• Nanomaterials
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• v.12 no.23
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• pp.4326-4359
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• 2022

Rapid development of the device performance of organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are emerging as a promising photovoltaic technology. Current world-record efficiency of PSCs is based on tin oxide (SnO₂) electron transport layers (ETLs), which are capable of being processed at low temperatures and possess high carrier mobilities with appropriate energy- band alignment and high optical transmittance. Modification of SnO₂ has been intensely investigated by various approaches to tailor its conductivity, band alignment, defects, morphology, and interface properties. This review article organizes recent developments of modifying SnO₂ ETLs to PSC advancement using surface and bulk modifications, while concentrating on photovoltaic (PV) device performance and long-term stability. Future outlooks for SnO₂ ETLs in PSC research and obstacles remaining for commercialization are also discussed.

• Nanomaterials
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• v.12 no.20
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• pp.3605-3620
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• 2022

Microtube-like porous carbon (MPC) and tube-like porous carbon-sulfur (MPC-S) composites were synthesized by carbonizing milkweed pappus with sulfur, and they were used as cathodes for lithium-sulfur batteries. The morphology and uniformity of these materials were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry. The electrochemical performance of the MPC-S cathodes was measured using the charge/discharge cycling performance, C rate, and AC impedance. The composite cathodes with 93.8 wt.% sulfur exhibited a stable specific capacity of 743 mAh g^-1 after 200 cycles at a 0.5 C.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2018

Talc, hydrous magnesium phyllosilicate, is one of the most popular industrial minerals due to their chemical stability and adsorptivity. While micro-sized talc has long been used as a filler and coating, nano-sized talc recently is attracting attention as additives for improving the stability of nanocomposites. In this study, we produced the nano-sized talc powder by mechanical method using high energy ball mill and investigated the changes in particle size and crystallinity with increasing milling time up to 720 minutes. X-ray diffraction results show that the peak width of talc gradually as the milling proceeded, and after 720 minutes of pulverization, the talc showed an amorphous-like X-ray diffraction pattern. Lase diffraction particle size analysis presents that particle size of talc which was ${\sim}12{\mu}m$ decreased to ${\sim}0.45{\mu}m$ as the milling progressed, but no significant reduction of particle size was observed even after grinding for 120 minutes or more. BET specific surface area, however, steadily increases up to the milling time of 720 minutes, indicating that the particle size and morphology change steadily as the milling progressed. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope images shows that layered particles of about 100 to 300 nm was aggregated as micro-sized particles after pulverization for 720 minutes. As the grinding time increases, the particle size and morphology of talc continuously change, but the nano-sized talc particles form micro sized agglomerates. These results suggest that there is a critical size along the a, b axes in which the size of plates is reduced even though the grinding proceeds, and the reduction of plate thickness along the c axis leads the increase in specific surface area with further grinding. This study could enhance the understanding of the mechanism of the formation of nano-sized talc by mechanical grinding.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.62-67
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• 2009

Ti and Ti-alloys have good biocompatibility, appropriate mechanical properties and excellent corrosion resistance. However, the widely used Ti-6Al-4V is found to release toxic ions (Al and V) into the body, leading to undesirable long-term effects. Ti-6Al-4V has much higher elastic modulus (100 GPa) than cortical bone (20 GPa). Therefore, titanium alloys with low elastic modulus have been developed as biomaterials to minimize stress shielding. The electrochemical behavior of surface-modified and MC3T3-E1 cell-cultured Ti-30(Nb,Ta) alloys with low elastic modulus have been investigated using various electrochemical methods. Surfaces of test samples were treated as follows: $0.3{\mu}m$ polished; $25{\mu}m$, $50{\mu}m$ and $125{\mu}m$ sandblasted. Specimen surfaces were cultured with MC3T3-E1 cells for 2 days. Average surface roughness ($R_a$) and morphology of specimens were determined using a surface profilometer, OM, and FE-SEM. Corrosion behavior was investigated using a potentiostat(EG&G PARSTAT 2273), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was performed (10 mHz to 100 kHz) in 0.9% NaCl solution at $36.5{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. The microstructures of the Ti-30(Ta,Nb) alloys had a needle-like appearance. The $R_a$ of polished Ti-30Ta and Ti-30Nb alloys was lower than that of the sandblasted Ti alloy. Cultured cells displayed round shapes. For polished alloy samples, cells were well-cultured on all surfaces compared to sandblasted alloy samples. In sandblasted and cell-cultured Ti-30(Nb,Ta) alloy, the pitting potential decreased and passive current density increased as $R_a$ increased. Anodic polarization curves of cell-cultured Ti alloys showed unstable behavior in the passive region compared to non-cell-cultured alloys. From impedance tests of sandblasted and cell-cultured alloys, the polarization resistance decreased as $R_a$ increased, whereas, $R_a$ for cell-cultured Ti alloys increased compared to non-cell-cultured Ti alloys.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 2012

