• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.105-112
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• 2002

A combined process of non-thermal plasma and catalytic techniques has been investigated to treat toxic gas compounds in air. The treated gas in the present study is $CH_3$CN that has been known to be a simulant of toxic chemical agent. A planar type dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) reactor has been used to generate non-thermal plasma that produces various chemically active species, O, N, OH, $O_3$, ion, electrons, etc. Several different types of adsorbents and catalysts, which are MS 5A, MS 13X, Pt/alumina, are packed into the plasma reactor, and have been tested to save power consumption and to treat by-products. Various aspects of the present techniques, which are decomposition efficiencies along with the power consumption, by-product analysis, reaction pathways modified by the adsorbents and catalysts, have been discussed in the present study.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.193-197
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• 2017

In this study, we report on the catalyst process installed in conjunction with a wet plasma electrostatic precipitator to remove the oil mist and fine dust emitted from large-size grill restaurants. The multi-stage catalyst module reduced odor through catalytic reaction of acetaldehyde on catalysts even at an ambient temperature with ozone as an oxidant readily produced in a wet plasma electrostatic precipitator. Two types of manganese-based catalysts, $Mn_2O_3$ and $CuMnO_x$ were fabricated by extrusion molding for structured catalysts in practical applications, and the optimum conditions for high removal efficiencies of acetaldehyde and ozone were determined. When two optimized catalysts were applied in a two-stage catalyst module, the removal efficiency of acetaldehyde and ozone were ${\geq}85%$ and 100% respectively at the space velocity of $10,000h^{-1}$ and the reaction temperature of $100^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.694-699
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• 2014

We report the chemical vapor deposition growth characteristics of graphene on various catalytic metal substrates such as Ni, Fe, Ag, Au, and Pt. 50-nm-thick metal films were deposited on $SiO_2/Si$ substrates using dc magnetron sputtering. Graphene was synthesized on the metal/$SiO_2$/Si substrates with $CH_4$ gas (1 SCCM) diluted in mixed gases of 10% $H_2$ and 90 % Ar (99 SCCM) using inductively-coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD). The highest quality of graphene film was achieved on Ni and Fe substrates at $900^{\circ}C$ and 500 W of ICP power. Ni substrate seemed to be the best catalytic material among the tested materials for graphene growth because it required the lowest growth temperature ($600^{\circ}C$) as well as showing a low ICP power of 200W. Graphene films were successfully grown on Ag, Au, and Pt substrates as well. Graphene was formed on Pt substrate within 2 sec, while graphene film was achieved on Ni substrate over a period of 5 min of growth. These results can be understood as showing the direct CVD growth of graphene with a highly efficient catalytic reaction on the Pt surface.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.343-347
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• 2012

The decomposition behaviors of gaseous cyanides in non-thermal plasma-catalyst hybrid reactor have been investigated with the variation of discharge power, influent concentration of cyanide, humidity of air carrier and packed materials in the reactor. Destruction of cyanides by plasma only process was very difficult compared to that of trichloroethylene. But the destruction efficiencies of cyanides were dramatically improved through packing alumina or Pt/alumina bead in the plasma discharge region. From the results, it could be assumed that thermal catalytic effect is involved simultaneously with plasma in the reaction of cyanides destruction on the alumina or Pt/alumina packed plasma reactor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.264-264
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• 2013

Strong metal-support interaction effect is an important issue in determining the catalytic ac-tivity for heterogeneous catalysis. In this study, we investigated the support effect and the role of organic capping layers of two-dimensional Pt nanocatalysts on reducible metal oxide supports under the CO oxidation. Several reducible metal oxide supports including CeO2, Nb2O5, and TiO2 thin films were prepared via sol-gel techniques. The structure, chemical state and optical property were characterized using XRD, XPS, TEM, SEM, and UV-VIS spectrometer. We found that the reducible metal oxide supports have a homogeneous thin thickness and crystalline structure after annealing at high temperature showing the different optical band gap energy. Langmuir-Blodgett technique and arc plasma deposition process were employed to ob-tain Pt nanoparticle arrays with capping and without capping layers, respectively on the oxide support to assess the role of the supports and capping layers on the catalytic activity of Pt catalysts under the CO oxidation. The catalytic performance of CO oxidation over Pt supported on metal oxide thin films under oxidizing reaction conditions (40 Torr CO and 100 Torr O2) was tested. The results show that the catalytic activity significantly depends on the metal oxide support and organic capping layers of Pt nanoparticles, revealing the strong metal-support interaction on these nanocatalysts systems.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.531-537
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• 2014

A catalytic plasma reactor was employed for the oxidation of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) classified as a volatile organic compound (VOC). Copper oxide (Cu : 0.5% (w/w)) supported on a multichannel porous ceramic consisting of ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ was used as a catalyst, which was directly exposed to the plasma created in it. The effects of discharge voltage and reaction temperature on the concentrations of IPA and its byproducts were examined to understand the behavior of the catalytic plasma reactor. Without thermal insulation, the reactor temperature increased up to $120^{\circ}C$ at an applied voltage of 17 kV (discharge power : 28 W), and the IPA at a flow rate of $1L\;min^{-1}$ ($O_2$ : 10% (v/v); IPA : 1000 ppm) was completely removed. At temperatures below $120^{\circ}C$, however, besides the desirable product $CO_2$, several unwanted byproducts such as acetone, formaldehyde and CO were also formed from IPA. On the other hand, when the reactor was thermally insulated, the plasma discharge increased the temperature up to $265^{\circ}C$ under the same condition and most of IPA was oxidized to $CO_2$. Without loading CuO on the ceramic support, the plasma discharge in the thermally insulated reactor produced nearly equal amounts of $CO_2$ and CO. On comparison, with the catalyst alone (temperature : $265^{\circ}C$), more than 70% of the removed IPA was simply converted into another type of VOC (acetone), indicating that the catalyst assisted by the plasma is more effective in the oxidation of IPA than that of the catalyst-alone process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2013

