• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2021

A solar water battery is a system that generates power using solar energy. It is a combination of photoelectrochemical cells and an energy storage system. It can simultaneously convert and store solar energy without additional external voltage. Solar water batteries consist of photoelectrodes, storage electrodes and counter electrodes, and their properties and combination are important for the performance and the efficiency of the system. In this study, we tried to find the effect that changing the components of solar water batteries has on its system. The effects of the counter electrode during discharge, the kinds of photoelectrode and storage electrode materials, and electrolytes on the solar energy conversion and storage capacitance were studied. The optimized composition (TiO2 : NaFe-PB : Pt foil) exhibited 72.393 mAh g-1 of discharge capacity after 15 h of photocharging. It indicates that the efficiency of solar energy conversion and storage is largely affected by the configuration of the system. Also, the addition of organic pollutants to the chamber of the photoelectrode improved the battery's photo-current and discharge capacity by efficient photoelectron-hole pair separation with simultaneous degradation of organic pollutants. Solar water batteries are a new eco-friendly solar energy conversion and storage system that does not require additional external voltages. It is also expected to be used for water treatment that utilizes solar energy.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.12
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• pp.2425-2430
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• 2009

Dye-sensitized solar cell(DSC) is composed of a dye-adsorbed nanoporous $TiO_2$ layer on fluorine-doped tin oxide(FTO) glass substrate, electrolyte, and platinium doped counter electrode. Among these, a dye-absorbed nanoporous $TiO_2$ layer plays an important role in the performance of the DSC because the injected electrons from excited dye molecules move through this layer. And the condition of $TiO_2$ layer such as the morphology and thickness affects on the electron movement. Therefore, the performances and the efficiency of DSC change as the thickness of $TiO_2$ layer is different. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy(EIS) is the powerful analysis method to study the kinetics of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical processes occurring in the DSC especially the injected electron movements. So we analyzed the DSCs with different $TiO_2$ thicknesses by using EIS to understand the influence of the $TiO_2$ thickness to the performance of the DSC clearly. Finally, we got the EIS analysis on the DSC with different $TiO_2$ thickness from the internal resistance of the DSC, the electron life time and the amount of dye molecules.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 2007

The present work considers the concept of enzymatic photoelectrochemical generation of hydrogen through water splitting using a Xe lamp as a source of light. A solar cell was applied to the system in order to shift the level of electrochemical energy of the system, resulting in the rate of hydrogen production at $43\;{\mu}mol/(cm^2{\times}hr)$ in cathodic compartment with an anodized tubular $TiO_2$ electrode(ATTE, $5^{\circ}C$/1hr in 0.5 wt% HF-$650^{\circ}C$/5hr). The trend of the rate of hydrogen production, for the ATTEs with different annealing temperature from $350^{\circ}C$ to $850^{\circ}C$, fairly well coincided with the photoelectrical properties measured by potentiostat. The actual chemical bias through imposition of two electrolytes of different pHs between anode(13.68) and cathode(7.5) was 0.24eV.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.25-33
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• 1992

With the aim to obtain $TiO_2$ films with an increased photorespones and absorbance in the visible region of the solar spectrum, the direct oxidation of titanium alloys were performed. In this study, $Ti-Ga_2O_3$ alloy was prepared by mixing, pressing and arc melting of appropriate amounts of titanium and $Ga_2O_3$ powder. Electrochemical measurements were performed in three electrode cell using electrolyte of 1M NaOH solution. The oxide films on $Ti-Ga_2O_3$ alloy was composed of $Ti_2O$, TiO, $TiO_2$, $Ga_2TiO_5$. The free energy efficiency (${\eta}e$) of $Ti-Ga_2O_3$ oxide films had 0.8~1.3 % and were increased with the increase of $Ga_2O_3$ content up to 10wt %. The onset potential ($V_{on}$) had -0.8V~0.9V ranges and were shifted to anodic direction with the increase of $Ga_2O_3$ content. The spectral response of Ti-$Ga_2O_3$ oxides were similar to the response of the $TiO_2$ and their $E_g$ were observed to 2.90~3.0eV. Variations of onset potential($V_{on}$) associated with electrolyte pH were -59mV/pH. This probably reflects the nature of the bonding of $OH^-$ ion to the $TiO_2$ surface, a common phenomena in the transition-metal oxides.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.491-496
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• 2019

In this study, we prepare pure $WO_3$ inverse opal(IO) film with a thickness of approximately $3{\mu}m$ by electrodeposition, and an ultra-thin $TiO_2$ layer having a thickness of 2 nm is deposited on $WO_3$ IO film by atomic layer deposition. Both sets of photoelectrochemical properties are evaluated after developing dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs). In addition, morphological, crystalline and optical properties of the developed films are evaluated through field-emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy(HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD) and UV/visible/infrared spectrophotometry. In particular, pure $WO_3$ IO based DSSCs show low $V_{OC}$, $J_{SC}$ and fill factor of 0.25 V, $0.89mA/cm^2$ and 18.9 %, achieving an efficiency of 0.04 %, whereas the $TiO_2/WO_3$ IO based DSSCs exhibit $V_{OC}$, $J_{SC}$ and fill factor of 0.57 V, $1.18mA/cm^2$ and 50.1 %, revealing an overall conversion efficiency of 0.34 %, probably attributable to the high dye adsorption and suppressed charge recombination reaction.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.2-8
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• 2012

In this study, in order to develop renewable bio-based nanocomposites, multi-functional nanocomposites from soybean resins (AESO, MAESO) and nanoclay were prepared. Photoelectrodes for environmental friendly dye-sensitized solar cell using soybean resin were also prepared. Organo-modified nanoclay was directly dispersed in functionalized soybean resins after mixing with styrene as a comonomer and radical initiator was used to copolymerize the nanocomposites. The observed morphology was a mixture of intercalated/exfoliated structure and the physical properties were improved by adding nanoclay. A nanocomposite using MAESO, which added COOH functional group to the soybean resin, showed better dispersibility than AESO composites. Ultrasonic treatment of the nanocomposites also improved the physical properties. Nanoporous $TiO_2$ photoelectrode was also prepared using soybean resins as a binder, after acid-treatment of $TiO_2$ surface using nitric acid. Dye-sensitized solar cells were prepared after adsorbing dye molecules on it. The $TiO_2$ photoelectrode prepared using soybean binder had high current density because of increased surface area by improved dispersibility. The photoelectrochemical properties and conversion efficiency of the solar cell were significantly improved using the soybean binder.