• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2019

Current synthesis processes for titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) nanoparticles require expensive precursors or templates as well as complex steps and long reaction times. In addition, these processes produce highly agglomerated nanoparticles. In this study, we demonstrate a simple and continuous approach to synthesize $TiO_2$ nanoparticles by a salt-assisted ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. We also investigate the effect of salt content in a precursor solution on the morphology and size of synthesized products. The synthesized $TiO_2$ nanoparticles are systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron micrograph, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. These nanoparticles appear to have a single anatase phase and a uniform particle-size distribution with an average particle size of approximately 10 nm. By extrapolating the plots of the transformed Kubelka-Munk function versus the absorbed light energy, we determine that the energy band gap of the synthesized $TiO_2$ nanoparticles is 3.25 eV.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.208-213
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• 2019

In this study, lanthanum oxide ($La_2O_3$) dispersed molybdenum ($Mo-La_2O_3$) alloys are fabricated using lanthanum nitrate solution and nanosized Mo particles produced by hydrogen reduction of molybdenum oxide. The effect of $La_2O_3$ dispersion in a Mo matrix on the fracture toughness at room temperature is demonstrated through the formation behavior of $La_2O_3$ from the precursor and three-point bending test using a single-edge notched bend specimen. The relative density of the $Mo-0.3La_2O_3$ specimen sintered by pressureless sintering is approximately 99%, and $La_2O_3$ with a size of hundreds of nanometers is uniformly distributed in the Mo matrix. It is also confirmed that the fracture toughness is $19.46MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$, an improvement of approximately 40% over the fracture toughness of $13.50MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$ on a pure-Mo specimen without $La_2O_3$, and this difference in the fracture toughness occurs because of the changes in fracture mode of the Mo matrix caused by the dispersion of $La_2O_3$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.328-335
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• 2019

Nb-doped $TiO_2$(NTO) coated NiCrAl alloy foam for hydrogen production is prepared using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis deposition(USPD) method. To optimize the size and distribution of NTO particles based on good physical and chemical stability, we synthesize particles by adjusting the weight ratio of the Nb precursor solution(5 wt%, 10 wt% and 15 wt%). The morphological, chemical bonding, and structural properties of the NTO coated NiCrAl alloy foam are investigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy(XPS), and Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy(FESEM). As a result, the samples of controlled Nb weight ratio exhibit a common diffraction pattern at ${\sim}25.3^{\circ}$, corresponding to the(101) plane, and have chemical bonding(O-Nb=O) at 534 eV. The NTO particles with the optimum weight ratio of N (10 wt%) show a uniform distribution with a size of ~18.2-21.0 nm. In addition, they exhibit the highest corrosion resistance even in the electrochemical stability estimation. As a result, the introduction of NTO coated NiCrAl alloy foam by USPD improves the chemical stability of the NiCrAl alloy foam by protecting the direct electrochemical reaction between the foam and the electrolyte. Thus, the optimized NTO coating can be proposed for excellent protection of NiCrAl alloy foam for hydrocarbon-based steam methane reforming(SMR).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.257-262
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• 2019

The control of microstructure is critical for the porous fuel particles used for infiltrating actinide nuclides. This study concerns the effect of heating processes on properties and microstructure of the fuel particles. The uniform gel precursor beads were synthesized by a microfluidic sol-gel process and then the porous $CeO_2$ microspheres, as a surrogate for the ceramic nuclear fuel particles, were obtained by heating treatment of the gel precursors. The fabricated $CeO_2$ microspheres have a narrow size distribution and good sphericity due to the feature of microfluidics. The effects of heating processes parameters, such as heating mode and peak temperatures on the properties of microspheres were studied in detail. An optimized heating mode and the peak temperature of $650^{\circ}C$ were selected to produce porous $CeO_2$ microspheres. The optimized heating mode can avoid the appearance of broken or crack microspheres in the heating process, and as-prepared porous microspheres were of suitable pore size distribution and pore volume for loading minor actinide (MA) solution by an infiltration method that is used for fabrication of MA-bearing nuclear fuel beads. After the infiltration process, $1000^{\circ}C$ was selected as the final temperature to improve the compressive strength of microspheres.

• Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.2283-2289
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• 2018

$TiO_2$ microspheres were successfully synthesised by simple solution phase method by using various amount of titanium butoxide as precursor. The prepared $TiO_2$ were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis diffuse reflectance absorption spectra (UV-DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD analysis revealed that the as-synthesized $TiO_2$ microsphere poses an anatase phase. The photocatalytic degradation experiments were carried out with three different dyes, such as methylene blue, brilliant black, reactive red-120 for four hours under UV light irradiation. The results show that $TiO_2$ morphology had great influence on photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes. The experimental results of dye mineralization indicated the concentration was reduced by a high portion of up to 99% within 4 hours. On the basis of various characterization of the photocatalysts, the reactions involved to explain the photocatalytic activity enhancement due to the concentration of titanium butoxide and morphology include a better separation of photogenerated charge carriers and improved oxygen reduction inducing a higher extent of degradation of aromatics.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.635-638
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• 2020

