• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.208-215
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• 2012

Gel polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared from blends of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly (acrylic acid) (PAA), by solution-cast technique. The PAA content in the blend varied from 30 to 80 wt%. With the gel polymer electrolyte membranes, Zn air batteries were fabricated. The gel polymer electrolyte membranes were characterized by means of stress-strain test, impedance test. The Zn air batteries were tested by current interrupt method and galvanostatic discharge method. The tensile strength and tensile modulus decreased with increasing PAA content in the gel polymer electrolyte membrane. On the other hand, the ionic conductivity increased with increasing PAA content. The effect of ionic conductivity trend of the gel polymer electrolyte membrane in the Zn air battery was confirmed through current interrupt method and galvanostatic discharge method experiments. The battery with higher PAA content gel polymer electrolyte membrane showed lower IR drop and higher discharge capacity.

• Carbon letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.138-142
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• 2011

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composites with various graphite oxide (GO) contents (0 to 10 wt%) were prepared by sonicating the mixture of PVA and GO, followed by crosslinking with glutaraldehyde. GO was pre-treated with oxyfluorination ($O_2:F_2$ = 8:2) in order to modify the surface of GO to allow it to carry hydrophilic functional groups. PVA/GO composite hydrogels were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR). The morphology of the PVA/GO composite hydrogels and the variations in soluble gel portion were investigated under various GO contents and UV irradiation doses. The variation in the chemical structure of photo degraded PVA/GO composite hydrogels was studied by FT-IR. The photochemical stability of PVA/GO composite hydrogels under UV irradiation was found to improve noticeably with increasing content of uniformly dispersed GO.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.377-382
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• 2011

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is an interesting material with good biocompatibility, high elasticity and hydrophilic chacrateristics. In this study, crosslinked hydrogels based on PVA, and poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) were prepared by gamma-ray irradiation. PVA and PAAc powders were dissolved in deionized water, and then irradiated by a gamma-ray with a radiation dose of 50 kGy to make hydrogels. The hydrogels were then annealed in an oven at $120^{\circ}C$ for 10 min, 30 min and 50 min under nitrogen atmosphere. The properties of a hydrogel such as gel fraction, swelling behavior, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and adhesive strength as a function of PAAc content and annealing time were investigated. The gel fraction decreases with decreasing PAAc content and increasing annealing time. The thermal behaviors have shown different patterns according to the annealing time. The adhesive strength increases with increasing PAAc content.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.376-381
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• 2019

In this study, a poly(vinyl) alcohol/sodium alginate (PVA/SA) mixture was used to fabricate core-shell structured gel beads for autotrophic single-stage nitrogen removal (ASNR) using aerobic and anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AAOB and AnAOB, respectively). For stable ASNR process, the mechanical strength and oxygen penetration depth of the shell layer entrapping the AAOB are critical properties. The shell layer was constructed by an interfacial gelling reaction yielding thickness in the range of 2.01-3.63 mm, and a high PVA concentration of 12.5% resulted in the best mechanical strength of the shell layer. It was found that oxygen penetrated the shell layer at different depths depending on the PVA concentration, oxygen concentration in the bulk phase, and free ammonia concentration. The oxygen penetration depth was around $1,000{\mu}m$ when 8.0 mg/L dissolved oxygen was supplied from the bulk phase. This study reveals that the shell layer effectively protects the AnAOB from oxygen inhibition under the aerobic conditions because of the respiratory activity of the AAOB.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.268-275
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• 1999

Rhodopseudomonas sp. was immobilized in three supports(agar, k-carrageenan, and PVA) in order to remove nitrate in wastewater coming from fish farm. Among them 3% agar was the most suitable support when denitrification rate and bead durability were tested. Optimum bead size was 4mm-diameter when the substrate transfer into the bead and shear stress for bead were considered, and optimum cell loading was 25mg dry $cells/cm^2$gel gel. Ethanol was the best as a carbon source, and optimum C:N ratio, temperature and pH were 1.5:1, $31^{\circ}C$,, and 6, respectively. Under these conditions the maximum denitrification rate in synthetic wastewater was $$345{\MU}{\ell};N_2/Cm^3 gel{\cdot}hr;and that in modified MYC medium was 450{\MU}{\ell}};N_2/Cm^3 gel{\cdot}hr $$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.753-756
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• 2001

