• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.259-275
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• 2008

This study aims to optimize the mechanical and electrical properties of electrically conductive polymer composites (CPCs) for use as a material of bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells. The thin CPCs consisting of conductive fillers and polymer resin were fabricated by a preform molding technique. Expanded graphite (EG), flake-type graphite (FG) and carbon fiber (CF) were used as conductive fillers. This study tested two types of CPCs, EG/FG filled CPCs and EG/CF filled CPCs, to optimize the material properties. First, the characteristics of EG/FG filled CPCs were investigated according to the FG ratio for 7 and $100{\mu}m$ sized FG. CPCs using $100{\mu}m$ FG showed optimal material properties at 60 wt% FG ratio, which were an electrical conductivity of 390 S/cm and flexural strength of 51 MPa. The particle size was an important parameter to change the mechanical and electrical behaviors. The flexural strength was sensitive to the particle size due to the different levels of densification. The electrical conductivity also showed size-dependent behavior because of the different contributions to the conductive network. Meanwhile, the material properties of EG/CF filled CPCs was also optimized according to the CF ratio, and the optimized electrical conductivity and flexural strength were 290 S/cm and 58 MPa, respectively. The electrical conductivity of this case decreased similarly to the EG/FG filled case. On the other hand, the behavior of the flexural strength was more complicated than the EG/FG filled case, and the reason was attributed to the interaction between the strengthening effect of CF and the deterioration of voids.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.543-547
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• 2011

A study has been done to enhance the mechanical properties and processability of electrically conductive polyaniline(PANI) without the polymer's structural alternation. Functionalized acid doped PANI (PANI-DBSA) was prepared by an emulsion polymerization, and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) played both roles of surfactant and dopant. Also, PANI-DBSA was solution cast blended with high impact polystyrene (HIPS) to produce PANI-DBSA/HIPS blend film. The structure and electrical properties of the conducting polymer blends were observed through UV-vis and FTIR/ATR spectroscopy. A study of the blend was carried by focusing on observation of mechanical and electrical properties based on dispersibility and changes in polymer morphology. The conductivity of the blends was increased by increasing the content of PANI-DBSA, and the sudden increase of conductivity to $3.5{\times}10^{-4}$ S/cm was observed even under a low content of 9 wt%. There was a strong association of continuous network formation with percolation and conductivity in the conducting polymer blends.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.376-380
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• 2016

A composite electrode made of iron oxide nanoparticles/multi-wall carbon nanotube (iNPs/M) delivers high specific capacity and cycle durability. At a rate of $200mAg^{-1}$, the electrode shows a high discharge capacity of ${\sim}664mAhg^{-1}$ after 100 cycles, which is ~ 70% of the theoretical capacity of $Fe_3O_4$. Carbon black, carbon nanotube, and graphene as anode materials have been explored to improve the electrical conductivity and cycle stability in Li ion batteries. Herein, iron oxide nanoparticles on acid treated MWCNTs as a conductive platform are combined to enhance the drawbacks of $Fe_3O_4$ such as low electrical conductivity and volume expansion during the alloying/dealloying process. Enhanced performance was achieved due to a synergistic effect between electrically 3D networks of conductive MWCNTs and the high Li ion storage ability of $Fe_3O_4$ nanoparticles (iNPs).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.168-177
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• 1992

The importance of the study of two phase flow phenomena has increased for both fuel performance and safety analysis of nuclear power plants. In the analysis of two phase flow system, an accurate prediction of local void fractions is very important. In this study, a vertical rectangular subchannel having 4 electrically heated rods is constructed for the measurement of local void fraction under two phase flow. The measurement has been conducted by electrical conductivity probes and signal processing circuit which are known to be adequate to measuring local void fraction. Also experiments are performed with varying the inlet flow rate to search for radial void fraction profile accordingly to the different flow rate even with the same averaged void fraction. From the result of experiments, the validity of electrical conductivity probe and electrical circuit is confirmed.

• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.61-67
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• 2004

This paper reports the electrical conductivity and the stress-strain behavior of silver particle-filled silicone composite pastes for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding gasket materials. The percolation threshold (critical concentration) of the composite paste obtained by incorporating irregular sphere-shaped silver particles and room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone resin was determined from the electrical conductivity result. At about 28 vol% Beading of untreated silver particles, the percolation phenomenon occurred and at this critical concentration, the volumetric resistivity, the tensile strength, and the elongation of the pastes were investigated. This work also suggests that the stress-strain characteristics of a composite paste filled with metal particles above the percolation threshold may be effectively improved by properly selecting a coupling agent.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.246-254
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• 2022

