• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 1995

Picosecond time-resolved and static protein fluorescence spectra and absorption spectra of octopus rhodopsin, a photorecepting protein, are measured and compared with those of bacteriorhodopsin, a photon-induced proton pumping protein, to understand the protein conformations and functions of octopus rhodopsin and its deprotonated photocycle intermediate. The bluer and weaker absorption of retinal indicates that octopus rhodopsin is better in thermal noise suppression but less efficient in light harvesting than bacteriorhodopsin. The protein fluorescence of octopus rhodopsin shows the characteristic of Trp only and the uantum efficiency and lifetime variations may result primarily from variations in the coupling strength with the retinal. The stronger intensity by four times and larger red shift by 12 nm of fluorescence suggest that octopus rhodopsin has more open and looser structure compared with bacteriorhodopsin. Fluorescence decay profiles reveal two decay components of 300 ps (60%) and 2 ns (40%). The deprotonation of protonated Schiff's base increases the shorter decay time to 500 ps and enhances the fluorescence intensity by 20%. The fluorescence and its decay time from Trp residues near retinal are influenced more by the deprotonation. The increase of fluorescence intimates that protein structure becomes loosened and relaxed further by the deprotonation of protonated Schiff's base. The driving force of sequential changes initiated by absorption of a photon is too exhausted after the deprotonation to return the intermediate to the ground state of the begun rhodopsin form.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.481-485
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• 2005

The response of Spirulina (Arthrospira) platensis to high salt stress was investigated by incubating the cells in light of moderate intensity in the presence of 0.8 M NaCl. NaCl caused a decrease in photosystem II (PSII) mediated oxygen evolution activity and increase in photosystem I (PSI) activity and the amount of P700. Similarly maximal efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) and variable fluorescence (Fv/Fo) were also declined in salt-stressed cells. Western blot analysis reveal that the inhibition in PSII activity is due to a 40% loss of a thylakoid membrane protein, known as D1, which is located in PSII reaction center. NaCl treatment of cells also resulted in the alterations of other thylakoid membrane proteins: most prominently, a dramatic diminishment of the 47-kDa chlorophyll protein (CP) and 94-kDa protein, and accumulation of a 17-kDa protein band were observed in SDS-PAGE. The changes in 47-kDa and 94-kDa proteins lead to the decreased energy transfer from light harvesting antenna to PSII, which was accompanied by alterations in the chlorophyll fluorescence emission spectra of whole cells and isolated thylakoids. Therefore we conclude that salt stress has various effects on photosynthetic electron transport activities due to the marked alterations in the composition of thylakoid membrane proteins.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.115-116
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• 2012

The demand for flexible electronic systems such as wearable computers, E-paper, and flexible displays has increased due to their advantages of excellent portability, conformal contact with curved surfaces, light weight, and human friendly interfaces over present rigid electronic systems. This seminar introduces three recent progresses that can extend the application of high performance flexible inorganic electronics. The first part of this seminar will introduce a RRAM with a one transistor-one memristor (1T-1M) arrays on flexible substrates. Flexible memory is an essential part of electronics for data processing, storage, and radio frequency (RF) communication and thus a key element to realize such flexible electronic systems. Although several emerging memory technologies, including resistive switching memory, have been proposed, the cell-to-cell interference issue has to be overcome for flexible and high performance nonvolatile memory applications. The cell-to-cell interference between neighbouring memory cells occurs due to leakage current paths through adjacent low resistance state cells and induces not only unnecessary power consumption but also a misreading problem, a fatal obstacle in memory operation. To fabricate a fully functional flexible memory and prevent these unwanted effects, we integrated high performance flexible single crystal silicon transistors with an amorphous titanium oxide (a-TiO2) based memristor to control the logic state of memory. The $8{\times}8$ NOR type 1T-1M RRAM demonstrated the first random access memory operation on flexible substrates by controlling each memory unit cell independently. The second part of the seminar will discuss the flexible GaN LED on LCP substrates for implantable biosensor. Inorganic III-V light emitting diodes (LEDs) have superior characteristics, such as long-term stability, high efficiency, and strong brightness compared to conventional incandescent lamps and OLED. However, due to the brittle property of bulk inorganic semiconductor materials, III-V LED limits its applications in the field of high performance flexible electronics. This seminar introduces the first flexible and implantable GaN LED on plastic substrates that is transferred from bulk GaN on Si substrates. The superb properties of the flexible GaN thin film in terms of its wide band gap and high efficiency enable the dramatic extension of not only consumer electronic applications but also the biosensing scale. The flexible white LEDs are demonstrated for the feasibility of using a white light source for future flexible BLU devices. Finally a water-resist and a biocompatible PTFE-coated flexible LED biosensor can detect PSA at a detection limit of 1 ng/mL. These results show that the nitride-based flexible LED can be used as the future flexible display technology and a type of implantable LED biosensor for a therapy tool. The final part of this seminar will introduce a highly efficient and printable BaTiO3 thin film nanogenerator on plastic substrates. Energy harvesting technologies converting external biomechanical energy sources (such as heart beat, blood flow, muscle stretching and animal movements) into electrical energy is recently a highly demanding issue in the materials science community. Herein, we describe procedure suitable for generating and printing a lead-free microstructured BaTiO3 thin film nanogenerator on plastic substrates to overcome limitations appeared in conventional flexible ferroelectric devices. Flexible BaTiO3 thin film nanogenerator was fabricated and the piezoelectric properties and mechanically stability of ferroelectric devices were characterized. From the results, we demonstrate the highly efficient and stable performance of BaTiO3 thin film nanogenerator.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.777-784
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• 2017

