• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2022

Recently, the bio-healthcare market is enlarging worldwide due to various reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them, biometric measurement and analysis technology are expected to bring about future technological innovation and socio-economic ripple effect. Existing systems require a large-capacity battery to drive signal processing, wireless transmission part, and an operating system in the process. However, due to the limitation of the battery capacity, it causes a spatio-temporal limitation on the use of the device. This limitation can act as a cause for the disconnection of data required for the user's health care monitoring, so it is one of the major obstacles of the health care device. In this study, we report the concept of a standalone healthcare monitoring module, which is based on both triboelectric effects and electromagnetic effects, by converting biomechanical energy into suitable electric energy. The proposed system can be operated independently without an external power source. In particular, the wireless foot pressure measurement monitoring system, which is rationally designed triboelectric sensor (TES), can recognize the user's walking habits through foot pressure measurement. By applying the triboelectric effects to the contact-separation behavior that occurs during walking, an effective foot pressure sensor was made, the performance of the sensor was verified through an electrical output signal according to the pressure, and its dynamic behavior is measured through a signal processing circuit using a capacitor. In addition, the biomechanical energy dissipated during walking is harvested as electrical energy by using the electromagnetic induction effect to be used as a power source for wireless transmission and signal processing. Therefore, the proposed system has a great potential to reduce the inconvenience of charging caused by limited battery capacity and to overcome the problem of data disconnection.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

The cathode, which is one of the four major components of a lithium secondary battery, is an important component responsible for the energy density of the battery. The mixing process of active material, conductive material, and polymer binder is very essential in the commonly used wet manufacturing process of the cathode. However, in the case of mixing conditions of the cathode, since there is no systematic method, in most cases, differences in performance occur depending on the manufacturer. Therefore, LiMn₂O₄ (LMO) cathodes were prepared using a commonly used THINKY mixer and homogenizer to optimize the mixing method in the cathode slurry preparation step, and their characteristics were compared. Each mixing condition was performed at 2000 RPM and 7 min, and to determine only the difference in the mixing method during the manufacture of the cathode other experiment conditions (mixing time, material input order, etc.) were kept constant. Among the manufactured THINKY mixer LMO (TLMO) and homogenizer LMO (HLMO), HLMO has more uniform particle dispersion than TLMO, and thus shows higher adhesive strength. Also, the result of the electrochemical evaluation reveals that HLMO cathode showed improved performance with a more stable life cycle compared to TLMO. The initial discharge capacity retention rate of HLMO at 69 cycles was 88%, which is about 4.4 times higher than that of TLMO, and in the case of rate capability, HLMO exhibited a better capacity retention even at high C-rates of 10, 15, and 20 C and the capacity recovery at 1 C was higher than that of TLMO. It's postulated that the use of a homogenizer improves the characteristics of the slurry containing the active material, the conductive material, and the polymer binder creating an electrically conductive network formed by uniformly dispersing the conductive material suppressing its strong electrostatic properties thus avoiding aggregation. As a result, surface contact between the active material and the conductive material increases, electrons move more smoothly, changes in lattice volume during charging and discharging are more reversible and contact resistance between the active material and the conductive material is suppressed.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2014

Mesoporous tin oxide (meso-$SnO_2$) with 5 nm mesopore and well-aligned $SnO_2$ nanowire-bundles with 5~7 nm diameters were prepared by template synthesis method. In addition to meso-$SnO_2$, meso-$SnO_2$/$SiO_2$, which has almost the same structure as meso-$SnO_2$ including $SiO_2$ used as the template were prepared by the modification of template synthesis. X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, transmission electron microscopy observed structures of meso-$SnO_2$ and meso-$SnO_2$/$SiO_2$. Although the meso-$SnO_2$/$SiO_2$ showed some positive evidences to suppress the volume change of meso-$SnO_2$ through cyclic voltammogram, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and voltage profiles during cycling, its cycle life was not improved highly to address modified structural effects. Thus, further study might be done to control the nanostructure of meso-$SnO_2$/$SiO_2$ for enhanced cycle performance.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2014

