• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.389-390
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• 2012

In this study, we fabricate a superhydrophobic surface made of hierarchical nanostructures that combine wax crystalline structure with moth-eye structure using vacuum cluster system and measure their hydrophobicity and durability. Since the lotus effect was found, much work has been done on studying self-cleaning surface for decades. The surface of lotus leaf consists of multi-level layers of micro scale papillose epidermal cells and epicuticular wax crystalloids [1]. This hierarchical structure has superhydrophobic property because the sufficiently rough surface allows air pockets to form easily below the liquid, the so-called Cassie state, so that the relatively small area of water/solid interface makes the energetic cost associated with corresponding water/air interfaces smaller than the energy gained [2]. Various nanostructures have been reported for fabricating the self-cleaning surface but in general, they have the problem of low durability. More than two nanostructures on a surface can be integrated together to increase hydrophobicity and durability of the surface as in the lotus leaf [3,5]. As one of the bio-inspired nanostructures, we introduce a hierarchical nanostructure fabricated with a high vacuum cluster system. A hierarchical nanostructure is a combination of moth-eye structure with an average pitch of 300 nm and height of 700 nm, and the wax crystalline structure with an average width and height of 200 nm. The moth-eye structure is fabricated with deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process. $SiO_2$ layer is initially deposited on a glass substrate using PECVD in the cluster system. Then, Au seed layer is deposited for a few second using DC sputtering process to provide stochastic mask for etching the underlying $SiO_2$ layer with ICP-RIE so that moth-eye structure can be fabricated. Additionally, n-hexatriacontane paraffin wax ($C_{36}H_{74}$) is deposited on the moth-eye structure in a thermal evaporator and self-recrystallized at $40^{\circ}C$ for 4h [4]. All of steps are conducted utilizing vacuum cluster system to minimize the contamination. The water contact angles are measured by tensiometer. The morphology of the surface is characterized using SEM and AFM and the reflectance is measured by spectrophotometer.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2004

Germination and emergence habits of Chinese milk vetch (CMV) were examined to obtain the basic information for the effect of environmental conditions and cultural practices on the seedling density. Seed germination tests with different water potentials, temperatures, and soil and water depths showed the environmental effects on the characters related to seed germination in CMV. Imbibition under different temperatures reflects that initial velocity was rapid at higher temperature, however, the times to full imbibition were not different between 15 and $25^{\circ}$. The optimal germination temperature for CMV germination was ranged from 15 to 20 and the germination was highly affected by water potential of media at relatively high temperature above $20^{\circ}$. When the seeds were sown in flooded condition the germination was not proportionally affected by water depth. In addition, there was no correlation between water depth and oxygen concentration. The germination of seeds flooded by 2cm water depth were poorly germinated compared to other depths. Results indicated that the germination of submerged seeds was more highly influenced by flooding depth than the temperature, it was also affected more strongly at 10 than $20^{\circ}$. Emergence of CMV depending on the thickness of covered soil was poor when the soil layer was greater than 5cm. In the experiment with seeds collected between 22 days after flowering (OAF) and 52 DAF, the highest germination ability of CMV seeds was observed at 39 DAF and germinability was decreased subsequently as seeds became mature. The lower germinability may be due to the enhanced seed dormancy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.49-49
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• 2010

Nanopiezotronics is an emerging area of nanotechnology with a variety of applications that include piezoelectric field-effect transistors and diodes, self-powered nanogenerators and biosystems, and wireless nano/biosensors. By exploiting coupled piezoelectric and semiconducting characteristics, it is possible for nanowires, nanobelts, or nanorods to generate rectifying current and potential under external mechanical energies such as body movement (handling, winding, pushing, and bending) and muscle stretching, vibrations (acoustic and ultrasonic waves), and hydraulic forces (body fluid and blood flow). Fully transparent, flexible (TF) nanogenerators that are operated by external mechanical forces will be presented. By controlling the density of the seed layer for ZnO nanorod growth, transparent ZnO nanorod arrays were grown on ITO/PES films, and a TF conductive electrode was stacked on the ZnO nanorods. The resulting integrated TF nanodevice (having transparency exceeding 70 %) generated a noticeable current when it was pushed by application of an external load. The output current density was clearly dependent on the force applied. Furthermore, the output current density depended strongly on the morphology and the work function of the top electrode. ZnO nanorod-based nanogenerators with a PdAu, ITO, CNT, and graphene top electrodes gave output current densities of approximately $1-10\;uA/cm^2$ at a load of 0.9 kgf. Our results suggest that our TF nanogenerators are suitable for self-powered TF device applications such as flexible self-powered touch sensors, wearable artificial skins, fully rollable display mobile devices, and battery supplements for wearable cellular phones.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.237-242
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• 2018

We report on the fabrication and photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of a ZnO nanorod array structure as an efficient photoelectrode for hydrogen production from sunlight-driven water splitting. Vertically aligned ZnO nanorods were grown on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method with the use of a ZnO nanoparticle seed layer, which was formed by thermally oxidizing a sputtered Zn metal thin film. The structural and morphological properties of the synthesized ZnO nanorods were examined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, as well as Raman scattering. The PEC properties of the fabricated ZnO nanorod photoelectrode were evaluated by photocurrent conversion efficiency measurements under white light illumination. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior, the vertically aligned ZnO nanorod photoelectrode was found to exhibit a negligible dark current and high photocurrent density, e.g., $0.65mA/cm^2$ at 0.8 V vs Ag/AgCl in a 1 mM $Na_2SO_4$ electrolyte. In particular, a significant PEC performance was observed even at an applied bias of 0 V vs Ag/AgCl, which made the device self-powered.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.205-211
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• 2012

