• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.191-200
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• 2022

Na-β"-Al₂O₃ has been widely employed as a solid electrolyte for high-temperature sodium (Na) beta-alumina batteries (NBBs) thanks to its superb thermal stability and high ionic conductivity. Recently, a vapor phase conversion (VPC) method has been newly introduced to fabricate thin Na-β"-Al₂O₃ electrolytes by converting α-Al₂O₃ into β"-Al₂O₃ in α-Al₂O₃/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) composites under Na⁺ and O^2- dual percolation environments. One of the main challenges that need to be figured out is lowered conductivity due to the large volume fraction of the non-Na⁺-conducting YSZ. In this study, the effect of lithia addition in the β"-Al₂O₃ phase on the grain size and ionic conductivity of Na-β"-Al₂O₃/YSZ solid electrolytes have been investigated in order to enhance the conductivity of the electrolyte. The amount of pre-added lithia (Li₂O) precursor as a phase stabilizer was varied at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 mol% against that of Al₂O₃. It turns out that ionic conductivity increases even with 1 mol% lithia addition and reaches 67 mS cm^-1 at 350 ℃ of its maximum with 3 mol%, which is two times higher than that of the undoped composite.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.133-140
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• 2010

Carbon fiber has many potential applications in a wide array of fields of solar cell, fuel cell, batteries, and polymer matrix composites due to an exceptional mechanical properties and chemical stability. In this study, the effects of catalysts on the property of carbon nanostructures grown on the carbon fiber were systematically investigated. The surface treatment of carbon fiber and catalysts synthesis for carbon nanostructures growth were carried out by one-pot ELP method and thermal CVD, respectively. The surface morphology and crystal structure of carbon nanostructures were examined using a field emission scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. Depending on the type of catalysts and the molar ratio, various types of carbon nanostructures like carbon nanotube, carbon nanofilament, carbon nanospring and etc. were synthesized on the surface of carbon fibers surface.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.63-67
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• 2012

We prepared various $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.15}Al_{0.05}O_2-LiFePO_4$ mixed-cathode electrodes by changing the content of $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.15}Al_{0.05}O_2$ and $LiFePO_4$ used, and we analyzed the electrochemical characteristics of the cathodes. We found that the reversible specific capacity of the cathodes increased and that the capacity retention ratios of the cathodes decreased during cycling as the content of $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.15}Al_{0.05}O_2$ increased. Conversely, we found that although the reversible specific capacity of the cathodes decreased because of the material composition, the cycle property of the cathodes increased when the $LiFePO_4$ content increased. We analyzed the thermal stability of the $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.15}Al_{0.05}O_2-LiFePO_4$ mixed-material cathodes by differential scanning calorimetry and found that it increased as the $LiFePO_4$ content increased.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.172-176
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• 2019

The first commercialized cathode material, $LiCoO_2$, suffers from disadvantages such as high cost and toxicity and also possesses safety problems. The nickel-rich $LiNi_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}O_2$ cathode material, used as an alternative to $LiCoO_2$, has highly reversible capacity and high energy density. So, the nickel-rich $LiNi_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}O_2$ cathode material is widely used as an alternative to $LiCoO_2$ due to its highly reversible capacity and high energy density. However, $LiNi_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}O_2$ has several disadvantages as well, such as poor cycle performance and poor thermal instability. To address these problems, we synthesized a new material, $LiNi_{0.5}Mn_{0.5}O_2$, as a shell on the surface of a core to suppress the surface degradation. The new material showed high structural and thermal stabilities and could also maintain a high capacity. The capacity retention of the core-shell cathode (87.7%) was better than that of the core cathode (76.9%) after 50 cycles. Analysis using differential scanning calorimetry revealed that the heat generation in the core-shell cathode ($65.9Jg^{-1}$) was lower than that in the core cathode ($559.7Jg^{-1}$).

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.155-161
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• 2009

Lithium secondary batteries have been widely used in the portable electric devices as power source. Recently it is expected that the realm of its applications expands to the markets such as energy storage medium of hybrid electric vehicle(HEV), electric vehicle(EV). Cathode active material is crucial in terms of performance, durability, capacity of lithium secondary batteries. It is urgent to develope the technology for mass production of cathode material to cope with the markets' demands in the near future. In this study, a calcination furnace running in real production line is modelled in 3D, and the thermal flow and gas flow after chemical reaction in the furnace is analyzed through numerical computations. Based on the results, it is shown that large volume of $CO_2$ gas is generated from chemical reaction. High concentration of $CO_2$ gas and it's stagnation is clearly found from the reactant containers in which the reaction occur to the bottom area of the furnace. It is also studied that 15% or more $CO_2$ mol fraction could affect to proper formation of $LiCoO_2$ through TGA-DSC analysis. The solutions to evacuate carbon dioxide from the furnace are suggested through the change of furnace design and operating condition as well.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.292-299
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• 2014

