• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.227-228
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• 2012

In interfaces between carbon black or Pt and FTO glass in dye-sensitized solar cell counter electrodes, a marginal resistant channel for electrons, we tried to improve the connection by modifying the sintering process. A stepwise sintering process for carbon black and Pt counter electrodes was applied and its effect on power conversion efficiency was studied. Power conversion efficiencies of built-in DSSC made by a one-step sintering process with carbon black and Pt counter electrodes were about 5.01% and 5.02%, respectively. Cells made with the stepwise sintering process were 5.96% and 6.21%, respectively, indicating an 20% improvement. Fill factor (FF) increased, and it was them main reason for the power conversion efficiency improvement. Step wise sintering increased the adhesion of the interface and reduced the film thickness and surface roughness. As a result, the resistivity of the counter electrode and EIS impedance of DSSCs decreased.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.20-26
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• 2023

Emitted CO₂ is an attractive material for microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction. Microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction (i.e., microbial electrosynthesis, MES) using biocatalysts has advantages compared to conventional CO₂ reduction using electrocatalysts. However, MES has several challenges, including electrode performance, biocatalysts, and reactor optimization. In this study, an MES system was investigated for optimizing reactor types, counter electrode materials, and CO₂-converting microorganisms to achieve effective CO₂ upcycling. In autotrophic cultivation (supplementation of CO₂ and H₂), CO₂ consumption of Rhodobacter sphaeroides was observed to be four times higher than that with heterotrophic cultivation (supplementation of succinic acid). The bacterial growth in an MES reactor with a single-chambered shape was two times higher than that with a double chamber (H-type MES reactor). Moreover, a single-chambered MES reactor equipped with titanium mesh as the counter electrode (anode) showed markedly increased current density in the graphite felt as a working electrode (cathode) compared to that with a graphite felt counter electrode (anode). These results demonstrate that the optimized conditions of a single chamber and titanium mesh for the counter electrode have a positive effect on microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.244.2-244.2
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• 2015

염료감응형 태양전지(DSSC)는 친환경성과 저렴한 제조공정이 장점으로 최근에 많은 관심을 받고 있다. 현재에는 DSSC를 다양한 반도체 나노입자를 염료에 흡착시키거나, 무반사 코팅등 광학적인 접근을 통해 효율을 증가시키려는 실험이 활발히 진행되고 있다. 다른 한편으로는 DSSC의 효율을 떨어뜨리지 않으면서 DSSC의 장점인 저렴한 제조단가를 더 줄이는 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 DSSC의 재료물질 중 가장 비싼 편인 Pt 박막을 다른 물질로 대체하기 위해, 몇 가지 공정을 거쳐 추출한 carbon을 사용하였다. 전형적인 DSSC 제작을 위해, FTO glass와 TiO2, 액체전해질을 사용하였고, 제작된 carbon 물질을 solvent에 섞은 뒤 counter electrode에 닥터 블레이드 방식으로 바르고 열처리하였다. 제작된 carbon을 분석하기 위해서 scanning electron microscope (SEM)과 X-ray diffraction (XRD)를 사용하였으며, counter electrode에 carbon을 사용한 DSSC는 Pt 박막을 사용한 일반적인 DSSC와 비교하였을 시에 만족할 만한 효율을 보이는 것을 확인하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1994.11a
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• pp.28-31
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• 1994

We have investigated the characterization of $V_2O_{5}$ thin films as a counter electrode for lithium based complementary electrochromic devices. The amorphous $V_2O_{5}$ thin films produces comparatively small changes in transmittance in the visible and near infrared compared to the crystalline $V_2O_{5}$ thin films, while the degradation occurs in a-$V_2O_{5}$ thin films with increasing the cycle life time. As the thickness of $V_2O_{5}$ thin films increases from 100 to 600 nm, the magnitude of transmittance modulation decreases. The crystalline $V_2O_{5}$ thin films with thickness around 1000 have electrochromic properties suitable for counter electrode application in lithium based electrochromic smart windows.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.255-258
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• 2005

