• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.297.2-297.2
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• 2016

Photoacoustic generation of ultrasound is an effective approach for development of high-frequency and high-amplitude ultrasound transmitters. This requires an efficient energy converter from optical input to acoustic output. For such photoacoustic conversion, various light-absorbing materials have been used such as metallic coating, dye-doped polymer composite, and nanostructure composite. These transmitters absorb laser pulses with 5-10 ns widths for generation of tens-of-MHz frequency ultrasound. The short optical pulse leads to rapid heating of the irradiated region and therefore fast thermal expansion before significant heat diffusion occurs to the surrounding. In this purpose, nanocomposite thin films containing gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), or carbon nanofibers have been recently proposed for high optical absorption, efficient thermoacosutic transfer, and mechanical robustness. These properties are necessary to produce a high-amplitude ultrasonic output under a low-energy optical input. Here, we investigate carbon nanotube (CNT)-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite transmitters and their nanostructure-originated characteristics enabling extraordinary energy conversion. We explain a thermoelastic energy conversion mechanism within the nanocomposite and examine nanostructures by using a scanning electron microscopy. Then, we measure laser-induced damage threshold of the transmitters against pulsed laser ablation. Particularly, laser-induced damage threshold has been largely overlooked so far in the development of photoacoustic transmitters. Higher damage threshold means that transmitters can withstand optical irradiation with higher laser energy and produce higher pressure output proportional to such optical input. We discuss an optimal design of CNT-PDMS composite transmitter for high-amplitude pressure generation (e.g. focused ultrasound transmitter) useful for therapeutic applications. It is fabricated using a focal structure (spherically concave substrate) that is coated with a CNT-PDMS composite layer. We also introduce some application examples of the high-amplitude focused transmitter based on the CNT-PDMS composite film.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

A graft copolymer, i.e. poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene )-g-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (P(VDF-co-CTFE)-g-PSSA) with 47 wt% of PSSA was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). This copolymer was combined with titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) to produce graft copolymer/$TiO_2$ nanocomposite membranes via sol-gel process. $TiO_2$ precursor (TTIP) was selectively incorporated into the hydrophilic PSSA domains of the graft copolymer and grown to form $TiO_2$ nanoparticles, as confirmed by FT-IR and UV-visible spectroscopy. Water uptake and ion exchange capacity (IEC) decreased with TTIP contents due to the decrease in number of sulfonic acid in the membranes. At 5 wt% of TTIP, the mechanical properties of membranes increased while maintaining the proton conductivity.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.144-149
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• 2010

Ag/polystyrene(PS) nanocomposites were prepared by in situ reduction of silver 2-ethylhexylcarbamate (Ag-CB) complex and follwing radical polymerization only by heating at 110 $^{\circ}C$. In contrast to this conventional heating method, the microwave irradiation afforded well-dispersed silver nanoparticles(NPs) in styrene monomer without polymerization. The synthesis of Ag NPs proceeded uniformly throughout the reaction vessel only under microwave irradiation, completing the reaction simultaneously in the whole reaction solution. Successive polymerization of the monomer containing the resultant NPs has successfully produced a hybrid of the silver NPs dispersed in PS matrix. Ag/PS (0.1/100) nanocomposites were prepared successfully by melt-mixing process using Ag/PS(4.0/100) as a master-batch. UV-VIS spectroscopy, TEM, and X-ray diffraction techniques were used to investigate the process of formation of Ag/PS nanocomposites.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2008

Visible-light responsive $TiO_2$:Zr, N powders were prepared by polymer complex solution method and the particle properties were characterized by using transmission electron microscope, BET method, X-ray diffractometer and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The photocatalytic reactivity of the catalysts was also estimated by analyzing NO degradation. Polyhedral $TiO_2$ powder having about 20 um in the average particle diameter was successfully prepared, The XRD analysis revealed that the as-prepared powder consisted of anatase and rutile phases. The light absorption of the as-prepared $TiO_2$:Zr, N powder was shifted to the visible light. In addition, the as-prepared $TiO_2$:Zr, N nanoparticles showed the higher photocatalytic activity than the commercial $TiO_2$ under both UV and visible lights.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.554-558
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• 2017

