• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.388-396
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• 2023

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a vital source of clean and sustainable hydrogen energy. Moreover, the large-scale H₂ production is currently necessary, while long-term stability and high PEC activity still remain important issues. In this study, a GaN-based photoelectrode was modified by an additional NH₃ treatment (900℃ for 10 min) and its PEC behavior was monitored. The bare GaN exhibited a highly crystalline wurtzite structure with the (002) plane and the optical bandgap was approximately 3.2 eV. In comparison, the NH₃-treated GaN film exhibited slightly reduced crystallinity and a small improvement in light absorption, resulting from the lattice stress or cracks induced by the excessive N supply. The minor surface nanotexturing created more surface area, providing electroactive reacting sites. From the surface XPS analysis, the formation of an N-Ga-O phase on the surface region of the GaN film was confirmed, which suppressed the charge recombination process and the positive shift of E_FB. Therefore, these effects boosted the PEC activity of the NH₃-treated GaN film, with J values of approximately 0.35 and 0.78 mA·cm^-2 at 0.0 and 1.23 V_RHE, respectively, and an onset potential (V_on) of -0.24 V_RHE. In addition, there was an approximate 50% improvement in the J value within the highly applied potential region with a positive shift of V_on. This result could be explained by the increased nanotexturing on the surface structure, the newly formed defect/trap states correlated to the positive V_on shift, and the formation of a GaO_xN_1-x phase, which partially blocked the charge recombination reaction.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2022

The effects of the growth temperature on the structural, optical, and morphological properties of BaWO₄:Sm³⁺ phosphor thin films were investigated. The BaWO₄:Sm³⁺ thin films were grown on quartz substrates at several growth temperatures by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. All the thin films crystallized in a tetragonal structure with a main BaWO₄ (112) diffraction peak. The 830 nm-thick BaWO₄:Sm³⁺ thin films grown at 300 ℃ exhibited numerous polygon-shaped particles. The excitation spectra of BaWO₄:Sm³⁺ thin films consisted of a broad excitation band in the 200-270 nm with a maximum at 236 nm due to the O^2--Sm³⁺ charge transfer and two small bands peaked at 402 and 463 nm, respectively. Under 236 nm excitation, the BaWO₄:Sm³⁺ thin films showed an intense red emission peak at 641 nm due to the ⁴G_5/2→⁶H_9/2 transition of Sm³⁺, indicating that the Sm³⁺ ions occupied sites of non-inversion symmetry in the BaWO₄ host lattice. The highest emission intensity was observed for the thin film grown at 300 ℃, with a 51.8% transmittance and 5.09 eV bandgap. The average optical transmittance in the wavelength range of 500-1100 nm was increased from 53.2% at 200 ℃ to 60.8% after growing at 400 ℃. These results suggest that 300 ℃ is the optimum temperature for growing redemitting BaWO₄:Sm³⁺ thin films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.132.2-132.2
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• 2013

Electrons in graphene make ballistic transport with very high mobility (${\sim}2{\times}105 $cm2V-1s-1), which holds promises for applications in fast electronic devices. However, such expectations have been hampered by the semi-metallicity or zero bandgap of graphene, which makes it impossible to completely turn off graphene transistor devices. Here, we report the observations of local bandgap modulations in Moir$\acute{e}$ patterned graphene on metal substrates using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The Moir$\acute{e}$ patterned graphene was made by combinations of self-assembly processes, and they showed additional electronic states that could be interpreted as sub-band states. Our experimental observations could be explained with orbital transitions of carbon atoms from sp2 to sp3, as supported by our density functional theory calculation results. Our findings will add new poweful components for device applications.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.344-351
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• 2023

Cesium lead iodide (CsPbI₃) with a bandgap of ~1.7 eV is an attractive material for use as a wide-gap perovskite in tandem perovskite solar cells due to its single halide component, which is capable of inhibiting halide segregation. However, phase transition into a photo inactive δ-CsPbI₃ at room temperature significantly hinders performance and stability. Thus, maintaining the photo-active phase is a key challenge because it determines the reliability of the tandem device. The dimethylammonium (DMA)-facilitated CsPbI₃, widely used to fabricate CsPbI₃, exhibits different phase transition behaviors than pure CsPbI₃. Here, we experimentally investigated the phase behavior of DMA-facilitated CsPbI₃ when exposed to external factors, such as heat and moisture. In DMA-facilitated CsPbI₃ films, the phase transition involving degradation was observed to begin at a temperature of 150 ℃ and a relative humidity of 65 %, which is presumed to be related to the sublimation of DMA. Forming a closed system to inhibit the sublimation of DMA significantly improved the phase transition under the same conditions. These results indicate that management of DMA is a crucial factor in maintaining the photo-active phase and implies that when employing DMA designs are necessary to ensure phase stability in DMA-facilitated CsPbI₃ devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.291.1-291.1
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• 2016