In this study, new types of counter electrode discharge cells for PDP were designed. The counter electrode discharge cells were designed to realize long-gap discharge mode, low firing voltage and moderate conductance for evacuation and sealing process of the panel. In order to test the concept of the design, macro discharge cells were prepared and the discharge characteristics were evaluated. The results indicate that discharge behavior may be modified significantly by changing the morphology of discharge cells.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.337-341
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• 2007

In this paper, we studied counter electrodes that carbon materials is used for dye-sensitized solar cells. Carbon electrodes characterized by changing of CMC wt. %. We investigated a porous structure of electrodes and a specific resistance of carbon electrodes for identification of electric conductivity. The specific resistance of carton electrodes increased by an increase of CMC wt. % and this result affected an efficiency of the cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.276.2-276.2
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• 2016

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are promising candidates for light-to-energy conversion devices due to their low-cost, easy fabrication and relative high conversion efficiency. An important component of DSCs is counter electrode (CE) collect electrons from external circuit and reduct I3- to I-. The conventional CEs are thermally decomposed Pt on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates, which have shown excellent performance and stability. However, Pt is not suitable in terms of cost effect. In this report, we demonstrated that nickel sulfide thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD)-using Nickel(1-dimethylamino-2-methyl-2-butanolate)2 and hydrogen sulfide at low temperatures of $90-200^{\circ}C$-could be good CEs in DSCs. Notably, ALD allows the thin films to grow with good reproducibility, precise thickness control and excellent conformality at the angstrom or monolayer level. The nickel sulfide films were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, hall measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The ALD grown nickel sulfide thin films showed high catalytic activity for the reduction of I3- to I- in DSC. The DSCs with the ALD-grown nickel sulfide thin films as CEs showed the solar cell efficiency of 7.12% which is comparable to that of the DSC with conventional Pt coated counter electrode (7.63%).

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.690-695
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• 1996

We have systematically investigated the characterization of V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ thin films as a counter electrode for lithium based complementary electrochromic devices. The V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ thin films were prepared by thermal vacuum evaporation with varing the substrate temperature and film thickness. In electrochromic devices for smart windows, the WO$_{3}$ thin films with 400-800 nm thickness require to be capable of reversibly injection 10-15 mC/cm$^{2}$ of lithium, which is readily accomplished charge-balanced switching in a V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ thin films with 100-150nm thick. The V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ thin films produces considerably small changes in optical modulation properties in the visible and near infrared region(500-1100 nm) compared to the amorphous WO$_{3}$ thin films on 10-15 mC/cm$^{2}$ of lithium injection and the V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ thin films can therefore act as a counter electrode to WO$_{3}$ in a lithium based complementary clectrochromic devices. After 10$^{5}$ coloration/bleaching switching time, the degradation does not occurs and the devices exhibit a stable optical modulation in V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ thin films. It has shown that the injected lithium ion amounts in crystalline V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ thin films with the same thickness is large by 3-5 mC/cm$^{2}$ of lithium compared to the amorphous thin films in the same driving conditions. Therefore, to optimize the device performance, it is necessary to choose an appropriate film thickness and crystallinity of V$_{2}$O$_{5}$ for amorphous WO$_{3}$ film thickness as a working electrode.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.137.1-137.1
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• 2007

• Carbon letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.180-183
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• 2011

Li metal is accepted as a good counter electrode for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as the active material in Li-ion and Li-ion polymer batteries. We examined the existence of signal noise from a Li-metal counter quantitatively as a preliminary study. We suggest an electrochemical cell with one switchable electrode to obtain the exact impedance signal of active materials. To verify the effectiveness of the switchable electrode, EIS measurements of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) before severe $Li^+$ intercalation to SFG6 graphite (at > ca. 0.25 V vs. Li/$Li^+$) were taken. As a result, the EIS spectra without the signal of Li metal were obtained and analyzed successfully for the following parameters i) $Li^+$ conduction in the electrolyte, ii) the geometric resistance and constant phase element of the electrode (insensitive to the voltage), iii) the interfacial behavior of the SEI related to the $Li^+$ transfer and residence throughout the near-surface (sensitive to voltage), and iv) the term reflecting the differential limiting capacitance of $Li^+$ in the graphite lattice.