• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.161-171
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• 1997

$AB_2$ type Zr-based Laves phase alloys have been studied for potential application as negative electrode in Ni/MH batteries. However, They have a serious disadvantage of poor activation behavior in KOH solution. In this work, a new method of alloy design method was tried for improving Zr-based alloy activation. this method has focused on phase controlling to make multi-phase microstructure. In the case of multi-phase Zr-V-Mn-Ni shows good performance in activation, but activation mechanism has not been known. So, we were in search of elucidating this mechanism, Using morphological and electrochemical analysis, we could find that surface morphology and electocatalytic activity of the alloy change during immersion in KOH solution. V-rich second phases are selectively corroded and dissolved and then become Ni-rich phases. Resulting from these surface reaction in KOH solution, self-hydrogen charging occurs through Ni-rich phase. However, the alloy has poor cyclic durability because of such a corrosion mechanism. Therefore, finally we developed durable alloys by substitution of other alloying element.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.62-67
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• 2009

Ti and Ti-alloys have good biocompatibility, appropriate mechanical properties and excellent corrosion resistance. However, the widely used Ti-6Al-4V is found to release toxic ions (Al and V) into the body, leading to undesirable long-term effects. Ti-6Al-4V has much higher elastic modulus (100 GPa) than cortical bone (20 GPa). Therefore, titanium alloys with low elastic modulus have been developed as biomaterials to minimize stress shielding. The electrochemical behavior of surface-modified and MC3T3-E1 cell-cultured Ti-30(Nb,Ta) alloys with low elastic modulus have been investigated using various electrochemical methods. Surfaces of test samples were treated as follows: $0.3{\mu}m$ polished; $25{\mu}m$, $50{\mu}m$ and $125{\mu}m$ sandblasted. Specimen surfaces were cultured with MC3T3-E1 cells for 2 days. Average surface roughness ($R_a$) and morphology of specimens were determined using a surface profilometer, OM, and FE-SEM. Corrosion behavior was investigated using a potentiostat(EG&G PARSTAT 2273), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was performed (10 mHz to 100 kHz) in 0.9% NaCl solution at $36.5{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. The microstructures of the Ti-30(Ta,Nb) alloys had a needle-like appearance. The $R_a$ of polished Ti-30Ta and Ti-30Nb alloys was lower than that of the sandblasted Ti alloy. Cultured cells displayed round shapes. For polished alloy samples, cells were well-cultured on all surfaces compared to sandblasted alloy samples. In sandblasted and cell-cultured Ti-30(Nb,Ta) alloy, the pitting potential decreased and passive current density increased as $R_a$ increased. Anodic polarization curves of cell-cultured Ti alloys showed unstable behavior in the passive region compared to non-cell-cultured alloys. From impedance tests of sandblasted and cell-cultured alloys, the polarization resistance decreased as $R_a$ increased, whereas, $R_a$ for cell-cultured Ti alloys increased compared to non-cell-cultured Ti alloys.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.308-312
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• 2013

Active carbons with high specific surface area and micro pore structure were prepared from the coconut shell char using the chemical activation method of NaOH. The preparation process has been optimized through the analysis of experimental variables such as activating chemical agents to char ratio and the flow rate of gas during carbonization. The active carbons with the surface area (2,481 $m^2/g$) and mean pore size (2.32 nm) were obtained by chemical activation with NaOH. The electrochemical performances of hybrid capacitor were investigated using $LiMn_2O_4$, $LiCoO_2$ as the positive electrode and prepared active carbon as the negative electrode. The electrochemical behaviors of hybrid capacitor using organic electrolytes ($LiPF_6$, $TEABF_4$) were characterized by constant current charge/discharge, cyclic voltammetry, cycle and leakage tests. The hybrid capacitor using $LiMn_2O_4$/AC electrodes had better capacitance than other hybrid systems and was able to deliver a specific energy as high as 131 Wh/kg at a specific power of 1,448 W/kg.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.178-186
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• 2023

