• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2012

Soft carbons are prepared by heat-treatment of cokes with different amounts of phosphoric acid (2, 4.5, and 10 wt% vs. cokes) at $900^{\circ}C$ to be used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. From electrochemical measurements combined with structural analyses, we confirm that abundant nano-pores are existed in the microstructure of soft carbons prepared with the phosphoric acid, which are responsible for further lithium ion storage. Significant increase in reversible capacity of soft carbon is attained in proportion to added amount of the phosphoric acid. We also demonstrate the effect of structural modification with phosphoric acid on electrochemical performance of soft carbon to elucidate the origin of additional capacity.

• Journal of Korean Dental Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the corrosion behaviors of dental implant alloy after microsized surface modification in electrolytes containing Mn ion. Materials and Methods: $Mn-TiO_2$ coatings were prepared on the Ti-6Al-4V alloy for dental implants using a plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) method carried out in electrolytes containing different concentrations of Mn, namely, 0%, 5%, and 20%. Potentiodynamic method was employed to examine the corrosion behaviors, and the alternatingcurrent (AC) impedance behaviors were examined in 0.9% NaCl solution at $36.5^{\circ}C{\pm}1.0^{\circ}C$ using a potentiostat and an electrochemical impedance spectroscope. The potentiodynamic test was performed with a scanning rate of $1.667mV\;s^{-1}$ from -1,500 to 2,000 mV. A frequency range of $10^{-1}$ to $10^5Hz$ was used for the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The amplitude of the AC signal was 10 mV, and 5 points per decade were used. The morphology and structure of the samples were examined using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and thin-film X-ray diffraction. The elemental analysis was performed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Result: The PEO-treated surface exhibited an irregular pore shape, and the pore size and number of the pores increased with an increase in the Mn concentration. For the PEO-treated surface, a higher corrosion current density ($I_{corr}$) and a lower corrosion potential ($E_{corr}$) was obtained as compared to that of the bulk surface. However, the current density in the passive regions ($I_{pass}$) was found to be more stable for the PEO-treated surface than that of the bulk surface. As the Mn concentration increased, the capacitance values of the outer porous layer and the barrier layer decreased, and the polarization resistance of the barrier layers increased. In the case of the Mn/Ca-P coatings, the corroded surface was found to be covered with corrosion products. Conclusion: It is confirmed that corrosion resistance and polarization resistance of PEO-treated alloy increased as Mn content increased, and PEO-treated surface showed lower current density in the passive region.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2010

Modifying surface of activated carbon for the electrode of EDLC with an organic electrolyte was investigated to improve the electrochemical performance of EDLC by the microwave radiation. Three kinds of activated carbons, prepared activated carbon from petroleum cokes and pitch cokes and commercial activated carbon BP-25, were used for this study. For all investigated activated carbons, hydrophilic functional groups-containing oxygen disappeared from the surface of activated carbon as microwave radiation. And as microwave radiation time was increased, the specific surface area and total pore volume of activated carbons were reduced and average pore diameter were increased. From theses effects, interfacial resistance of EDLC with the modified activated carbon electrode was drastically decreased, and discharge capacitance was increased although the specific surface area of activated carbon was reduced by this microwave radiation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.66-70
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• 2012

Ti-Ni alloys are widely used in numerous biomedical applications (e.g., orthodontics, cardiovascular science, orthopaedics) due to their distinctive thermomechanical and mechanical properties, such as the shape memory effect, superelasticity and low elastic modulus. In order to increase the biocompatibility of Ti-Ni alloys, many surface modification techniques, such as the sol-gel technique, plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII), laser surface melting, plasma spraying, and chemical vapor deposition, have been employed. In this study, a Ti-49.5Ni (at%) alloy was electrochemically etched in 1M $H_2SO_4$+ X (1.5, 2.0, 2.5) wt% HF electrolytes to modify the surface morphology. The morphology, element distribution, crystal structure, roughness and energy of the surface were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive Xray spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle analysis. Micro-sized pores were formed on the Ti-49.5Ni (at%) alloy surface by electrochemical etching with 1M $H_2SO_4$+ X (1.5, 2.0, 2.5) wt% HF. The volume fractions of the pores were increased by increasing the concentration of the HF electrolytes. Depending on the HF concentration, different pore sizes, heights, surface roughness levels, and surface energy levels were obtained. To investigate the osteoblast adhesion of the electrochemically etched Ti-49.5Ni (at%) alloy, a MTT test was performed. The degree of osteoblast adhesion was increased at a high concentration of HF-treated surface structures.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.13-16
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• 2002