We prepared spherical silica by minimizing the amount of oil through water/oil (W/O) emulsion. The spherical silica was successfully synthesized by using 20 to 60 mL of hexane as an oil for 283 g of water glass. The size of silica was dependent on the amount of oil where the size of silica particles increased as the amount of oil increased. The specific surface areas of samples measured using the BET method were 186 to 230 ㎡/g. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis results showed that the SiO2 content was more than 90% while sodium was 3.27~4.5 wt. %. The spherical silica prepared in this study could be optimized for mass synthesis and commercialization because the industrial sodium silicate solution was used as a precursor of Si as well as the minimum amounts of hexane and nonionic surfactant were employed.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.81-85
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• 2022

Mist-CVD is known to have advantages of low cost and high productivity method since the precursor solution is misting with an ultrasonic generator and reacted on the substrate under vacuum-free conditions of atmospheric pressure. However, since the deposition distribution is not uniform, various efforts have been made to derive optimal conditions by changing the angle of the substrate and the position of the outlet to improve the result of the preceding study. Therefore, in this study, a deposition distribution uniformity model was derived through the shape and position of the substrate support and the conditions of inlet flow rate using the particle tracking method of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The results of analysis were compared with the previous studies through experiment. It was confirmed that the rate of deposition area was improved from 38.7% to 100%, and the rate of deposition uniformity was 79.07% which was higher than the predicted result of simulation. Particle tracking method can reduce trial and error in experiments and can be considered as a reliable prediction method.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.574-582
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• 2022

A lithium-ion battery exhibits high energy density but has many limitations due to safety issues. Currently, as a solution for this, research on solid state batteries is attracting attention and is actively being conducted. Among the solid electrolytes, sulfide-based solid electrolytes are receiving much attention with high ion conductivity, but there is a limit to commercialization due to the relatively high price of lithium sulfide, which is a precursor material. This study focused on the possibility of relatively inexpensive and light lithium hydride and conducted an experiment on it. In order to analyze the characteristics of LiAlH₄, ion conductivity and thermal stability were measured, and a composites mixed with PVDF, a representative polymer electrolyte, was synthesized to confirm a change in characteristics. And metallurgical changes in the material were performed through XRD, SEM, and BET analysis, and ion conductivity and thermal stability were measured by EIS and LFA methods. As a result, Li₃AlH₆ having ion conductivity higher than LiAlH₄ is formed by the synthesis of composite materials, and thus ion conductivity is slightly improved, but thermal stability is rapidly degraded due to structural irregularity.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.23-26
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• 2007

The influence of water partial pressure in Metal-organic Deposition (MOD) method was investigated on the texture and the morphology of $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x}$ (YBCO) films grown on the buffered metal tapes. The water partial pressure was varied from 4.2% up to 10.0% with the other process variables, such as annealing temperature and oxygen partial pressure, kept constant. In this work, the fluorine-free Y & Cu precursor solution added with Sm was synthesized and coated by the continuous slot-die coating & calcination step. The next annealing step of the YBCO films was done by the reel-to-reel method with the gas flowed vertically down. From the x-ray diffraction analysis, the un-reacted phase like $BaF_2$ peak was found at the water partial pressure of 4.2%, but $BaF_2$ peak intensity is much reduced as the water partial pressure is increased. However, the higher water partial pressure of about 10% in this experiment leads to the poor crystallinity of YBCO films. The morphologies of the YBCO films were not different from each other when the water partial pressure was varied in this work. The maximum critical current density of 3.8MA/$cm^2$ was obtained at the water partial pressure of 6.2% with the annealing temperature of 780$^{\circ}C$ and oxygen partial pressure of 500ppm.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.85-95
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• 2023

In recent years, solid-state Li metal batteries (SSLBs) have attracted significant attention as the next-generation batteries with high energy and power densities. However, uncontrolled dendrite growth and the resulting pulverization of Li during repeated plating/stripping processes must be addressed for practical applications. Herein, we report a plastic-crystal-based polymer/ceramic composite solid electrolyte (PCCE) to resolve these issues. To fabricate the one-side ceramic-incorporated PCCE (CI-PCCE) film, a mixed precursor solution comprising plastic-crystal-based polymer (succinonitrile, SN) with garnet-structured ceramic (Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂, LLZO) particles was infused into a thin cellulose membrane, which was used as a mechanical framework, and subsequently solidified by using UV-irradiation. The CI-PCCE exhibited good flexibility and a high room-temperature ionic conductivity of over 10^-3 S cm^-1. The Li symmetric cell assembled with CI-PCCE provided enhanced durability against Li dendrite penetration through the solid electrolyte (SE) layer than those with LLZO-free PCCEs and exhibited long-term cycling stability (over 200 h) for Li plating/stripping. The enhanced Li⁺ transference number and lower interfacial resistance of CI-PCCE indicate that the ceramic-polymer composite layer in contact with the Li anode enabled the uniform distribution of Li⁺ flux at the interface between the Li metal and CI-PCCE, thereby promoting uniform Li plating/stripping. Consequently, the Li//LiFePO₄ (LFP) full cell constructed with CI-PCCE demonstrated superior rate capability (~120 mAh g^-1 at 2 C) and stable cycle performance (80% after 100 cycles) than those with ceramic-free PCCE.