$LiFePO_4$ is an attractive cathode material due to its low cost, good cyclability and safety. But it has low ionic conductivity and working voltage impose a limitation on its application for commercial products. In order to solve these problems, the iron($Fe^{2+}$)site in $LiFePO_4$ can be substituted with other transition metal ions such as $Mn^{2+}$ in pursuance of increase the working voltage. Also, reducing the size of electrode materials to nanometer scale can improve the power density because of a larger electrode-electrolyte contact area and shorter diffusion lengths for Li ions in crystals. Therefore, we chose electrospinning as a general method to prepare $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ to increase the surface area. Also, there have been very a few reports on the synthesis of cathode materials by electrospinning method for Lithium ion batteries. The morphology and nanostructure of the obtained $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ nanofibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy(SEM). X-ray diffraction(XRD) measurements were also carried out in order to determine the structure of $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ nanofibers. Electrochemical properties of $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ were investigated with charge/discharge measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements(EIS).

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.216-219
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• 2011

Perovskite manganites such as $RE_{1-x}A_xMnO_3$ (RE = rare earth, A = Ca, Sr, Ba) have been the subject of intense research in the last few years, ever since the discovery that these systems demonstrate colossal magnetoresistance (CMR). The CMR is usually explained with the double-exchange (DE) mechanism, and CMR materials have potential applications for magnetic switching, recording devices, and more. However, the intrinsic CMR effect is usually found under the conditions of a magnetic field of several Teslas and a narrow temperature range near the Curie temperature ($T_c$). This magnetic field and temperature range make practical applications impossible. Recently, another type of MR, called the low-field magnetoresistance(LFMR), has also been a research focus. This MR is typically found in polycrystalline half-metallic ferromagnets, and is associated with the spin-dependent charge transport across grain boundaries. Composites with compositions $La_{0.7}(Ca_{1-x}Sr_x)_{0.3}MnO_3)]_{0.99}/(BaTiO_3)_{0.01}$ $[(LCSMO)_{0.99}/(BTO)_{0.01}]$were prepared with different Sr doping levels x by a standard ceramic technique, and their electrical transport and magnetoresistance (MR) properties were investigated. The structure and morphology of the composites were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). BTO peaks could not be found in the XRD pattern because the amount of BTO in the composites was too small. As the content of x decreased, the crystal structure changed from orthorhombic to rhombohedral. This change can be explained by the fact that the crystal structure of pure LCMO is orthorhombic and the crystal structure of pure LSMO is rhombohedral. The SEM results indicate that LCSMO and BTO coexist in the composites and BTO mostly segregates at the grain boundaries of LCSMO, which are in accordance with the results of the magnetic measurements. The resistivity of all the composites was measured in the range of 90-400K at 0T, 0.5T magnetic field. The result indicates that the MR of the composites increases systematically as the Ca concentration increases, although the transition temperature $T_c$ shifts to a lower range.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8259-8263
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• 2016

