• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.660-665
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• 2020

Silicon heterojunction solar cells can achieve high conversion efficiency with a simple structure. In this study, we investigate the passivation characteristics of VOx thin films as a hole-selective contact layer using ALD (atomic layer deposition). Passivation characteristics improve with iVoc (implied open-circuit voltage) of 662 mV and minority carrier lifetime of 73.9 µs after post-deposition annealing (PDA) at 100 ℃. The improved values are mainly attributed to a decrease in carbon during the VOx thin film process after PDA. However, once it is annealed at temperatures above 250 ℃ the properties are rapidly degraded. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is used to analyze the chemical states of the VOx thin film. As the annealing temperature increases, it shows more formation of SiOx at the interface increases. The ratio of V5+ to V4+, which is the oxidation states of vanadium oxide thin films, are 6:4 for both as-deposition and annealing at 100 ℃, and 5:5 for annealing at 300 ℃. The lower the carbon content of the ALD VOx film and the higher the V5+ ratio, the better the passivation characteristics.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.51-57
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• 2010

A dual-mode direct conversion receiver is developed in $0.13\;{\mu}m$ RF CMOS process for IEEE 802.11n based wireless LAN and IEEE 802.16e based mobile WiMAX application. The RF receiver covers the frequency band between 2.3 and 2.7 GHz. Three-step gain control is realized in LNA by using current steering technique. Current bleeding technique is applied to the down-conversion mixer in order to lower the flicker noise. A frequency divide-by-2 circuit is included in the receiver for LO I/Q differential signal generation. The receiver consumes 56 mA at 1.4 V supply voltage including all LO buffers. Measured results show a power gain of 32 dB, a noise figure of 4.8 dB, a output $P_{1dB}$ of +6 dBm over the entire band.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.49-61
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• 1981

A generally applicable computer simulation program for diffused silicon solar cells has been developed on the basis of the experimental results. The program can be easily used to obtain the spectral response and I-V characteristics for N+P, P+N N+PP+, P+NN+cells by changing various input parameters. The insolated spectra can be taken from AMI and constant intensity and GE - ELH lamp light sources. The options for AR coating are Si3N4 film and materials with constant reflectance including zero reflectance for ideal case. The computer simulation demonstrates successful results compared with the measured values for the short circuit current, open circuit voltage, efficiency, spectral response, quantum efficiency, I-V characteristics, etc. This program was used to optimize doping concentration, cell thickness, light concentration, junction depth, and to obtain the limit values for front surface recornbination velocity, effective carrier life time in the depletion regions and shunt resistance, and also to drive the changing rate in conversion efficiency depending on operation temperature, series resistance and electric field strength in N+P+ bulk regions.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.325-330
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• 2015

Performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), in comparison with that under hydrogen fuel, were investigated under direct internal reforming conditions. Anode supported cells were fabricated with an Ni+YSZ anode, YSZ electrolyte, and LSM+YSZ cathode for the present work. Measurements of I-V curves and impedance were conducted with S/C (steam to carbon) ratio of ~ 2 at $800^{\circ}C$. The outlet gas was analyzed using gas chromatography under open circuit condition; the methane conversion rate was calculated and found to be ~ 90% in the case of low flow rate of methane and steam. Power density values were comparable for both cases (hydrogen fuel and internal steam reforming of methane), and in the latter case the cell performance was improved, with a decrease in the flow rate of methane with steam, because of the higher conversion rate. The present work indicates that the short-term performance of SOFCs with conventional Ni+YSZ anodes, in comparison with that under hydrogen fuel, is acceptable under internal reforming condition with the optimized fuel flow rate and S/C ratio.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.963-968
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• 2009

Liquid crystal (LC; E7 and/or ML-0249)-embedded, poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-co-HFP)-based, polymer electrolytes were prepared for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The electrolytes contained 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (PMII), tetrabutylammonium iodide (TBAI), and iodine ($I_2$), which participate in the $I_3^-/I^-$ redox couple. The incorporation of photochemically stable PVdF-co-HFP in the DSSCs created a stable polymer electrolyte that resisted leakage and volatilization. DSSCs, with liquid crystal(LC)-embedded PVdF-co-HFP-based polymer electrolytes between the amphiphilic ruthenium dye N719 absorbed to the nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ photoanode and the Pt counter electrode, were fabricated. These DSSCs displayed enhanced redox couple reduction and reduced charge recombination in comparison to that fabricated from the conventional PVdF-co-HFP-based polymer electrolyte. The behavior of the polymer electrolyte was improved by the addition of optimized amounts of plasticizers, such as ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC). The significantly increased short-circuit current density ($J_{sc}$, $14.60\;mA/cm^2$) and open-circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$, 0.68 V) of these DSSCs led to a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.42% and a fill factor of 0.65 under a standard light intensity of $100\;mW/cm^2$ irradiation of AM 1.5 sunlight. A DSSC fabricated by using E7-embedded PVdF-co-HFP-based polymer electrolyte exhibited a maximum incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 50%.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2020

