• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.281-288
• /
• 2004

The change in relationships between methane production and sulfate reduction was investigated in reclaimed rice field soils at different time points after reclamation of tidal flat in Korea. Sulfate concentrations of soils in the ca. 60-year-old and 26-year-old reclaimed rice fields were much lower than that in a natural tidal flat. During 60 d of anaerobic incubation, total methane production and sulfate consumption of the soil slurries were 7.0 ${\mu}$mol $CH_4$/g and 8.2 ${\mu}$mol $SO_4^{2-}$/g in the 60-year-old rice field, 5.6 ${\mu}$mol $CH_4$/g and 12.7 mmol $SO_4^{2-}$/g in the 26-year-old rice field, and ca. 0 mmol $CH_4$/g and 22.4 ${\mu}$mol $SO_4^{2-}$/g in a natural tidal flat. Relative percent electron flow through sulfate reduction in the 60-year-old rice field was much lower (50.8%) compared with the 26-year-old rice field (69.3%) and the tidal flat (99.9%). The addition of an inhibitor of methanogenesis (2-bromoethanesulfonate) had no effect on sulfate reduction in the soil slurries of the reclaimed rice fields. However, instant stimulation of methane production was achieved with addition of an inhibitor of sulfate reduction (molybdate) in the soil slurries from the 26-year-old reclaimed rice field. The specific inhibitor experiments suggest that the relationship of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction might become mutually exclusive or syntrophic depending on sulfate content in the soil after reclamation. Sulfate, thus sulfate reduction activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria, would be an important environmental factor that inhibits methane production and determines the major pathway of electron and carbon flow in anaerobic carbon mineralization of reclaimed rice field soils.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 2015

CdS-QD particles are a nano-sized semiconducting crystal that emits light. Their optical properties show great potential in many areas of applications such as disease-diagnostic reagents, optical technologies, media industries and solar cells. The wavelength of emitting light depends on the particle size and thus the quality control of CdS-QD particle requires accurate determination of the size distribution. In this study, CdS-QD particles were synthesized by a simple ${\gamma}$-ray irradiation method. As a particle stabilizer polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) were added. In order to determine the size and size distribution of the CdS-QD particles, sedimentation field-flow fractionation (SdFFF) was employed. Effects of carious parameters including the the flow rate, external field strength, and field programming conditions were investigated to optimize SdFFF for analysis of CdS-QD particles. The Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis show the primary single particle size was ~4 nm, TEM images indicate that the primarty particles were aggregated to form secondary particles having the mean size of about 159 nm. As the concentration of the stabilizer increases, the particle size tends to decrease. Mean size determined by SdFFF, TEM, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) were 126, 159, and 152 nm, respectively. Results showed SdFFF may become a useful tool for determination of the size and its distribution of various types of inorganic particles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2013.02a
• /
• pp.398-398
• /
• 2013

The electronic properties and the local structure of tantalum oxide thin film with variation of oxygen flow rate ranging from 9.5 to 16 sccm (standard cubic centimeters per minute) have been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (REELS), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The XPS results show that the Ta4f spectrum for all films consist of the strong spin-orbit doublet $Ta4f_{7/2}$ and $Ta4f_{5/2}$ with splitting of 1.9 eV. The oxygen flow rate of the film results in the appearance of new features in the Ta4f at binding energies of 23.2 eV, 24.4 eV, 25.8, and 27.3 eV, these peaks attribute to $Ta^{1+}$, $Ta^{2+}$, $Ta^{4+}$/$Ta^{2+}$, and $Ta^{5+}$, respectively. Thus, the presence of non-stoichiometric state from tantalum oxide ($TaO_x$) thin films could be generated by the oxygen vacancies. The REELS spectra suggest the decrease of band gap for tantalum oxide thin films with increasing the oxygen flow rate. The absorption coefficient ${\mu}$ and its fine structure were extracted from the fluorescence mode of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra. In addition, bond distances (r), coordination numbers (N) and Debye-Waller factors (${\sigma}^2$) each film were determined by a detailed of EXAFS data analysis. EXAFS spectrapresent both the increase of coordination number of the first Ta-O shell and a considerable reduction of the Ta-O bond distance with the increase of oxygen flow rate.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.260-265
• /
• 2013

Silicon nanoparticle is a promising material for electronic devices, photovoltaics, and biological applications. Here, we synthesize silicon nanoparticles via $CO_2$ laser pyrolysis and study the hydrogen flow effects on the characteristics of silicon nanoparticles using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry. In $CO_2$ laser pyrolysis, used to synthesize the silicon nanoparticles, the wavelength of the $CO_2$ laser matches the absorption cross section of silane. Silane absorbs the $CO_2$ laser energy at a wavelength of $10.6{\mu}m$. Therefore, the laser excites silane, dissociating it to Si radical. Finally, nucleation and growth of the Si radicals generates various silicon nanoparticle. In addition, researchers can introduce hydrogen gas into silane to control the characteristics of silicon nanoparticles. Changing the hydrogen flow rate affects the nanoparticle size and crystallinity of silicon nanoparticles. Specifically, a high hydrogen flow rate produces small silicon nanoparticles and induces low crystallinity. We attribute these characteristics to the low density of the Si precursor, high hydrogen passivation probability on the surface of the silicon nanoparticles, and low reaction temperature during the synthesis.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.575-582
• /
• 1995