Three activation methods (constant voltage, current cycling, and hydrogen pumping) were applied to investigate the effects on the performance of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) loaded with PtCo/C catalyst. The current cycling protocol took the shortest time to activate the MEA, while the performance after activation was the worst among the all activation methods. The constant voltage method took a moderate activation time and exhibited the best performance after activation. The hydrogen pumping protocol took the longest time to activate the MEA with moderate performance after activation. According to the distribution of relaxation time analysis, the improved performance after the activation mainly comes from the decrease of charge transfer resistance rather than the ionic resistance in the cathode catalyst layer, which suggests that the existence of water on the electrode is the key factor for activation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.154-154
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• 2017

Ti-6Al-4V alloys are widely used as metal-lic biomaterials in dentistry and orthopedics due to its excellent biocompatibility and me-chanical properties. However, because of low biological activity, it is difficult to form bone growth directly on the surface of titanium implants. For this reason, surface treatment of plasma electrolytic oxidation(PEO) was used for dental implants. To enhance bioac-tivity on the surface, strontium(Sr) and sili-con(Si) ions can be added to PEO treated sur-face in the electrolyte containing these ions. The presence of Sr in the coating enhances osteoblast activity and differentiation, where-as it inhibits osteoclast production and prolif-eration. And Si has been found to be essen-tial for normal bone, cartilage growth, and development. In this study, electrochemical characteristics of Ca, P, Sr, and Si ions from PEO-treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy surface was re-searched using various experimental instruments. DC power is used and Ti-6Al-4V al-loy was subjected to a voltage of 280 V for 3 minutes in the electrolyte containing 5, 10, 20M% Sr ion and 5M% Si ion. The morphol-ogies of PEO-treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy by electrochemical anodization were examined by field-emission scanning electron micro-scopes (FE-SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and corrosion analysis using AC impedance and potentiodynamic polarization test in 0.9% NaCl solution at similar body tempera-ture using a potentiostat with a scan rate of 1.67mV/s and potential range from -1500mV to + 2000mV.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.249-252
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• 2004

Effects of HA and TiN coating on the electrochemical characteristics of Ti-6AI-4V alloys for bone plates were investigated using various test methods. Ti-6AI-4V alloys were fabricated by using a vacuum induction furnace and bone plates were made by laser cutting and polishing. HA was made of extracted tooth sintered and then tooth ash was used as HA coating target. The TiN and HA film coating on the surface were carried on using electron-beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) method. The corrosion behaviors of the samples were examined through potentiodynamic method in 0.9% NaCI solutions at $36.5\pm$$1^{\circ}C$ and corrosion surface was observed using SEM and XPS. The surface roughness of TiN coated bone plates was lower than that of tooth ash coated plates. The structure of TiN coated layer showed the columnar structure and tooth ash coated layer showed equiaxed and anisotrophic structure. The corrosion potential of the TiN coated specimen is comparatively high. The active current density of TiN and tooth ash coated alloy showed the range of about $1.0xl0^{-5}$ $A\textrm{cm}^2$, whereas that of the non-coated alloy was$ 1.0xl0^{-4}$ $A\textrm{cm}^2$. The active current densities of HA and TiN coated bone plates were smaller than that of non-coated bone plates in 0.9% NaCl solution. The pitting potential of TiN and HA coated alloy is more drastically increased than that of the non-coated alloy. The pit number and pit size of TiN and HA coated alloy decreased in compared with those of non-coated alloy. For the coated samples, corrosion resistance increased in the order of TiN coated, tooth ash coated, and non-coated alloy.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.112-125
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• 2021

