• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.304-311
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• 2012

Chlorinated ethylenes such as perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) are widely used as industrial solvents and degreasing agents. Because of improper handling, these highly toxic chlorinated ethylenes have been often detected from contaminated soils and groundwater. Biological PCE dechlorination activities were tested in bacterial cultures inoculated with 10 different environmental samples from sediments, sludges, soils, and groundwater. Of these, the sediment using culture (SE 2) was selected and used for establishing an efficient PCE dechlorinating enrichment culture since it showed the highest activity of dechlorination. The cathode chamber of bioelectrochemical system (BES) was inoculated with the enrichment culture and the system with a cathode polarized at -500 mV (Vs Ag/AgCl) was operated under fed-batch mode. PCE was dechlorinated to ethylene via TCE, cis-dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride. Microbial community analysis with polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) showed that the microbial community in the enrichment culture was significantly changed during the bio-electrochemical PCE dechlorination in the BES. The communities of suspended-growth bacteria and attached-growth bacteria on the cathode surface are also quite different from each other, indicating that there were some differences in their mechanisms receiving electrons from electrode for PCE dechlorination. Further detailed research to investigate electron transfer mechanism would make the bioelctrochemical dechlorination technique greatly useful for bioremediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated ethylenes.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.24-37
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• 1991

We synthesized the binuclear Tetradentate Schiff base nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes ; [Ni(II)$_2$(SMPO)$_2$(L)$_2$], [Ni(II)$_2$(SPPD)$_2$(L)$_2$] and [Cu(II)$_2$(SMPD)$_2$] and [Cu(II)$_2$(SPPD)$_2$] (where, L : Py, DMSO and DMF). We identified the structure of these complexes by elemental analysis, IR-spectrum, T.G.A, D.S.C and ESR measurements. According to the results of cyclic voltammetry and DPP measurements in aprotic solvent included 0.1M TEAP as supporting electrolyte, we knew that diffusional controlled redox process of one step with one electron was irreversible process in 0.1M TEAP-Py solution. Also it was reversible or quasi reversible process in 0.1M TEAP-DMSO solution and reversible or E.C reaction mechanism in 0.1M TEAP-DMF solution at mononuclear complexes ; [Cu(II)(SOPD)] and [Ni(II)(SOPD)(L)$_2$]. But, we knew that diffusional controlled redox process of two step for one electron of binuclear complexes was as follows. The values of redox potential for dimeric complexes in 0.1M TEAP-L solution (where, L ; Py, DMSO and DMF) with scan rate 100mV/sec.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.523-530
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• 2019

For the low-Pt electrodes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs), the optimization of ionomer content for anode catalyst layers was carried out. A commercial catalyst of 20 wt.% Pt/C was used instead of 50 wt.% Pt/C which is commonly used for PEMFCs. The ionomer content varies from 0.6 to 1.2 based on ionomer to carbon ratio (I/C) and the catalyst layer is formed over the electrolyte by the ultrasonic spray process. Evaluation of the prepared MEA in the unit cell showed that the optimal ionomer content of the air electrode was 0.8 on the I/C basis, while the hydrogen electrode was optimal at the relatively high ionomer content of 1.0. In addition, a large difference in cell performance was observed when the ionomer content of the hydrogen electrode was changed. Increasing the ionomer content from 0.6 to 1.0 by I/C in a hydrogen electrode with 0.05 mg/㎠ platinum loading resulted in more than double cell performance improvements on a 0.6 V. Through the analysis of various electrochemical properties in the single cell, it was assumed that the change in ionomer content of the hydrogen electrode affects the water flow between the hydrogen and air electrodes bounded by the membrane in the cell, which affects the overall performance of the cell. A more specific study will be carried out to understand the water flow mechanism in the future, and this study will show that the optimization process of hydrogen electrode can also be a very important cell design variable for the low-Pt and high-performance MEA.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.551-557
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• 2013

In the present study, pristine carbon nanotube (p-CNT) and thiolated carbon naotube (t-CNT) electrodes were investigated to improve their detectabilities for cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). In addition, we evaluate which reaction mechanism is used when the electrolyte contains both Cd and Pb metals. Square wave stripping was employed for analyzing the sensitivity for the metals. A frequency of 30 Hz, a deposition potential of -1.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl and a deposition time of 300 s were used as optimal SWSV parameters. t-CNT electrodes show the better sensitivity for both Cd and Pb metals than that of p-CNT electrodes. In case of Cd, sensitivities of p-CNT and t-CNT electrodes were $3.1{\mu}A/{\mu}M$ and $4.6{\mu}A/{\mu}M$, respectively, while the sensitivities for Pb were $6.5{\mu}A/{\mu}M$ (p-CNT) and $9.9{\mu}A/{\mu}M$ (t-CNT), respectively. The better sensitivity of p-CNT electrodes is due to the enhancement in the reaction rate of metal ions that are facilitated by thiol groups attached on the surface of CNT. When sensitivity was measured for the detection of Cd and Pb metals present simultaneously in the electrolyte, Pb indicates better sensitivity than Cd irrespective of electrode types. It is ascribed to the low standard electrode potential of Pb, which then promotes the possibility of oxidation reaction of the Pb metal ions. In turn, the Pb metal ions are deposited on the electrode surface faster than that of Cd metal ions and cover the electrode surface during deposition step, and thus Pb metals that cover the large portion of the surface are more easily stripped than that of Cd metals during stripping step.