A new analytical procedure using a serial dual electrode detector was developed for the analysis of amino acids and proteins. Bromine was generated at the upstream electrode and detected by the downstream electrode. The presence of amino acids and proteins was shown to lower the downstream current but with no apparent effect on the upstream current. This indirect mode of detection can be applied to the determination of amino acids and proteins which are electrochemically inactive or too large to be accessible to the electrode surface for electron exchange. The method is shown capable to determine various amino acids (cystine, tyrosine, lysine, tryptophan, glycine, methionine and arginine) and proteins (cytochrome c, hemoglobin, HAS, a-Amylase, Conalbumin I, Catalase and Myglobin) with linear working range for amino acids between $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-3}M$ and total proteins between $10^{-7}$ to $10^{-3}M$. The method has been applied for the analysis of amino acids and total protein in food using Flow Injection Analysis with results obtained comparable to those using the traditional analytical procedure. Use of pulse generation technique was shown to produce a more stable flow injection analysis peaks for repetitive determination than the use of conventional constant current method which showed increase of the background current after determination over 200 minutes. The pulse method was found to give stable baseline even after 400 minutes. Thus, the method is shown able to provide a suitable analytical procedure for automatic analysis of amino acids and proteins in food by flow injection analysis.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.15 no.10
• /
• pp.621-625
• /
• 2005

Effects of rf power, pressure, sputtering gas composition, and substrate temperature on the deposition rate of the $WC_x$ coatings were investigated. The effects of rf power and sputtering gas composition on the hardness and corrosion resistance of the $WC_x$ coatings deposited by reactive sputtering were also investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analyses were performed to determine the structures and compositions of the films, respectively. The hardnesses of the films were investigated using a nanoindenter, scanning electron microscopy, ana a salt-spray test, respectively. The deposition rate of the films was proportional to rf power and inversely proportional to the $CH_4$ content of $Ar/CH_4$ sputtering gas. The deposition rate linearly increased with increasing chamber pressure. The hardness of the $WC_x$ coatings Increased as rf power increased. The highest hardness was obtained at a $Ar/CH_4$ concentration of $10 vol.\%$ in the sputtering gas. The hardness of the $WC_x$ film deposited under optimal conditions was found to be much higher than that of the electroplated chromium film, although the corrosion resistance of the former was slightly lower than that of the latter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.210.2-210.2
• /
• 2016

An inductively coupled plasma source was prepared for the deposition of a-C:H thin film. Properties of the inductively coupled plasma source are investigated by fluid simulation including Navier-Stokes equations and home-made tuned single Langmuir probe. Signal attenuation ratios of the Langmuir probe harmonic frequency were 13.56Mhz and 27.12Mhz. Dependencies of plasma parameters on process parameters were accord with simulation results. Ar/CH4 plasma simulation results shown that hydrocarbon radical densities have their lowest value at the vicinity of gas feeding line due to high flow velocity. For input power density of 0.07W/cm3, CH radical density qualitatively follows electron density distribution. On the other hand, central region of the chamber become deficient in CH3 radical due to high dissociation rate accompanied with high electron density. The result suggest that optimization of discharge power is important for controlling deposition film quality in high density plasma sources.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2015.08a
• /
• pp.143.1-143.1
• /
• 2015

An inductively coupled plasma source driven by 13.56MHz was prepared for the deposition of a-C:H thin film. Properties of the plasma source are investigated by fluid simulation including Navier-Stokes equations and home-made tuned single Langmuir probe. Signal attenuation ratios of the Langmuir probe at first and second harmonic frequency were 13.56Mhz and 27.12Mhz respectively. Dependencies of plasma parameters on process parameters were agreed with simulation results. Ar/CH4 plasma simulation results shown that hydrocarbon radical densities have their lowest value at the vicinity of gas feeding line due to high flow velocity. For input power density of 0.07W/cm3, CH radical density qualitatively follows electron density distribution. On the other hand, central region of the chamber become deficient in CH3 radical due to high dissociation rate accompanied with high electron density. The result suggest that optimization of discharge power is important for controlling deposition film quality in high density plasma sources.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2004.08a
• /
• pp.605-608
• /
• 2004

A novel blue-green emitting aluminum complex was developed by employing 8-hydroxyquinoline as co-ligand for enhancement of electron transport and light emission abilities so that the electroluminescent (EL) devices do not need additional electron transport layer. The aluminum complex (PAlQ) of 8-hydroxyquinoline and ${\alpha}$-pyridoin was synthesized The structure of the PAlQ was elucidated by FT-IR, UV-Vis and XPS. The PAlQ complex showed thermal stability up to 350$^{\circ}C$ under nitrogen flow by TGA. The photoluminescence (PL) was measured from solid film of the PAlQ complex on quartz substrate. The EL device was fabricated by the vacuum deposition. The device having the structure of ITO/TPD/PAlQ/Al was studied, where N,N-bis(3-methylphenyl}-N,N'-diphenyl-benzidine (TPD) was used as a hole transporting layer. The EL device emitted a blue-green light.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.435-438
• /
• 2004

MOCVD is one of the major deposition techniques for Cu thin films and Ta-Si-N is one of promising barrier metal candidates for Cu with high thermal stability. Effects of hydrogen plasma pretreatment of the underlying Ta-Si-N film surface on the Cu nucleation in Cu MOCVD were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron emission spectrometry analyses. Cu nucleation in MOCVD is enhanced as the rf-power and the plasma exposure time are increased in the hydrogen plasma pretreatment. The optimal plasma treatment process condition is the rf-power of 40 Wand the plasma exposure time of 2 min. The hydrogen gas flow rate in the hydrogen plasma pretreatment process does not affect Cu nucleation much. The mechanism through which Cu nucleation is enhanced by the hydrogen plasma pretreatment of the Ta-Si-N film surface is that the nitrogen and oxygen atoms at the Ta-Si-N film surface are effectively removed by the plasma treatment. Consequently the chemical composition was changed from Ta-Si-N(O) into Ta-Si at the Ta-Si-N film surface, which is favorable for Cu nucleation.