The new emerging "High entropy materials" attract the attention of the scientific society because of their simpler structure and spectacular applications in many fields. A novel nanocrystalline high entropy (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 oxide has been successfully synthesized through mechanochemical treatment followed by sintering and air quenching. The present research work focuses on the possibility of single-phase formation in the aforementioned high entropy oxide despite the great difference in the atomic sizes of reactant alkaline earth and 3d transition metal oxides. Structural properties of (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide were explored by confirmation of its single-phase Fd-3m spinel structure by x-ray diffraction (XRD). Further, nanocrystalline nature and morphology were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Among thermal properties, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide is thermally stable up to a temperature of 1200℃. Whereas phase evolution in (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide before and after sintering was analyzed through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Electrochemical studies of (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide consists of a comparison of thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of water and hydrazine hydrate oxidation. Values of activation energy for water oxidation (9.31 kJ mol-1) and hydrazine hydrate oxidation (13.93 kJ mol-1) reveal that (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide is catalytically more active towards water oxidation as compared to that of hydrazine hydrate oxidation. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is also performed to get insight into the kinetics of both types of reactions.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2023

Sodium hydroxide solutions are often employed as sterilization agents in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, the chloride content is considered as a critical impurity. In this study, an electrochemical method was developed to remove chloride ions (Cl^-) through the oxidative deposition of AgCl on a Ag anode. The Cl^- content in the commercially available 50% w/w NaOH solution employed was approximately 100 mg Cl^-/kg NaOH. As the OH^- content is approximately 18,000 times higher than the Cl^- content, the formation of AgCl may be expected to be thermodynamically less favorable than the formation of Ag₂O. However, activation energies for AgCl and Ag₂O formation have been reported to be approximately 3.8 and 31.2 kJ/mol, respectively, and indicate that AgCl formation is favored. AgCl can be selectively produced by controlling the anode potential. Here, the Cl^- concentration was reduced to less than 50 mg Cl^-/kg NaOH when an anode potential of 0.18 or 0.19 V vs. Hg/HgO (reference electrode) was applied for one hour at 50℃. XRD analysis and visual monitoring of the Ag anode confirmed the oxidative deposition of AgCl on the anode surface as well as the electrochemical desalination of the concentrated NaOH solution.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.181-185
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• 1997

The electrochemical properties of the $AB_2$-type (Zr-Ti-V-Ni-Cr-Co-Mn) metal hydride electrodes prepared by ball milling with $AB_5-type\{(LM)Ni_{3.6}Al_{0.4}Co_{0.7}Mn_{0.3}\}$(LM : Lanthanum-rich mischmetal) alloy powder as a surface activator were investigated. By ball milling with $AB_5$ type alloy powder, the activation of $AB_2$ type metal hydride electrode was accelerated resulting in an increase of discharge capacity from 35% to 85% of the maximum capacity at the first cycle. As the amount of surface activator increased the activation rate increased, whereas the discharge capacity increased with 10wt% and decreased with 20wt% addition of the surface activator. When the amount of the surface activator was kept constant as 10wt%, the discharge capacity and the activation rate increased with ball milling time up to 20 hours. However beyond 20 hours of ball milling time, they decreased drastically due to the nano-crystallization or amorphorzation of the alloy powder.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.163-168
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• 2018

Biomass waste-derived carbon is an attractive alternative with environmental benignity to obtain carbon material. In this study, we prepare carbon from coffee grounds as a biomass precursor using a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly method through physical activation using only steam. The coffee-derived carbon, having a micropore-rich structure and a low extent of graphitization of disordered carbon, is developed and directly applied to lithium-ion battery anode material. Compared with the introduction of the Ketjenblack (KB) conducting agent (i.e., coffee-derived carbon with KB), the coffee-derived carbon itself achieves a reversible capacity of ~200 mAh/g (0.54 lithium per 6 carbons) at a current density of 100 mA/g after 100 cycles, along with excellent cycle stability. The origin of highly reversible lithium storage is attributed to the consistent diffusion-controlled intercalation/de-intercalation reaction in cycle life, which suggests that the bulk diffusion of lithium is favorable in the coffee-derived carbon itself, in the absence of a conducting agent. This study presents the preparation of carbon material through physical activation without the use of chemical activation agents and demonstrates an application of coffee-derived carbon in energy storage devices.