Graphene by one of the two-dimensional (2D) materials has been focused on electronic applications due to its ultrahigh carrier mobility, outstanding thermal conductivity and superior optical properties. Although graphene has many remarkable properties, graphene devices have low on/off current ratio due to its zero bandgap. Despite considerable efforts to open its bandgap, it's hard to obtain appropriate improvements. To solve this problem, heterojunction barristor was proposed based on graphene. Mostly, this heterojunction barristor is made by transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as molybdenum disulfide ($MoS_2$) and tungsten diselenide ($WSe_2$), which have extremely thickness scalability of TMDs. The heterojunction barristor has the advantage of controlling graphene's Fermi level by applying gate bias, resulting in barrier height modulation between graphene interface and semiconductor. However, charged impurities between graphene and $SiO_2$ cause unexpected p-type doping of graphene. The graphene's Fermi level modulation is expected to be reduced due to this p-doping effect. Charged impurities make carrier mobility in graphene reduced and modulation of graphene's Fermi level limited. In this paper, we investigated theoretically and experimentally a relevance between graphene's Fermi level and p-type doping. Theoretically, when Fermi level is placed at the Dirac point, larger graphene's Fermi level modulation was calculated between -20 V and +20 V of $V_{GS}$. On the contrary, graphene's Fermi level modulation was 0.11 eV when Fermi level is far away from the Dirac point in the same range. Then, we produced two types heterojunction barristors which made by p-type doped graphene and graphene treated 2.4% APTES, respectively. On/off current ratio (32-fold) of graphene treated 2.4% APTES was improved in comparison with p-type doped graphene.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.790-797
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• 2019

To improve photocatalytic performance, CdS nanoparticle deposited TiO₂ nanotubular photocatalysts are synthesized. The TiO₂ nanotube is fabricated by electrochemical anodization at a constant voltage of 60 V, and annealed at 500 for crystallization. The CdS nanoparticles on TiO₂ nanotubes are synthesized by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method. The surface characteristics and photocurrent responses of TNT/CdS photocatalysts are investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectrometer and LED light source installed potentiostat. The bandgaps of the CdS deposited TiO₂ photocatalysts are gradually narrowed with increasing of amounts of deposited CdS nanoparticles, which enhances visible light absorption ability of composite photocatalysts. Enhanced photoelectrochemical performance is observed in the nanocomposite TiO₂ photocatalyst. However, the maximum photocurrent response and dye degradation efficiency are observed for TNT/CdS30 photocatalyst. The excellent photocatalytic performance of TNT/CdS30 catalyst can be ascribed to the synergistic effects of its better absorption ability of visible light region and efficient charge transport process.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.23-29
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• 2020

Electrochromic (EC) device is an element whose transmittance is changed by electrical energy. Coloring and decoloring states can be easily controlled and thus used in buildings and automobiles for energy saving. There exist several types of EC devices; EC using electrolytes, polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC), and suspended particle device (SPD) using polarized molecules. However, these devices involve solutions such as electrolytes and liquid crystals, limiting their applications in high temperature environments. In this study, we have studied all-solid-state EC device based on Tin(IV) oxide (SnO₂). A coloring phase is achieved when electrons are accumulated in the ultraviolet (UV)-treated SnO₂ layer, whereas a decoloring mode is obtained when electrons are empty there. The UV treatment of SnO₂ layer brings in a number of localized states in the bandgap, which traps electrons near the conduction band. The SnO₂-based EC device shows a transmittance of 70.7% in the decoloring mode and 41% in the coloring mode at a voltage of 2.5 V. We have achieved a transmittance change as large as 29.7% at the wavelength of 550 nm. It also exhibits fast and stable driving characteristics, which have been demonstrated by the cyclic experiments of coloration and decoloration. It has also showed the memory effects induced by the insulating layer of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and silicone (Si).

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2014.03a
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• pp.478-482
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• 2014

Graphene have renewed considerable interest in inorganic, two-dimensional materials for future electronics. However, graphene does not have a bandgap, it is limited to apply directly to transistors and logic devices. Hence, other layered materials such as molybdenum disulphide ($MoS_2$) have been investigated to address this challenge. Here, we find that the nature of contacts plays a more important role than the semiconductor itself. In order to understand the nature of $MoS_2$/metal contacts, we perform density functional theory electronic structure calculations based on linear combination of atomic for the geometry, bonding, binding energy, PDOS, LDOS and electronic structure. We choose Au as a contact metal because it is the most common contact metal. In this paper, we demonstrate $MoS_2$/Au contacts have a more promising potential in flexible nanoelectronics than $MoS_2$ itself.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2017.03a
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• pp.437-440
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• 2017

본 논문에서는 Edison simulation을 이용하여 2D TMD(Transition Metal Dichalcogenides)물질인 $MoS_2$의 monolayer 구조에서 화학/물리적 특성 분석을 통해 대칭 구조인 $2H-MoS_2$의 안정성과 1.8 eV의 direct bandgap을 추출하여 전자재료로서의 가치를 확인하였다. 또한 Edison TMD FET 소자 특성 simulation을 이용하여 $2H-MoS_2$ 결정 면의 이방성으로 인한 소자 성능의 변화를 확인 하였고, 최적의 결정 면에서 최적화된 소자를 설계하여 29.6% 개선된 $I_{on}/I_{off}$ 값과 32.6% 개선된 mobility 값을 추출하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2014

The properties of thin film solar cells based on electrodeposited $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ were investigated. The proposed solar cell fabrication method involves a single-step $CuInSe_2$ thin film electrodeposition followed by sulfurization in a tube furnace to form a $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ quaternary phase. A sulfurization temperature of $450-550^{\circ}C$ significantly affected the performance of the $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ thin film solar cell in addition to its composition, grain size and bandgap. Sulfur(S) substituted for selenium(Se) at increasing rates with higher sulfurization temperature, which resulted in an increase in overall band gap of the $CuIn(Se,S)_2$ thin film. The highest conversion efficiency of 3.12% under airmass(AM) 1.5 illumination was obtained from the $500^{\circ}C$-sulfurized solar cell. The highest External Quantum Efficiency(EQE) was also observed at the sulfurization temperature of $500^{\circ}C$.