In order to achieve a hydrophobic surface of silica, we reacted silica nanoparticles with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) under various reaction conditions. Modification of the surface of silica with organic materials was confirmed by the thermogravity and elemental analysis. The modified silica displayed nearly the same morphology as to the pristine silica. The reaction of 20 g of HMDS with 1 g of silica in decalin at $200^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours was found to be the optimum reaction condition in terms of the dispersity in toluene and the surface roughness of composite films. Oxygen permeation studies of the composite film demonstrated that the modified silica enhanced a gas barrier performance.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.152-156
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• 2011

We have performed microencapsulation of phenyl acetate using poly (urea-formaldehyde) as a shell material, and studied the effect of agitation rate,. core/shell mass ratio, surfactant concentration, and reaction time on capsule characteristics such as size, shell thickness, and surface morphology. The formation of microcapsules was confirmed by FTIR and TGA, and capsule characteristics were studied by optical microscopy and FE-SEM. Capsule size and shell thickness reduced with increasing agitation rate. As the mass of shell material was increased, shell thickness and nanoparticles on capsule surface increased. Capsule size and shell thickness decreased with increasing the concentration of a surfactant. Increasing reaction time caused increased capsule yield and shell thickness.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.300-310
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• 2015

In this study, we modified silica nanoparticles with N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine (TPED) silane coupling agent, which has one primary and one secondary amino groups in a molecule, to introduce amino groups on the silica surface. After modification of silica, we used 3-(acryloyloxy)-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (AHM) to introduce methacrylate groups by Michael addition reaction. We found about 30% of N-H groups on the TPED modified silica surface reacted with acrylate groups of AHM compared to about 85% of reaction between N-H groups of pure TPED with acrylate groups of pure AHM. This lower degree of Michael addition reaction for heterogeneous reaction between N-H groups on the solid TPED modified silica and liquid AHM compared to homogeneous reaction between pure liquid TPED and pure liquid AHM may be caused by lower mobility of grafted amino groups of TPED moiety and higher steric hindrance caused by solid silica particles.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.536-541
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• 2012

The effects of silica content were studied on UV curing characteristics and defect formations in imprinted patterns of hundreads nanometer size for the photo-curable imprinting composites with silica particles. An increase in elasticity and a decrease in shrinkage were observed with an increase in silica content in the imprinting resin which was UV cured at room temperature. However, the patterned nano-pillars were stuck together with neighboring nano-pillars if the amount of silica is more than 7 wt%. This can be ascribed to the increased viscosity of imperfectly cured resin due to the obstruction of the photo-reaction by silica particles. Addition of silica to the imprinting resin is useful in enhancing the strength of the cured resin although it is difficult to get good imprinted patterns for the resin with more than 7 wt% of silica due to the reduction of photo-reaction conversion.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.777-783
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• 2013

We used dipodal type bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]amine (BTMA) silane coupling agent to modify silica nanoparticles to introduce secondary amino groups on the silica surface. These grafted N-H groups were reacted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) to introduce polymerizable methacrylate groups on the silica surface. After modification reaction, we used several analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis (EA) and solid state $^{13}C$ cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to analyze the effects of reaction time, reaction temperature and used GMA concentration on the modification degree between N-H groups on the silica surface and epoxide groups of GMA. We found increased introduction of methacrylate groups on the silica surface by ring opening reaction of epoxide groups of GMA with N-H groups on BTMA treated silica with increased reaction time, reaction temperature and used GMA concentration within our experimental conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.363.2-363.2
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• 2016

Stretchable strain sensors are becoming essential in diverse future applications, such as human motion detection, soft robotics, and various biomedical devices. One of the well-known approaches for fabricating stretchable strain sensors is to embed conductive nanomaterials such as metal nanowires/nanoparticles, graphene, conducting polymer and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within an elastomeric substrate. Among various conducting nanomaterials, CNTs have been considered as important and promising candidate materials for stretchable strain sensors owing to their high electrical conductivity and excellent mechanical properties. In the past decades, CNT-based strain sensors with high stretchability or sensitivity have been developed. However, CNT-based strain sensors which show both high stretchability and sensitivity have not been reported. Herein, highly stretchable and sensitive strain sensors were fabricated by integrating single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and nylon textiles via vacuum-assisted spray-layer-by-layer process. Our strain sensors had high sensitivity with 100 % tensile strain (gauge factor ~ 100). Cyclic tests confirmed that our strain sensors showed very robust and reliable characteristic. Moreover, our SWNTs-based strain sensors were easily and successfully integrated on human finger and knee to detect bending and walking motion. Our approach presented here might be route to preparing highly stretchable and sensitive strain sensors with providing new opportunity to realize practical wearable devices.