We investigated the optical and hydrophobic properties of the deposited silver (Ag) zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) on flexible indium tin oxide (ITO) coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates (i.e., ITO/PET). The ZnO NRs were grown by an electrochemical deposition using a sputtered ZnO seed layer and the Ag was deposited by using a thermal evaporator. For comparison, the same fabrication process was carried out on the bare ITO/PET without ZnO NRAs. Due to the discrete surface of ZnO NRs, the deposited Ag was formed as nano-scale particles, while the Ag became film-like for bare ITO/PET. In order to control the size and amount of Ag particles, the Ag deposition time was changed from 100 to 600 s. When the deposition time was increased, the Ag particles became larger and denser, and the absorptance was increased. This enhanced absorptance may be due to the localized surface plasmon resonance of Ag particles. Furthermore, the relatively high hydrophobicity was observed for the deposited Ag on the ZnO NRs/ITO/PET. These improved optical and surface properties are expected to be useful for flexible photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.363-363
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• 2014

Ruthenium (Ru) has attractive material properties due to its promising characteristics such as a low resistivity ($7.1{\mu}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ in the bulk), a high work function of 4.7 eV, and feasibility for the dry etch process. These properties make Ru films appropriate for various applications in the state-of-art semiconductor device technologies. Thus, it has been widely investigated as an electrode for capacitor in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a metal gate for metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), and a seed layer for Cu metallization. Due to the continuous shrinkage of microelectronic devices, better deposition processes for Ru thin films are critically required with excellent step coverages in high aspect ratio (AR) structures. In these respects, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a viable solution for preparing Ru thin films because it enables atomic-scale control of the film thickness with excellent conformality. A recent investigation reported that the nucleation of ALD-Ru film was enhanced considerably by using a zero-valent metallorganic precursor, compared to the utilization of precursors with higher metal valences. In this study, we will present our research results on the synthesis and characterization of novel ruthenium complexes. The ruthenium compounds were easy synthesized by the reaction of ruthenium halide with appropriate organic ligands in protic solvent, and characterized by NMR, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The molecular structures of the complexes were studied by single crystal diffraction. ALD of Ru film was demonstrated using the new Ru metallorganic precursor and O2 as the Ru source and reactant, respectively, at the deposition temperatures of $300-350^{\circ}C$. Self-limited reaction behavior was observed as increasing Ru precursor and O2 pulse time, suggesting that newly developed Ru precursor is applicable for ALD process. Detailed discussions on the chemical and structural properties of Ru thin films as well as its growth behavior using new Ru precursor will be also presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.429.2-429.2
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• 2014

ZnO nanowire is known as synthesizable and good mechanical properties. And, stimuli-responsive polymer is widely used in the application of tunable sensing device. So, we combined these characteristics to make precise tunable sensing devise. In this work, we investigate the dependence of ZnO nanowire alignment and morphology on si substrate using nanosphere template with various conditions via hydrothermal process. Also, pH-temperature dependant tuning ability of nanostructure was studied. The brief experimental scheme is as follow. First, Zno seed layer was coated on a si wafer ($20{\times}20mm$) by spin coater. And then $1.15{\mu}m$ sized close-packed PS nanospheres were formed on a cleaned si substrate by using gas-liquid-solid interfacial self-assembly method. After that, zinc oxide nanowires were synthesized using hydrothermal method. Before the wire growth, to specify the growth site, heat treatment was performed. Finally, NIPAM(N-Isopropylacrylamide) was coated onto as-fabricated nanostructure and irradiated by UV light to form the PNIPAM network. The morphology, structures and optical properties are investigated by FE-SEM(Field Emission Scanning electron Microscopy), XRD(X-ray diffraction), OM(Optical microscopy), and WCA(water contact angle).

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.196-203
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• 2019

We report on the fabrication and characterization of an oxide photoanode with a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod array embedded in cuprous oxide ($Cu_2O$) thin film, namely a $ZnO/Cu_2O$ oxide p-n heterostructure photoanode, for enhanced efficiency of visible light driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. A vertically oriented n-type ZnO nanorod array is first prepared on an indium-tin-oxide-coated glass substrate via a seed-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method and then a p-type $Cu_2O$ thin film is directly electrodeposited onto the vertically oriented ZnO nanorod array to form an oxide p-n heterostructure. The introduction of $Cu_2O$ layer produces a noticeable enhancement in the visible light absorption. From the observed PEC current density versus voltage (J-V) behavior under visible light illumination, the photoconversion efficiency of this $ZnO/Cu_2O$ p-n heterostructure photoanode is found to reach 0.39 %, which is seven times that of a pristine ZnO nanorod photoanode. In particular, a significant PEC performance is observed even at an applied bias of 0 V vs $Hg/Hg_2Cl_2$, which makes the device self-powered. The observed improvement in the PEC performance is attributed to some synergistic effect of the p-n bilayer heterostructure on the formation of a built-in potential including the light absorption and separation processes of photoinduced charge carriers, which provides a new avenue for preparing efficient photoanodes for PEC water splitting.