• Resources Recycling
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.15-27
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• 2020

Microplastics are recognized as critical and serious environmental problem in worldwide. Plastics are inexpensive, lightweight, excellent in processability, and various in material-specific properties. Along industrial development, the production and disposal amount of plastics are also rapidly increasing. In particular, abundant plastic wastes are eventually disposed into marine environment with harmful impacts on the ecosystem. Therefore, lots of relevant studies were recently progressed in various fields. However, many studies are being just conducted due to its difficulty in applying a general treatment method for those small particle sizes and their various characteristics. In the meantime, lots of researches are being conducted on applying methods using physical properties such as specific gravity, magnetic, and electrostatic separation, which are beneficiation processes of minerals. However, since it is still in the laboratory stage, the development of larger scale separation technology for efficient treatment is urgent.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.684-689
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• 2021

In this paper, we develop a cost effective and disposable voltammetric sensing platform involving screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) modified with the nanocomposites composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, polyelectrolyte, and tyrosinase for bisphenol A. This is known as an endocrine disruptor which is also related to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and female reproductive diseases, precocious puberty, and infertility. A negatively charged oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) wrapped with a positively charged polyelectrolyte, e.g., polydiallyldimethylammonium, was first wrapped with a negatively charged tyrosinae layer via electrostatic interaction and assembled onto oxygen plasma treated SPCE. The nanocomposite modified SPCE was then immersed into different concentrations of bisphenol A for a given time where the tyrosinase reacted with OH group in the bisphenol A to produce the product, 4,4'-isopropylidenebis(1,2-benzoquinone). Cyclic and differential pulse voltammetries at the potential of -0.08 V vs. Ag/AgCl was employed and peak current changes responsible to the reduction of 4,4'-isopropylidenebis(1,2-benzoquinone) were measured which linearly increased with respect to the bisphenol A concentration. In addition, the SPCE based sensor showed excellent selectivity toward an interferent agent, bisphenol S, which has a very similar structure. Finally, the sensor was applied to the analysis of bisphenol A present in an environmental sample solution prepared in our laboratory.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.446-451
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• 2022

In this study, to improve capacity and cycle stability, the pitch coated nano silicon sheets/CNT composites were prepared through electrostatic bonding of nano silicon sheets and CNT. Silica sheets were synthesized by hydrolyzing TEOS on the crystal planes of NaCl, and then nano silicon sheets were prepared by using magnesiothermic reduction method. To fabricate the nano silicon sheets/CNT composites, the negatively charged CNT after the acid treatment was used to assemble the positively charged nano silicon sheets modified with APTES. THF as a solvent was used in the coating process of PFO pitch. The physical properties of the prepared anode composites were analysed by FE-SEM, XRD and EDS. The electrochemical performances of the synthesized anode composites were performed by current charge/discharge, rate performances, differential capacity and EIS tests in the electrolyte LiPF₆ dissolve solvent (EC:DMC:EMC = 1:1:1 vol%). It was found that the anode material with high capacity and stability could be synthesized when high composition of silicon and conductivity of CNT were used. The pitch coated nano silicon sheets/CNT anode composites showed initial discharge capacity of 2344.9 mAh/g and the capacity retention ratio of 81% after 50 cycles. The electrochemical property of pitch coated anode material was more improved than that of the nano silicon sheets/CNT composites.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.313-325
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• 2007

In order to have better insights into adsorption of organic molecules on kaolinite surfaces, we performed quantum chemical calculations of interaction between three different model clusters of kaolinite siloxane surfaces and benzyl alcohol, with emphasis on the effect of size and lattice topology of the cluster on the variation of electron density and magnetic shielding tensor. Model cluster 1 is an ideal silicate tetrahedral surface that consists of 7 hexagonal rings, and model cluster 2 is composed of 7 ditrigonal siloxane rings with crystallographically distinct basal oxygen atoms in the cluster, and finally model cluster 3 has both tetrahedral and octahedral layers. The Mulliken charge analysis shows that siloxane surface of model cluster 3 undergoes the largest electron density transfer after the benzyl alcohol adsorption and that of model cluster 1 is apparently larger than that of model cluster 2. The difference of Mulliken charges of basal oxygen atoms before and after the adsorption is positively correlated with hydrogen bond strength. NMR chemical shielding tensor calculation of clusters without benryl alcohol shows that three different basal oxygen atoms (O3, O4, and O5) in model cluster 2 have the isotropic magnetic shielding tensor as $228.2{\pm}3.9,\;228.9{\pm}3.4,\;and\;222.3{\pm}3.0ppm$, respectively. After the adsorption, the difference of isotropic chemical shift varies from 1 to 5.5 ppm fer model cluster 1 and 2 while model cluster 2 apparently shows larger changes in isotropic chemical shift. The chemical shift of oxygen atoms is also positively correlated with electron density transfer. The current results show that the adsorption of benzyl alcohol on the kaolinite siloxane surfaces can largely be dominated by a weak hydrogen bonding and electrostatic force (charge-charge interaction) and demonstrate the importance of the cluster site and the lattice topology of surfaces on the adsorption behavior of the organic molecules on clay surfaces.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.258-263
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• 2023

In this study, conductive polymers and the enzyme tyrosinase (Tyr) were deposited on the surface of a screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE), which can be fabricated as a disposable sensor chip, and applied to the detection of bisphenol F (BPF), an endocrine disruptor with proven links to male diseases and thyroid disorders, using electrochemical methods. On the surface of the SPCE working electrode, which was negatively charged by oxygen plasma treatment, a positively charged conductive polymer, poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA), a negatively charged polymer compound, poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS), and another layer of PDDA were layered by electrostatic attraction in the order of PDDA, PSS, and finally PDDA. Then, a layer of Tyr, which was negatively charged due to pH adjustment to 7.0, was added to create a PDDA-PSS-PDDA-Tyr sensor for BPF. When the electrode sensor is exposed to a BPF solution, which is the substrate and target analyte, 4,4'-methylenebis(cyclohexa-3,5-diene-1,2-dione) is generated by an oxidation reaction with the Tyr enzyme on the electrode surface. The reduction process of the product at 0.1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) generating 4,4'-methylenebis(benzene-1,2-diol) was measured using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetries, resulting in a change in the peak current with respect to the concentration of BPF. In addition, we compared the detection performance of BPF using an ionic liquid electrolyte as an alternative to phosphate-buffered saline, which has been used in many previous sensing studies. Furthermore, the selectivity of bisphenol S, which acts as an interfering substance with a similar structure to BPF, was investigated. Finally, we demonstrated the practical applicability of the sensor by applying it to analyze the concentration of BPF in real samples prepared in the laboratory.