This research made a study of MnO$_2$electrode for supercapacitor with a diffuser (Polyvinyl alcohol). Manganese dioxide was used as active material. We tried to increase specific surface area by adding PVA. Manganese dioxide was synthesized by a sol-gel method using fumaric acid and oxalic acid in low temperature with high yield. Therefore, We prepared Manganese dioxide powder. This powder was used by active materials. The electrode was made by a mixture of active material, ketjen-black which is a large specific surface area, and PVdF-co-HFP as binder agent with using Nickel mesh as current collector. Here we reported on the synthesis and electrochemical performance of a enhanced material. All active materials have been submitted to X-ray diffraction and Scanning electron microscopy.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of total polymer concentration on the chemical structure, morphology of pores, porosity, swelling ratio, degradation of gelatin-poly (vinyl alcohol) (Gel-PVA) cryogel scaffolds. Porous cryogels were prepared with cryogelation technique by using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker. Functional group composition of cryogels after crosslinking was investigated by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The morphology of cryogels was characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and porosity analysis. All of the cryogels had a porous structure with an average pore size between $45.58{\pm}14.28$ and $50.14{\pm}4.26{\mu}m$. The cryogels were biodegradable and started to degrade in 14 days. As the polymer concentration increased the swelling ratio, the porosity and the degradation rate decreased. Spongy and mechanically stable Gel-PVA cryogels, with tunable properties, can be potential candidates as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.187-193
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• 2010

The effects of molecular weight (MW) and concentration on the rheological properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solutions in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) were investigated at $30^{\circ}C$. Ubbelohde viscometer and rotational rheometer were employed for dilute and concentrated regime, respectively. In the dilute regime, the Mark-Houwink exponent ($\alpha$) of the solutions determined from three different MWs proved 0.73. The critical concentration (C*), in which the entanglement and overlap of polymer molecules began to take place, decreased with increasing the MW of PVA. Huggins constant ($K_H$) values ranged from 0.33 to 0.45 over the MW examined. In the log-log plot of $\eta_{sp}$ versus [$\eta$]C, the PVA with higher degree of polymerization (DP) gave a greater slope exhibiting the inflection point in the vicinity of C*. In the dynamic viscosity ($\eta'$) curve, the PVA solutions of DP 1700 presented Newtonian fluid behavior over most of the frequency range examined. However, the lower Newtonian flow region reduced with increasing the DP. As the PVA concentration increased, $\eta'$ was increased and the onset shear rate for pseudoplasticity was decreased. In the Cole-Cole plot, PVA solutions showed almost a single master curve in a slope of ca. 1.65 regardless of the DP. However, the increase of the concentration from 8 to 12 wt% for PVA solutions of DP 5000 decreased the slope from 1.73 to 1.57. In the tan $\delta$ curve, the onset frequency for sol-gel transition was shifted from 154 to 92 rad/s with increasing the DP from 3300 to 5000 and from 192 to 46 rad/s with increasing the concentration from 8 to 12 wt%. In addition, longer relaxation time ($\lambda$) was observed with increasing the DP and concentration.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.568-571
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• 2006

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/gelatin(GEL) blend membranes were prepared under a high electric field, and their swelling and ion permeation behaviors were investigated. For alkali metal salts such as LiCl, NaCl and KCl, the permeability coefficients were increased until the electric field of 10 kV due to the decreased tortuosity, whereas they were decreased over 10 kV owing to the increase of the degree of crystallinity. The swelling ratios of the blend membranes showed the minimum values at pH 6, while the permeability coefficients exhibited the maximum values at the same condition. The minimum swelling ratios result from the repulsion effect between charged groups in acidic or basic regions, and the maximum permeabilities result from Donnan exclusion effect in the same regions. Especially, the per-meability coefficient for KCl of the membrane increased steeply to five times at $40^{\circ}C$ than below $35^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2011

LAS-system ceramic powder, spodumene ($Li_2O{\cdot}Al_2O_3{\cdot}4SiO_2$), was successfully synthesized by a chemical solution technique employing PVA(polyvinyl alcohol) as an organic carrier. The PVA content affected the microstructure of porous precursor gels and the crystalline development. The optimum PVA content contributed to homogeneous distribution of metal ions in the precursor gel and it resulted in the synthesis of glass free $\beta$-spodumene powder having a specific surface area of $7.57\;m^2/g$. The agglomerated $\beta$-spodumene powders were also enough soft to grind to fine powders by a simple ball milling process. The microstructures of the densified powder compacts were strongly dependant on the minor phases of spodumene solid solution and amount of liquid phase, which were formed from the inhomogeneous precursors.