• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2017

Combustion of ethanol (EtOH) at low temperatures has been studied using titania- and silica-supported platinum nanocrystallites with different sizes in a wide range of 1~25 nm, to see if EtOH can be used as a clean, alternative fuel, i.e., one that does not emit sulfur oxides, fine particulates and nitrogen oxides, and if the combustion flue gas can be used for directly heating the interior of greenhouses. The results of $H_2-N_2O$ titration on the supported Pt catalysts with no calcination indicate a metal dispersion of $0.97{\pm}0.1$, corresponding to ca. 1.2 nm, while the calcination of 0.65% $Pt/SiO_2$ at 600 and $900^{\circ}C$ gives the respective sizes of 13.7 and 24.6 nm when using X-ray diffraction technique, as expected. A comparison of EtOH combustion using $Pt/TiO_2$ and $Pt/SiO_2$ catalysts with the same metal content, dispersion and nanoparticle size discloses that the former is better at all temperatures up to $200^{\circ}C$, suggesting that some acid sites can play a role for the combustion. There is a noticeable difference in the combustion characteristics of EtOH at $80{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ between samples of 0.65% $Pt/SiO_2$ consisting of different metal particle sizes; the catalyst with larger platinum nanoparticles shows higher intrinsic activity. Besides the formation of $CO_2$, low-temperature combustion of EtOH can lead to many other pathways that generate undesired byproducts, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, diethyl ether, and ethylene, depending strongly on the catalyst and reaction conditions. A 0.65% $Pt/SiO_2$ catalyst with a Pt crystallite size of 24.6 nm shows stable performances in EtOH combustion at $120^{\circ}C$ even for 12 h, regardless of the space velocity allowed.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.25-33
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• 2015

In this study, Fe₃O₄-ACCS-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully synthesized using silica extracted from corn cob ash. The synthesized Fe₃O₄-ACCS-Ag NPs were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopyenergy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In addition, the potential application of Fe₃O₄-ACCS-Ag NPs as an antibacterial material in water disinfection was investigated using Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 as model bacteria. The antibacterial activity of synthesized composite material showed 99.9% antibacterial effect within 20 min for the tested bacteria. From this experiment, the synthesized Fe₃O₄-ACCS-Ag nanocomposites also hold magnetic properties and could be easily recovered from the water solution for its reuse. The reused nanocomposites presented the decreasing antibacterial efficiencies with the reuse cycle but the composite used three times still killed 90% of bacteria in 20 min.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.233-242
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• 2023

In recent years, energy-management studies in buildings have proven useful for energy savings. Typically, during heating and cooling, the energy from a given building is lost through its windows. Generally, to block the entry of ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) rays, thin films of deposited metals or metal oxides are used, and the blocking of UV and IR rays by these thin films depends on the materials deposited on them. Therefore, by controlling the thicknesses and densities of the thin films, improving the transmittance of visible light and the blocking of heat rays such as UV and IR may be possible. Such improvements can be realized not only by changing the two-dimensional thin films but also by altering the zero-dimensional (0-D) nanostructures deposited on the films. In this study, 0-D nanoparticles were synthesized using a sol -gel procedure. The synthesized nanoparticles were deposited as deep coatings on polymer and glass substrates. Through spectral analysis in the UV-visible (vis) region, thin-film layers of deposited zinc oxide nanoparticles blocked >95 % of UV rays. For high transmittance in the visible-light region and low transmittance in the IR and UV regions, hybrid multiple layers of silica nanoparticles, zinc oxide particles, and fluorine-doped tin oxide nanoparticles were formed on glass and polymer substrates. Spectrophotometry in the UV-vis-near-IR regions revealed that the substrates prevented heat loss well. The glass and polymer substrates achieved transmittance values of 80 % in the visible-light region, 50 % to 60 % in the IR region, and 90 % in the UV region.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 2011

In this work, mesoporous carbons (CMK-3) were prepared by a conventional templating method using mesoporous silica (SBA-15) for using catalyst supports in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The CMK-3 were chemically activated to obtain high surface area and small pore diameter with different potassium hydroxide (KOH) amounts, i.e., 0, 1, 3, and 4 g as an activating agent. And then Pt-Ru was deposited onto activated CMK-3 (K-CMK-3) by a chemical reduction method. The characteristics of Pt-Ru catalysts deposited onto K-CMK-3 were determined by surface area and pore size analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and inductive coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The electrochemical properties of Pt-Ru/K-CMK-3 catalysts were also analyzed by cyclic voltammetry (CV). From the results, the K3g-CMK-3 carbon supports activated with 3 g KOH showed the highest specific surface areas. In addition, the K3g-CMK-3 led to uniform dispersion of Pt-Ru onto K-CMK-3, resulted in the enhancement of elelctro-catalystic activity of Pt-Ru catalysts.