As an electrolyte additive, the effects of lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB) on the electrochemical properties of a carbon-coated silicon monoxide (C-coated SiO) negative electrode are investigated. The used electrolyte is 1.3M $LiPF_6$ that is dissolved in ethylene carbonate (EC), fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC), and diethyl carbonate (DEC) (5:25:70 v/v/v) with or without 0.5 wt. % LiBOB. In the LiBOB-free electrolyte, the film resistance is not so high in the initial period of cycling that lithiation is facilitated to generate the crystalline $Li_{15}Si_4$ phase. Due to repeated volume change that is caused by such a deep charge/discharge, cracks form in the active material to cause a resistance increase, which eventually leads to capacity fading. When LiBOB is added into the electrolyte, however, more resistive surface film is generated by decomposition of LiBOB in the initial period. The crystalline $Li_{15}Si_4$ phase does not form, such that the volume change and crack formation are greatly mitigated. Consequently, the C-coated SiO electrode exhibits a better cycle performance in the later cycles. At an elevated temperature ($45^{\circ}C$), wherein the effect of film resistance is less critical, the alloy ($Li_{15}Si_4$ phase) formation is comparable for the LiBOB-free and added cell to give a similar cycle performance.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.131-137
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• 2004

Sol-gel method which provides better electrochemical and physiochemical properties compared to the solid-state method was used to synthesize the material of $LiFe_yMn_{2-y}O_4$. Fe was substituted to increase the structural stability so that the effects of the substitution amount and sintering temperature were analyzed. XRD was used for the structural analysis of produced material, which in turn, showed the same cubic spinel structure as $LiMn_2O_4$ despite the substitution of $Fe^{3+}$. During the synthesis of $LiFe_yMn_{2-y}O_4$, as the sintering temperature and the doping amount of Fe(y=0.05, 0.1, 0.2)were increased, grain growth proceeded which in turn, showed a high crystalline and a large grain size, certain morphology with narrow specific surface area and large pore volume distribution was observed. In order to examine the ability for the practical use of the battery, charge-discharge tests were undertaken. When the substitution amount of $Fe^{3+}\;into\;LiMn_2O_4$ increased, the initial discharge capacity showed a tendency to decrease within the region of $3.0\~4.2V$ but when charge-discharge processes were repeated, other capacity maintenance properties turned out to be outstanding. In addition, when the sintering temperature was $800\~850^{\circ}C$, the initial capacity was small but showed very stable cycle performance. According to EVS(electrochemical voltage spectroscopy) test, $LiFe_yMn_{2-y}O_4(y=0,\;0.05,\;0.1,\;0.2)$ showed two plateau region and the typical peaks of manganese spinel structure when the substitution amount of $Fe^{3+}$ increased, the peak value at about 4.15V during the charge-discharge process showed a tendency to decrease. From the previous results, the local distortion due to the biphase within the region near 4.15V during the lithium extraction gave a phase transition to a more suitable single phase. When the transition was derived, the discharge capacity decreased. However the cycle performance showed an outstanding result.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.674-680
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• 2015

A solvent-soluble polyimide (PI) polymeric binder was synthesized by a two-step reaction for silicon (Si) anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Polyamic acid was first prepared through ring opening between two monomers, bicyclo[2,2,2]oct-7-ene-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BCDA) and 4,4-oxydianiline (ODA), followed by condensation reaction. Using the synthesized PI polymeric binder (molecular weight = ~10,945), the coating slurry was then prepared and Si anode was fabricated. For the control system, Si anode based on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF, molecular weight = ~350,000) having the same constituent ratio was prepared. During precycling, PI polymeric binder revealed much improved discharge capacity ($2,167mAh\;g^{-1}$) compared to that of using PVDF polymeric binder ($1,740mAh\;g^{-1}$), while the Coulombic efficiency of two systems were similar. PI polymeric binder improved the cycle retention ability during cycles compared to that of using PVDF, which is attributed to an improved adhesion property inside Si anode diminishing the dimensional stress during Si volume changes. The adhesion property of each polymeric binder in Si anode was confirmed by surface and interfacial cutting analysis system (SAICAS) (Si anode based on PI polymeric binder = $0.217kN\;m^{-1}$ and Si anode based on PVDF polymeric binder = $0.185kN\;m^{-1}$).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.386-393
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• 2011