The exterior structures of natural organisms have continuously evolved by controlling wettability, such as the Namib Desert beetle, whose back has hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast for water harvesting by mist condensation in dry desert environments, and some plant leaves that have hierarchical micro/nanostructures to collect or repel liquid water. In this work, we have provided a method for wettability contrast on metals by both nano-flake or needle patterns and tuning of the surface energy. Metals including steel alloys and aluminum were provided with hierarchical micro/nanostructures of metaloxides induced by fluorination and a subsequent catalytic reaction of fluorine ions on metal surfaces in water with various ranges from room to boiling temperature of water. Then, a hydrophobic material was deposited on the structured surfaces, rendering superhydrophobicity. Plasma oxidization induces the formation of superhydrophilic surfaces on selective regions surrounded by superhydrophobic surfaces. We show that wettability contrast surfaces align liquid water within patterned hydrophilic regions during the condensation process. Furthermore, this method could have a greater potential to align other liquids or living cells.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.70-77
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• 2012

The selective catalytic reduction(SCR) system used to reduce NOx in diesel engines requires an NO/$NO_2$ ratio of about 1 in exhaust emissions to realize the fast SCR mode at temperatures lower than $300^{\circ}C$. This study investigated the characteristics of a plasma system as a pre-active apparatus for the fast SCR reaction mode of an SCR system. Plasma was generated by the pulse corona discharge(PCD) method with a four-channel wire-cylinder reactor. This study showed that plasma was easily generated in the exhaust gas by the PCD system, and the peak voltage of the normal state condition for plasma generation was generally 12 kV. The PCD system easily converted NO into $NO_2$ at lower temperatures and the NO/$NO_2$ conversion ratio increased with the discharge current for plasma generation. But the PCD system could not convert NO into $NO_2$ at higher engine speeds and higher engine loads due to the lack of oxygen in exhaust gas. The PCD system also activated the diesel oxidation catalysts(DOC) system to reduce CO emissions.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.538-544
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• 2022

One of the most exciting areas for the development of alternative fuels is the production of biodiesel. To reduce the cost of biodiesel production, in situ trans-esterification has been introduced to simplify the production process by enabling extraction and trans-esterification to occur at a single stage in the presence of a catalyst. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using non-corrosive and environmentally receptive flying jet plasma as an alternative catalytic route for in situ tran-sesterification of castor bean seeds (CBS). Upon optimizing the reaction conditions, it is elucidated that applying a low ratio of methanol to seeds (≤6:1) has resulted in hindering the in situ trans-esterification and leading to insignificant conversion. The yield of esters has increased from 80.5% to 91.7% as the molar ratio rose from 9:1 to 12:1. Excess alcohol beyond the ratio of 15:1 was shown to have a negative impact on the yield of the produced esters, attributed to an increase in the biodiesel portion prone to dissolving in the co-product (glycerol). An increase in the reaction bulk temperature from 40 to 55 ℃ led to a higher ester content by 50%. Further increases in the bulk temperature beyond 55 ℃ did not affect yields. Regarding the reaction period, the results have shown that 3 h of reaction is adequate for a higher biodiesel yield. The quality of the biodiesel obtained has demonstrated that all physicochemical properties meet the ASTM D6751 specifications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.246-246
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• 2012

Smart catalyst design though novel catalyst preparation methods can improve catalytic activity of transition metals on reducible oxide supports such as titania by enhancement of metal oxide interface effects. In this work, we investigated Pt nanoparticles/titania catalysts under CO oxidation reaction by using novel preparation methods in order to enhance its catalytic activity by optimizing metal oxide interface. Arc plasma deposition (APD) and metal impregnation techniques are employed to achieve Pt metal deposition on titania supports which are prepared by multi-target sputtering and Sol-gel techniques. In order to tailor metal-support interface for catalytic CO oxidation reaction, Pt nanoparticles and thin films are deposited in varying surface coverages on sputtered titania films using APD. To assess the role of oxide support at the interface, APD-Pt is deposited on sputtered and Sol-gel prepared titania films. Lastly, characteristics of APD-Pt process are compared with Pt impregnation technique. Our results show that activity of Pt nanoparticles is improved when supported over Sol-Gel prepared titania than sputtered titania film. It is suggested that this enhanced activity can be partly ascribed to a very rough titania surface with the higher free metal surface area and higher number of sites at the interface between the metal and the support. Also, APD-Pt shows superior catalytic activity under CO oxidation as compared to Pt impregnation on sputtered titania support. XPS results show that bulk oxide is formed on Pt when deposited through impregnation and has higher proportion of oxidized Pt in the form of $Pt^{2+/4+}$ oxidation states than Pt metal. APD-Pt shows, however, mild oxidation with large proportion of active Pt metal. APD-Pt also shows trend of increasing CO oxidation activity with number of shots. The activity continues to increase with surface coverage beyond 100%, thus suggesting a very rough and porous Pt films with higher active surface metal sites due to an increased surface area available for the reactant CO and $O_2$ molecules. The results suggest a novel approach for systematic investigation into metal oxide interface by rational catalysts design which can be extended to other metal-support systems in the future.