Localized heat can be generated using electrically conductive word-lines built into a 3D NAND flash memory string. The heat anneals the gate dielectric layer and improves the endurance and retention characteristics of memory cells. However, even though the electro-thermal annealing can improve the memory operation, studies to investigate material failures resulting from electro-thermal stress have not been reported yet. In this context, this paper investigated how applying electro-thermal annealing of 3D NAND affected mechanical stability. Hot-spots, which are expected to be mechanically damaged during the electro-thermal annealing, can be determined based on understanding material characteristics such as thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and electrical conductivity. Finally, several guidelines for improving mechanical stability are provided in terms of bias configuration as well as alternative materials.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.173-178
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• 2012

The $Y_2O_3$ ceramics have been widely used as plasma resistant materials in the semiconductor industry. In this study, composites made of plasma resistant $Y_2O_3$ and electrically conductive carbon have been produced. The electrical properties of this composite were measured with respect to the size, volume fraction of the conductive carbon phase, and sintering temperature. When micro-sized carbon was used, the composites were insulating up to 5 wt% addition of the carbon. However, when nano-sized carbon of around 60 ~100 nm was used, the composites became conductive over threshold volume fraction of carbon, which increased with increasing sintering temperature. This behavior of electrical conductivity of the composites was discussed in terms of the percolation theory. The percolation threshold of the conductivity seemed to be affected by the grain growth and coalescences of dispersed conductive carbon phases with grain growth of matrix $Y_2O_3$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.207-207
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• 2012

Si quantum dot (QD) imbedded in a $SiO_2$ matrix is a promising material for the next generation optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells and light emission diodes (LEDs). However, low conductivity of the Si quantum dot layer is a great hindrance for the performance of the Si QD-based optoelectronic devices. The effective doping of the Si QDs by semiconducting elements is one of the most important factors for the improvement of conductivity. High dielectric constant of the matrix material $SiO_2$ is an additional source of the low conductivity. Active doping of B was observed in nanometer silicon layers confined in $SiO_2$ layers by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) depth profiling analysis and confirmed by Hall effect measurements. The uniformly distributed boron atoms in the B-doped silicon layers of $[SiO_2(8nm)/B-doped\;Si(10nm)]_5$ films turned out to be segregated into the $Si/SiO_2$ interfaces and the Si bulk, forming a distinct bimodal distribution by annealing at high temperature. B atoms in the Si layers were found to preferentially substitute inactive three-fold Si atoms in the grain boundaries and then substitute the four-fold Si atoms to achieve electrically active doping. As a result, active doping of B is initiated at high doping concentrations above $1.1{\times}10^{20}atoms/cm^3$ and high active doping of $3{\times}10^{20}atoms/cm^3$ could be achieved. The active doping in ultra-thin Si layers were implemented to silicon quantum dots (QDs) to realize a Si QD solar cell. A high energy conversion efficiency of 13.4% was realized from a p-type Si QD solar cell with B concentration of $4{\times}1^{20}atoms/cm^3$. We will present the diffusion behaviors of the various dopants in silicon nanostructures and the performance of the Si quantum dot solar cell with the optimized structures.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.204-211
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• 2021

We report, synthesis of high surface area composite carbon aerogel using additive based polymerization technique by incorporating graphitic porous carbon as additive. This additive was separately prepared using sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol-furfuraldehyde in iso-propyl alcohol medium at much above the routine gelation temperature to yield porous carbon (CA-IPA) having graphitic layered morphology. CA-IPA exhibited a unique combination of meso-pore dominated surface area (~ 700 m²/g) and good conductivity of ~ 300 S/m. The composite carbon aerogel (CCA) was synthesized by traditional aqueous medium based resorcinol-formaldehyde gelation with CA-IPA as additive. The presence of CA-IPA favored enhanced meso-porosity as well as contributed to improvement in bulk conductivity. Based on the surface area characteristics, CCA-8 composition having 8% additive was found to be optimum. It showed specific surface area of ~ 2056 m²/g, mesopore area of 827 m²/g and electrical conductivity of 180 S/m. The electrode formed with CCA-8 showed improved electrochemical behavior, with specific capacitance of 148 F/g & ESR < 1 Ω, making it a better choice as super capacitor for energy storage applications.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2013

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are electrically conductive. When CNFs are used as fillers in resin, this electrical conductivity can be yielded without adversely affecting the mechanical properties of the resin. When an elastomer is adopted as the resin, a conductive elastomer can then be produced. Due to its flexibility and conductive properties, a large strain sensor based on changes in resistivity may be produced, for strain sensing in flexible structures. In this study, a patch-type large strain sensor using resistivity change in a CNF/elastomer composite was proposed. The measurement limits of the sensor were investigated experimentally, and the limit was found to be 40%, which greatly exceeded the limits of conventional metal-foiled strain gages. Also, the proposed CNF/elastomer large strain sensor can be used to measure flexible materials, while conventional strain gages cannot be used to measure such strains.