Energy harvesting through a thermoelectric module normally makes use of the temperature gradient in the system's operational environment. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain the desired output power when the system is subjected to an environment in which a low temperature gradient is generated across the module, because the power generation efficiency of the thermoelectric device is not optimized. The utilization of solar energy, which is a form of renewable energy abundant in nature, has mostly been limited to photovoltaic solar cells and solar thermal energy generation. However, photovoltaic power generation is capable of utilizing only a narrow wavelength band from the sunlight and, thus, the power generation efficiency might be lowered by light scattering. In the case of solar thermal energy generation, the system usually requires large-scale facilities. In this study, a simple and small size thermoelectric power generation system with a solar concentrator was designed to create a large temperature gradient for enhanced performance. A solar tracking system was used to concentrate the solar thermal energy during the experiments and a liquid circulating chiller was installed to maintain a large temperature gradient in order to avoid heat transfer to the bottom of the thermoelectric module. Then, the setup was tested through a series of experiments and the performance of the system was analyzed for the purpose of evaluating its feasibility and validity.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.327-334
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• 2014

Light intensity is one of the most important requirements for plant growth, affecting growth, development, survival, and crop productivity. Sunlight is the main energy source on Earth which is energy used by photosynthesis to convert light energy to chemical energy. In this study, the light use efficiency and photosynthetic characteristics of high-quality rice cultivars were evaluated after shading on ripening stage. For the study, we treated of three levels of shade (0, 50 and 70%) on rice at ripening stage and two levels of nitrogen (9 and 18 kg/10a) used three high yielding rice cultivars, such as Boramchan, Hopum, and Honong. The shade was given for the respective plots from heading up to harvesting. We were performed to determine growth survey, SPAD and chlorophyll fluorescence every 10 days interval after shading on ripening stage. At harvest stage, grain yield and yield components were determined. Results of analysis of the results representing the maximum photosynthetic efficiency of PSII, Fv/Fm, and SPAD were decreased by depending on the time at full sunlight. But shade treatments were not changed and a significant difference among cultivars did not appear. Compared with the full sunlight, shade treatments significantly delayed ripening rate and decreased rice quality of cultivated rice. Therefore, rice yield, can be reduced in proportion to the shading density is apparent, the rate of decrease was not observed difference between varieties, when protected from light 70%, and decreased to less than 50%. The adverse effects of low light intensity on the yield and yield components were not able to significantly minimize by the nitrogen level.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.64.2-64.2
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• 2010

In order to improve the overall power conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), it is very important to secure the sufficient surface area of photocatalytic nanoparticles layer for absorbing dye molecules. It is because increasing the amount of dye absorbed generally results in increasing the amount of light harvesting. In this work, we proposed a new method for increasing the specific surface area of photocatalytic titanium oxide ($TiO_2$) nanoparticles by using an inorganic templating method. Salt-$TiO_2$ composite nanoparticles were synthesized in this approach by spray pyrolyzing both the titanium butoxide and sodium chloride solution. After aqueous removal of salt from salt-$TiO_2$ composite nanoparticles, mesoporous $TiO_2$ nanoparticles with pore size of 2~50 nm were formed and then the specific surface area of resulting porous $TiO_2$ nanoparticle was measured by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. Generally, commercially available P-25 with the average primary size of ~25 nm $TiO_2$ nanoparticles was used as an active layer for dye-sensitized solarcells, and the specific surface area of P-25 was found to be ~50 $m^2/g$. On the other hand, the specific surface area of mesoporous $TiO_2$ nanoparticles prepared in this approach was found to be ~286 $m^2/g$, which is 5 times higher than that of P-25. The increased specific surface area of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles will absorb relatively more dye molecules, which can increase the short curcuit current (Jsc) in DSSCs. The influence of nanoporous structures of $TiO_2$ on the performance of DSSCs will be discussed in terms of the amount of dye molecules absorbed, the fill factor, the short circuit current, and the power conversion efficiency.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.2329-2337
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• 2009

