), an EC display technology based on dye-modified $TiO_2$ nanoparticle electrode was developed. A well known organic dye molecule, viologen, was adsorbed on the surface of a mesoporous $TiO_2$ nanoparticle film to form the EC electrode. On the other hand, ZnO is a wide bandgap II-VI semiconductor which has been applied in many fields such as UV lasers, field effect transistors and transparent conductors. The bandgap of the bulk ZnO is about 3.37 eV, which is close to that of the $TiO_2$ (3.4 eV). As a traditional transparent conductor, ZnO has excellent electron transport properties, even in ZnO nanoparticle films. In the past few years, one-dimension (1D) nanostructures of ZnO have attracted extensive research interest. In particular, 1D ZnO nanowires renders much better electron transportation capability by providing a direct conduction path for electron transport and greatly reducing the number of grain boundaries. These unique advantages make ZnO nanowires a promising matrix electrode for EC dye molecule loading. ZnO nanowires grow vertically from the substrate and form a dense array (Fig. 1). The ZnO nanowires show regular hexagonal cross section and the average diameter of the ZnO nanowires is about 100 nm. The cross-section image of the ZnO nanowires array (Fig. 1) indicates that the length of the ZnO nanowires is about $6\;{\mu}m$. From one on/off cycle of the ZnO EC cell (Fig. 2). We can see that, the switching time of a ZnO nanowire electrode EC cell with an active area of $1\;{\times}\;1\;cm^2$ is 170 ms and 142 ms for coloration and bleaching, respectively. The coloration and bleaching time is faster compared to the $TiO_2$ mesoporous EC devices with both coloration and bleaching time of about 250 ms for a device with an active area of $2.5\;cm^2$. With further optimization, it is possible that the response time can reach ten(s) of millisecond, i.e. capable of displaying video. Fig. 3 shows a prototype with two different transmittance states. It can be seen that good contrast was obtained. The retention was at least a few hours for these prototypes. Being an oxide, ZnO is oxidation resistant, i.e. it is more durable for field emission cathode. ZnO nanotetropods were also applied to realize the first prototype triode field emission device, making use of scattered surface-conduction electrons for field emission (Fig. 4). The device has a high efficiency (field emitted electron to total electron ratio) of about 60%. With this high efficiency, we were able to fabricate some prototype displays (Fig. 5 showing some alphanumerical symbols). ZnO tetrapods have four legs, which guarantees that there is one leg always pointing upward, even using screen printing method to fabricate the cathode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.71-71
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have drawn great academic attention due to their potential as low-cost renewable energy sources. DSCs contain a nanostructured TiO2 photoanode, which is a key-component for high conversion efficiency. Particularly, one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructured photoanodes can enhance the electron transport for the efficient collection to the conducting substrate in competition with the recombination processes. This is because photoelectron colletion is determined by trapping/detrapping events along the site of the electron traps (defects, surface states, grain boundaries, and self-trapping). Therefore, 1-D nanostructured photoanodes are advantageous for the fast electron transport due to their desirable features of greatly reduced intercrystalline contacts with specified directionality. In particular, anodic TiO2 nanotube (NT) electrodes recently have been intensively explored owing to their ideal structure for application in DSCs. Besides the enhanced electron transport properties resulted from the 1-D structure, highly ordered and vertically oriented nanostructure of anodic TiO2 NT can contribute additional merits, such as enhanced electrolyte diffusion, better interfacial contact with viscous electrolytes. First, to confirm the advantages of 1-D nanostructured material for the photoelectron collection, we compared the electron transport and charge recombination characteristics between nanoparticle (NP)- and nanorod (NR)-based photoanodes in DSCs by the stepped light-induced transient measurements of photocurrent and voltage (SLIM-PCV). We confirmed that the electron lifetime of the NR-based photoanode was much longer than that of the NP-based photoanode. In addition, highly ordered and vertically oriented TiO2 NT photoanodes were prepared by electrochemical anodization method. We compared the photovoltaic properties of DSCs utilizing TiO2 NT photoanodes prepared by one-step anodization and two-step anodization. And, to reduce the charge recombination rate, energy barrier layer (ZnO, Al2O3)-coated TiO2 NTs also applied in DSC. Furthermore, we applied the TiO2 NT photoanode in DSCs using a viscous electrolyte, i.e., cobalt bipyridyl redox electrolyte, and confirmed that the pore structure of NT array can enhance the performances of this viscous electrolyte.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 2008

We have studied the effect of heat treatment of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) as a counter electrode on the electro-chemical properties of dye-snsitized solar cells. MWNTs on the p-type Si substrate were synthesized by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using Fe catalysts. We prepared the two types of MWNTs samples with the different diameters. The rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment for the MWNTs was carried out at the growth temperature ($900^{\circ}C$) for 1 minute with $N_2$ gas atmosphere. The structural, electrical and electrochemical properties of MWNTs were investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy, 2-point probe station and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The I(D)/I(G) ratio of heat-treated MWNTs in Raman spectra was considerably decreased. It was also found that the heat-treated MWNTs showed better redox reaction of iodide at the interface between MWNTs surface and electrolyte than that of as-grown MWNTs. The redox resistance value of heat-treated electrodes was measured to be much lower than that of as-grown electrode at the interface. As a result, the counter electrode using the heat-treated MWNTs showed better electrochemical properties.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.204-212
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• 2021

Resazurin, an oxidized blue dye, is reduced to resorufin, showing a peak absorbance change and emitting fluorescence due to the metabolic activity of living cells. In this study, the growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) and the redox potential of living probiotic bacteria were evaluated based on changes in the absorbance or fluorescence of resazurin. Fluorescence analysis is a more accurate and sensitive method for quantifying viable LGG than the colorimetric absorbance measurement of resazurin change. Fluorescence measurement could detect LGG of 6.5-9.5 log CFU/mL within 30 min with R2=0.99. No significant effect of further reduction of resorufin to dihydroresorufin by LGG was observed. Various probiotics showed different resazurin-reducing activities, and L. kimchicus had the highest reducing activity among the six probiotics tested. These findings suggests that fluorescence measurement in a resazurin-based assay is useful for analyzing bacterial growth and the redox potential of living probiotics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1120-1127
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• 2017

Marasmius scorodonius secretes an extracellular laccase in potato dextrose broth, and this enzyme was purified up to 206-fold using $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ precipitation and a Hi-trap Q Sepharose column. The molecular mass of the purified laccase was estimated to be ~67 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The UV/vis spectrum of the enzyme was nontypical for laccases, and metal content analysis revealed that the enzyme contains 1 mole of Fe and Zn and 2 moles of Cu per mole of protein. The optimal pH for the enzymatic activity was 3.4, 4.0, and 4.6 with 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), guaiacol, and 2,6-dimethoxy phenol as the substrate, respectively. The optimal temperature of the enzyme was $75^{\circ}C$ with ABTS as the substrate. The enzyme was stable in the presence of some metal ions such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Ba^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$ at a low concentration (1 mM), whereas $Fe^{2+}$ completely inhibited the enzymatic activity. The enzymatic reaction was strongly inhibited by metal chelators and thiol compounds except for EDTA. This enzyme directly decolorized Congo red, Malachite green, Crystal violet, and Methylene green dyes at various decolorization rates of 63-90%. In the presence of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole as a redox mediator, the decolorization of Reactive orange 16 and Remazol brilliant blue R was also achieved.