In this study, nitrogen doped carbon felt (CFt) is prepared using thermal oxidation and liquid phase ammonia treatment to improve the efficiency for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB). The electrochemical properties of prepared CFt electrodes are investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and charge/discharge test. The XPS result shows that the increase of liquid phase ammonia treatment temperature leads to the increased nitrogen functional group on the CFt surface. Redox reaction characteristics using CV reveal that the liquid phase ammonia treated CFt electrodes are more reversible than the thermally oxidized CFt. When CFt is treated by the liquid phase ammonia at $300^{\circ}C$, VRFB cell energy efficiency, voltage efficiency, and current efficiency are increased about 6.93%, 1.0%, and 4.5%, respectively, compared to those of the thermally oxidized CFt. These results are because nitrogen functional groups on CFt help to improve the electrochemical properties of redox reaction between electrode and electrolyte interface.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.87-103
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• 2019

Nonaqueous organic electrolyte solution in commercially available lithium-ion batteries, due to its flammability, corrosiveness, high volatility, and thermal instability, is demanding to be substituted by safer solid electrolyte with higher cycle stability, which will be utilized effectively in large-scale power sources such as electric vehicles and energy storage system. Of various types of solid electrolytes, composite solid electrolytes with polymer matrix and active inorganic fillers are now most promising in achieving higher ionic conductivity and excellent interface contact. In this review, some kinds and brief history of solid electrolyte are at first introduced and consequent explanations of polymer solid electrolytes and inorganic solid electrolytes (including active and inactive fillers) are comprehensively carried out. Composite solid electrolytes including these polymer and inorganic materials are also described with their electrochemical properties in terms of filler shapes, such as particle (0D), fiber (1D), plane (2D), and solid body (3D). In particular, in all-solid-state lithium batteries using lithium metal anode, the interface characteristics are discussed in terms of cathode-electrolyte interface, anode-electrolyte interface, and interparticle interface. Finally, current requisites and future perspectives for the composite solid electrolytes are suggested by help of some decent reviews recently reported.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.184-190
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• 2022

Spinel LiMn₂O₄ (LMO) and layered LiNi_0.5Co_0.2Mn_0.3O₂ (NCM) are widely used as positive electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. LMO and NCM positive electrode materials have a complementary properties. LMO has low cost and high safety and NCM materials show a relatively high specific capacity and better cycle life even at elevated temperature. Therefore, the LMO and NCM active materials are blended and used as a positive electrode in large-size batteries for electric vehicles (xEV). In this study, the cycle performance of a blended electrode prepared by simply mixing LMO and NCM and a bi-layer electrode in which two electrode layers aree sequentially coated are compared. The bi-layer electrode prepared by composing the same ratio of both active materials has similar capacity and cycle performance to the blend electrode. However, the LN electrode coated with LMO first and then NCM is the best in the full cell cycle performance at elevated temperature, and the NL electrode, in which NCM is first coated with LMO has a faster capacity degradation than the blended electrode because LMO is mainly located on the top of the electrode adjacent to electrolyte and graphite negative electrode. Also, the LSTA (linear sweep thermmametry) analysis results show that the LN bi-layer electrode in which the LMO is located inside the electrode has good thermal stability.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2010

Porous poly(propylene) supported gel polymer electrolytes (GPE) were synthesized by thermal polymerization of DEGDMA [Di(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate] in electrolyte solutions (1 M solution of $LiPF_6$ in EC/DEC 1 : 1 mixture) at $70^{\circ}C$. AC impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry were used to evaluate its ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability window of the GPE membranes. Lithium ion battery (LIB) cells were also fabricated with $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2$/graphite and GPE membranes via thermal polymerization process. Through the thermal polymerization, self sustaining GPE membranes with sufficient ionic conductivities (over $10^{-3}\;S/cm$) and electrochemical stabilities. The LIB cell with 5% monomer showed the best rate-capability and cycleability.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.405-422
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• 2013

Atomic layer deposition(ALD) is a promising deposition method and has been studied and used in many different areas, such as displays, semiconductors, batteries, and solar cells. This method, which is based on a self-limiting growth mechanism, facilitates precise control of film thickness at an atomic level and enables deposition on large and three dimensionally complex surfaces. For instance, ALD technology is very useful for 3D and high aspect ratio structures such as dynamic random access memory(DRAM) and other non-volatile memories(NVMs). In addition, a variety of materials can be deposited using ALD, oxides, nitrides, sulfides, metals, and so on. In conventional ALD, the source and reactant are pulsed into the reaction chamber alternately, one at a time, separated by purging or evacuation periods. Thermal ALD and metal organic ALD are also used, but these have their own advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, plasma-enhanced ALD has come into the spotlight because it has more freedom in processing conditions; it uses highly reactive radicals and ions and for a wider range of material properties than the conventional thermal ALD, which uses $H_2O$ and $O_3$ as an oxygen reactant. However, the throughput is still a challenge for a current time divided ALD system. Therefore, a new concept of ALD, fast ALD or spatial ALD, which separate half-reactions spatially, has been extensively under development. In this paper, we reviewed these various kinds of ALD equipment, possible materials using ALD, and recent ALD research applications mainly focused on materials required in microelectronics.