Three heteroleptic ruthenium sensitizers, Ru(L)($L^1)(NCS)_2$ [L = 4,4'-dicarboxylic acid-2,2'-bipyridine, Ru-T1: $L^1$ = (E)-2-(4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridin-4-yl)-3-(thiophen-2-yl)acrylonitrile, Ru-T2: $L^2$ = (E)-3-(5'-hexyl-2,2'-bithiophen-5- yl)-2-(4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridin-4-yl)acrylonitrile, and Ru-T3: $L^3$ = (E)-3-(5"-hexyl-2,2':5',2"-terthiophen-5-yl)-2- (4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridin-4-yl)acrylonitrile)], were synthesized and used as photosensitizers in nanocrystalline dyesensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The introduction of the 3-(5-hexyloligothiophen-5-yl)acrylonitrile group increased the conjugation length of the bipyridine donor ligand and thus improved their molar absorption coefficient and light harvesting efficiency. DSSCs with the configuration of Sn$O_2$: F/Ti$O_2$/ruthenium dye/liquid electrolyte/Pt devices were fabricated using these Ru-$T1{\sim}T3$ as a photosensitizers. Among the devices, the DSSCs composed of Ru-T2 exhibited highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.84% under AM 1.5 G illumination (100 mW/$cm^2$).

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.144-150
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• 1987

To increase the feed value of corn stover after grain harvesting, these studies were conducted to evaluate the methods and effects of intercropping with corn and legume crops, soybean and cowpea. Basic studies were designed to detect the light receiving efficiency of intercrops with change of row-space and interrowspace under plant density of the level of 5,555 plants/l0a. Another study was conducted to select the favorable varieties for intercropping. The plant space of 90 x 20 cm was more effective to increase the light receiving effeciency of intercrop without decrease the yield of corn than that of 60 x 30 cm. Among several corn hybrid/varieties, erect leaf type was desirable for intercropping with high light penetration. Silage yield of intercropping with corn and legume crops increased above 20% without decrease of grain yield of corn compared with monocropping. The silage of intercropping appeared as a good quality roughage bulky feed with high content of crude protein and fat.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2000

In this study the disassembly process of chlorophyII (ChI)protein complexes of a stay-green mutant (ore10 of Arabidopsis thaliana) was investigated during the dark incubation of detached leaves. During this dark-induced senescence (DIS), the Chi loss was delayed in the mutant, while the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) or Fv/Fm was accelerated when compared with the wild type (WT) leaves. This indicates that the decrease in Fv/Fm is a separate process and not causally-linked to the degradation of Chi during DIS of Arabidopsis leaves. In the native green gel electrophoresis of the Chi-protein complexes, which was combined with an additional twodimensional SDS-PAGE analysis, the delayed senescence of this mutant was characterized by the appearance of an aggregate at 1 d or 2 d, as well as very stable light harvesting complex II (LHCII) trimers until 5 d after the start of DIS. The polypeptide composition of the aggregates varied during the whole DIS at 5 d. Dl protein appeared to be missing in the aggregates. This result supports the idea of a faster depletion of functional PSH in the mutants compared with WT, as suggested by the earlier reduction of Fv/Fm and the stable Chl a/b ratio in the mutants. At 5 d, the WT leaves also often showed aggregates, but the polypeptide composition was different from those of ore10. The results presented suggest that the formation of aggregates, or stable LHCII trimers in the stay-green mutants, is a way to structurally protect Chi-protein complexes from serious proteolytic degradation. Detailed disassembly processes of Chi-protein complexes in WT and ore10 mutants are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.466.2-466.2
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• 2014

The Quantum dot (QD) solar cells have been under active research due to their high light harvesting efficiencies and low fabrication cost. In spite of these advantages, there have been some problems on the charge collection due to the limitation of the diffusion length. The modification of advanced nanostructure is capable of solving the charge collection problem by increasing diffusion length of electron. One dimensional nanomaterials such as nanorods, nanowires, and nanotubes may enhance charge collection efficiency in QD solar cells. In this study, we synthesized $TiO_2$ anatase nanorod arrays with length of 200 nm by two-step sol-gel method. The morphology and crystal structure for the nanorod were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The anatase nanorods are single-crystalline and possess preferred orientation along with (001) direction. The photovoltaic properties for the heterojunction structure QD solar cells based on the anatase nanorod were also characterized. Compared with conventional $TiO_2$ nanoparticle based QD solar cells, these nanostructure solar cells exhibited better charge collection properties due to long life time measured by transient open circuit studies. Our findings demonstrate that the single crystalline anatase nanorod arrays are promising charge transport semiconductors for heterojunction QD solar cells.