Background: Nano-therapy has the potential to revolutionize cancer therapy. Chrysin, a natural flavonoid, was recently recognized as having important biological roles in chemical defenses and nitrogen fixation, with anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects but the poor water solubility of flavonoids limitstheir bioavailability and biomedical applications. Objective: Chrysin loaded PLGA-PEG-PLGA was assessed for improvement of solubility, drug tolerance and adverse effects and accumulation in a gastric cancer cell line (AGS). Materials and Methods: Chrysin loaded PLGA-PEG copolymers were prepared using the double emulsion method (W/O/W). The morphology and size distributions of the prepared PLGA-PEG nanospheres were investigated by 1H NMR, FT-IR and SEM. The in vitro cytotoxicity of pure and nano-chrysin was tested by MTT assay and miR-34a was measured by real-time PCR. Results: 1H NMR, FT-IR and SEM confirmed the PLGA-PEG structure and chrysin loaded on nanoparticles. The MTT results for different concentrations of chrysin at different times for the treatment of AGS cell line showed IC50 values of 68.2, 56.2 and $42.3{\mu}M$ and 58.2, 44.2, $36.8{\mu}M$ after 24, 48, and 72 hours of treatment, respectively for chrysin itslef and chrysin-loaded nanoparticles. The results of real time PCR showed that expression of miR-34a was upregulated to a greater extent via nano chrysin rather than free chrysin. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates chrysin loaded PLGA-PEG promises a natural and efficient system for anticancer drug delivery to fight gastric cancer.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.304-311
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• 2010

In this study, loose RO hollow fiber membranes using CTA polymer were prepared by phase inversion method and their water purification properties were tested. 1,4-dioxane and LiCl was used as a skin layer formation agent and pore formation agent, respectively. Water flux, salt rejection, chlorine resistance, MWCO and membrane morphology were evaluated as a function of the dope composition. When the membrane prepared using the dope solution of CTA/NMP/1,4-dioxane = 18/72/10 (wt%) with air gap of 30 cm, it shows improved RO performance such as $20.5L/m^2hr$ of water flux, 60% of NaCl rejection, 10,000 ppm/hr of chlorine-resistance and around 5,000 Da of MWCO.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.458-463
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• 2019

Palladium (Pd) is widely used as a catalyst and noxious gas sensing materials. Especially, various researches of Pd based hydrogen gas sensor have been studied due to the noble property, Pd can be adsorbed hydrogen up to 900 times its own volume. In this study, palladium oxide (PdO) nanostructures were grown on Si substrate ($SiO_2(300nm)/Si$) for 3 to 5 hours at $230^{\circ}C{\sim}440^{\circ}C$ using thermal chemical vapor deposition system. Pd powder (source material) was vaporized at $950^{\circ}C$ and high purity Ar gas (carrier gas) was flown with the 200 sccm. The surface morphology of as-grown PdO nanostructures were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM). The crystallographic properties were confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. As the results, the as-grown nanostructures exhibit PdO phase. The nano-cube structures of PdO were synthesized at specific substrate temperatures and specific growth duration. Especially, PdO nano-cube structrures were uniformly grown at $370^{\circ}C$ for growth duration of 5 hours. The PdO nano-cube structures are attributed to vapor-liquid-solid process. The nano-cube structures of PdO on graphene nanosheet can be applied to fabricate of high sensitivity hydrogen gas sensor.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.153-160
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• 2023

In this study, nano-sized C-S-H crystals were synthesized using the liquid phase reaction method and their properties were investigated. The synthesized C-S-H crystals were added to the cement composite in suspension form to determine their effect on the hydration properties of the cement. The amount of chemical admixture was varied to obtain nano-sized C-S-H crystals with optimal agglomerated morphology, and SEM photographs were analyzed. A cleaning process was added to remove harmful substances other than the synthesiz ed C-S-H crystals. It was found that the concentration of harmful substances was reduced in the case of C-S-H crystals subjected to the cleaning process. The synthesized C-S-H suspensions were prepared with and without the cleaning process, and cement composites were prepared with the cement weight content as the main variable. The effect of C-S-H crystals on the initial hydration properties of the cement was confirmed by microhydration heat analysis. In addition, mortar specimens were prepared to measure the compressive strength over time. The test results showed that the nano-sized C-S-H crystals act as nucleation sites in the cement paste to promote the early hydration of the cement and increase the early compressive strength.