Three trials were conducted to determine the available energy of different wheat screening varieties collected from different locations of Khorasan in Iran. In experiment 1, chemical composition and the nitrogen corrected true metabolisable energy (TMEn) were evaluated. A precision-fed rooster assay was used, in which, each wheat screening sample was tube fed to adult roosters, and the excreta were collected for 48-h. In Exp. 2 and 3, five and two wheat screening verities-based diets with or without xylanase and phytase were fed to 16-day old battery reared chicks respectively, and total feed consumption and excreta were measured during next three days. The variable nature of wheat screening varieties led to significant differences in mean TMEn values (p<0.01). The TMEn values of samples determined with adult roosters varied by ${\pm}5.03%$ of the mean value ($3,097.65{\pm}49.32\;kcal/kg$) and ranged from 2,734.90 to 3,245.12 kcal/kg. There was a significant correlation (p<0.05) between crude fiber (CF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) with TMEn, and the greatest correlation coefficient was observed between NDF and TMEn (r = -0.947; p<0.001). The optimal equation in terms of $R^2$ from using a single chemical analysis was obtained with NDF: TMEn = 4,152.09-27.80 NDF ($R^2$ = 0.90, p<0.0001), and the TME prediction equation was improved by the addition of the crude protein (CP) and ASH content to sequential analysis: TMEn = 3,656.97-28.65 NDF+32.54 CP+38.70 ASH ($R^2$ = 0.98, p<0.0001). The average AMEn values of 5 and 2 wheat screening varieties determined with young broiler chickens were $2,968.41{\pm}25.70\;kcal/kg$ and $2,976.38{\pm}8.34\;kcal/kg$ in Exp. 2 and Exp. 3, respectively. Addition of xylanase and phytase to wheat screenings resulted in significant (p<0.01) improvement in AMEn by 4.21 and 2.92%, respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.1192-1199
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• 1999

The morphology changes of cadmium hydroxide into ${\gamma}$ phase by eletrolytes were carried out to improve the high rate charge and discharge efficiency of pasted cadmium electrodes. KOH solutions with different concentrations of NaOH were used as eletrolytes. It was found that the utilization of active material of cadmium electrode was the best in an electrolyte with 1.82 M NaOH. The amount of ${\gamma}-Cd(OH)_2$ increased in proportion to the concentration of NaOH. The surface area measurement showed that an active material which contained mainly ${\gamma}-Cd(OH)_2$ had a higher specific surface area than an active material of ${\beta}-Cd(OH)_2$. In a sealed cell, the discharge capacity was improved at high rate charge and discharge (1.0 C, 2.0 C) by using an electrolyte with NaOH. Furthermore, these improved performances were maintained up to 500 cycles at 1.0 C rate charge and discharge cycles.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.142-149
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• 2020

In this study, the electrochemical performance of Graphite/Silicon/Pitch composites as anode material was investigated to improve the low theoretical capacity of artificial graphite. Spherical artificial graphite surface was coated with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) amphiphiles material to synthesize Graphite/Silica material by silica islands growth. The Graphite/Silicon/Pitch composites were prepared by petroleum pitch coating and magnesiothermic reduction. The Graphite/Silicon/Pitch composite electrodes manufactured using poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) binders. The coin type half cell was assembled using various electrolytes and additives. The Graphite/Silicon/Pitch composites were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The electrochemical characteristics of Graphite/Silicon/Pitch composite were investigated by constant current charge/discharge, rate performance, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The Graphite/Silicon/Pitch composites showed high cycle stability at a graphite/silica/pitch ratio (1:4:8 wt%). When the electrode is prepared using PAA binder, the high capacity and stability is obtained. The coin type half cell assembled using EC: DMC: EMC electrolyte showed high initial capacity (719 mAh/g) and excellent cycle stability. The rate performance has an capacity retention (77%) at 2 C/0.1 C and an capacity recovery (88%) at 0.1 C / 0.1 C when the vinylene carbonate (VC) was added.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.39-46
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• 2018

Many studies on the electrochemical performance of Li secondary batteries have been obtained using coin-type cells due to the ease of assembly, low cost and ensuring reproducibility. The coin-type cell consists of a case, a gasket, a spacer disk, and a wave spring. These structural features require a greater amount of liquid electrolyte to assemble than other types of cells such as laminated cells and cylindrical cells. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on the effect of excess liquid electrolytes on the electrochemical performances of Li secondary batteries. In this study, we investigate the effect of different amounts of electrolyte on the coin-type cells. The amount of electrolytes is adjusted to 30 and $100mg\;mAh^{-1}$. Cycle performances at room temperature ($25^{\circ}C$) and high temperature ($60^{\circ}C$) and high voltage are performed to investigate the electrochemical properties of the different amount of electrolytes. In the case of the unit cell including the electrolyte of $30mg\;mAh^{-1}$, the discharging capacity retention characteristic is excellent in comparison with the case of $100mg\;mAh^{-1}$ under the high temperature and high voltage condition. The former shows a larger increase in internal resistance than the latter, confirming that the amount of electrolyte significantly influences the discharge capacity retention characteristics of the battery.