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a two-terminal tandem solar cell depends upon the tunnel-recombination junction (TRJ) between the top and bottom sub-cells. An optimized TRJ in a tandem cell helps improve its open-circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), fill factor (FF), and efficiency (PCE). One of the parameters that affect the TRJ is the buffer layer thickness. Therefore, we investigated various TRJs by varying the thickness of the buffer or intermediate layer (TRJ-buffer) in between the highly doped p-type and n-type layers of the TRJ. The TRJ-buffer layer was p-type nc-Si:H, with a doping of 0.06%, an activation energy (E_a) of 43 meV, an optical gap (E_g) of 2.04 eV, and its thickness was varied from 0 nm to 125 nm. The tandem solar cells we investigated were a combination of a heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) bottom sub-cell and an a-Si:H (amorphous silicon) top sub-cell. The initial cell efficiency without the TRJ buffer was 7.65% while with an optimized buffer layer, its efficiency improved to 11.74%, i.e., an improvement in efficiency by a factor of 1.53.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.112-118
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• 1996

When fossil fuels are burned they produce CO gas because of incomplete combustion. If the CO gas reacts with the hemoglobin in the red blood cells, it may result in death or sequelae. Generally, the CO gas is eliminated in the form of the $$$CO_2$ gas by the oxidation reaction over the platinum catalyst. In this study, the electrochemical CO removal was investgated by using the solid electrolyte cell reactor, the type of which was represented as reactants$/Pt/Y_2O_3-ZrO_2/Pt/Air$. If the overpotential was applied to the platinum working electrode, the conversion could be changed with the overpotential applied. It was found that the oxidation rate could be increased 2.8 times higher than that of the normal condition, i. e. under open circuit conditions when $P_{co}/P_{O_2}$ was 0.5 and overpotential was 0.9V. From these results, it is concluded that the reactor used in this study is more efficient than conventional catalytic reactors.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.424-428
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• 2008

We prepared an ionic gel polymer electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) without leakage problem. Triiodide compound (BTDI) was synthesized by the reaction of benzene tricarbonyl trichloride with diethylene glycol monotosylate and subsequent substitution of tosylate by iodide using NaI. Bisimidazole was prepared by the reaction of imidazole with the triethylene glycol ditosylate under strongly basic condition provided by NaH. BTDI and bisimidazole dissolved in an ionic liquid were injected into the cells and permeated into the $TiO_2$ nanopores. In situ crosslinking was then carried out by heating to form a network structure of poly(imidazolium iodide), thereby converting the ionic liquid electrolytes to a gel or a quasi-solid state. A monomer (BTDI and bisimidazole) concentration in the electrolytes of as low as 30 wt% was sufficient to form a stable gel type electrolyte. The DSSCs based on the gel polymer electrolytes showed a power conversion efficiency of as high as 1.15% with a short circuit current density of $5.69\;mAcm^{-2}$, an open circuit voltage of 0.525 V, and a fill factor of 0.43.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.190-195
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• 2011

To investigate the photon-trapping effect and scattering layer effect of $TiO_2$ multi-layer in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and the degree of recombination of electrons at the electrode treated $TiCl_4$, we formed electrodes of different conditions and obtained the most optimal electrode conditions. To estimate characteristics of the cell, IV curve, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) were measured. As a result, we confirmed that the multi-layer's efficiency was higher than that of monolayer in the IV curve and the performance of $TiCl_4$ treated electrode was increased according to decreasing the impedance of EIS. Among several conditions, the efficiency of the cell with scattering layer is higher than that of a layer with the base electrode about 19%. Because the light scattering layer enhances the efficiency of the transmission wavelength and has long electron transfer path. Therefore, the value of the short circuit current increases approximately 10% and IPCE in the maximum peak also increases about 12%.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 1998

The crystallized CuPc and PbTe films are formed by thermal evaporation and pulsed ArF excimer laser ablation. Structural and electrical properties of thin film is observed by XRD and current-voltage(I-V) curves. From XRD analysis, both PbTe and CuPc thin films show a-axis oriented structure. For the measurement of photovoltaic effect, the transverse current-voltage curve of CuPc/Si, PbTe/Si and PbTe/CuPc/Si junctions have been analyzed in the dark and under illumination. The PbTe/CuPc/Si junction exthibits a strong photovoltaic characteristics with short circuit current($J_{sc}$) of $25.46\;mA/cm^{2}$ and open-circuit voltage($V_{oc}$) of 170 mV. Quantum efficiency and power conversion efficiency are calculated to be 15.4% and $3.46{\times}10^{-2}$, respectively. Based on the results of QE and ${\eta}$, the photocurrent process of PbTe/CuPc/Si junction can be explained as following three effective steps; photocarrier generation in the CuPc layer, carrier separation at PbTe/CuPc interface, and finally a transportation of electrons through the PbTe layer.