The type of graphite(Gr)/ppy, fullerene$(full^-)$ electrode, ppy one modified with $(full^-)$, was prepared with the cell type of Gr/5mM ppy, 1mM $(full^-)$, 0.1M $TBABF_4$, CH3CN/Pt. The values of the ionic formation rate of the it at electrode materials such as Pt/ppy, Pt, Gr and Au were $93.6,\;7.0\times10^2,\;42.6\;and\;1.3\times10^2cms^{-1}$ respectively. The admittance values of the Grippy electrode and the modified Grippy, $(full^-)$ one were five times enhanced $1.7\times10^{-3}S\;to\;8.3\times10^{-3}\;S$ and capacitance values of electrical double layer of them were 174 times increased $2.4\times10^{-6}\;F\;to\;4.2\times10^{-5}\;F$ respectively.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.458-462
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• 2016

Saline water electrolysis, known as chlor-alkali (CA) membrane process, is an electrochemical process to generate valued chemicals such as chlorine, hydrogen and sodium hydroxide with high purities higher than 99%, using an electrolytic cell composed of cation exchange membrane, anode and cathode. It is necessary to reduce energy consumption per a unit chemical production. This issue can be solved by decreasing intrinsic resistance of the membrane and the electrodes and/or by reducing their interfacial resistance. In this study, the electron radiation grafting of a $Na^+$ ion-selective polymer was conducted onto a hydrocarbon sulfonated ionomer membrane with high chemical resistance. This approach was effective in improving electrochemical efficiency via the synergistic effect of relatively fast $Na^+$ ion conduction and reduced interfacial resistance.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2771-2775
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• 2011

Poly-ethylenedioxypyrrole (PEDOP) coated thiolated multiwall carbon nanotubes palladium nanoparticles (MWCNTs-Pd) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) [PEDOP/MWCNTs-Pd/GCE] for the determination of hydroquinone (HQ) and it’s isomer catechol (CA) were synthesized and compared with bare GCE and thiolated multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-SH/GCE). The modification could be made by simple processes on a GCE with MWCNTs-Pd covered by PEDOP in a 0.05 M tetrabutylammonium perchlorate (TBAP)/MeCN solution system. A well-defined peak potential evaluation of the oxidation of hydroquinone to quinone at 0.05 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), and electrochemical reduction back to hydroquinone were found by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at pH 7.4. Peak current values increased linearly with increasing hydroquinone contents. The peak separation between the anodic and cathodic peaks at the PEDOP/MWCNTs-Pd/GCE was ${\Delta}Ep$ = 40 mV for HQ and ${\Delta}Ep$ = 70 mV for CA, resulting in a higher electron transfer rate. Moreover, good reproducibility, excellent storage stability, a wide linear range (0.1 ${\mu}M$ - 5 mM for HQ and 0.01 ${\mu}M$ - 6 mM for CA), and low detection limits ($2.9{\times}10^{-8}$ M for HQ and $2.6{\times}10^{-8}$ M for CA; S/N = 3) were determined using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and amperometric responses; this makes it a promising candidate as a sensor for determination of HQ and CA.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 2018

A differential scheme based micromechanical framework is proposed to obtain the effective properties of the saturated concrete repaired by the electrochemical deposition method (EDM) considering the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) effects. The constituents of the repaired concrete are treated as different phases, consisting of (micro-)cracks, (micro-)voids and (micro-)pores (occupied by water), deposition products, intrinsic concrete made up by the three traditional solid phases (i.e., mortar, coarse aggregates and their interfaces) and the ITZs. By incorporating the composite sphere assemblage (CSA) model and the differential approach, a new multilevel homogenization scheme is utilized to quantitatively estimate the mechanical performance of the repaired concrete with the ITZs. The CSA model is modified to obtain the effective properties of the equivalent particle, which is a three-phase composite made up of the water, deposition products and the ITZs. The differential scheme is employed to reach the equivalent composite of the concrete repaired by EDM considering the ITZ effects. Moreover, modification procedures considering the ITZ effects are presented to attain the properties of the repaired concrete in the dry state. Results in this study are compared with those of the existing models and the experimental data. It is found that the predictions herein agree better with the experimental data than the previous models.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.92-98
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• 2020

SnO₂-based high-capacity anode materials are attractive candidate for the next-generation high-performance lithium-ion batteries since the theoretical capacity of SnO₂ can be ideally extended from 781 to 1494 mAh g^-1. Here 3D etched Cu foam is applied as a current collector for electron path and simultaneously a substrate for the SnO₂ coating, for developing an integrated electrode structure. We fabricate the 3D etched Cu foam through an auto-catalytic electroless plating method, and then coat the SnO₂ onto the self-supporting substrate through a simple sol-gel method. The catalytic dissolution of Cu metal makes secondary pores of both several micrometers and several tens of micrometers at the surface of Cu foam strut, besides main channel-like interconnected pores. Especially, the additional surface pores on etched Cu foam are intended for penetrating the individual strut of Cu foam, and thereby increasing the surface area for SnO₂ coating by using even the internal of Cu foam. The increased areal capacity with high structural integrity upon cycling is demonstrated in the SnO₂-coated 3D etched Cu foam. This study not only prepares the etched Cu foam using the spontaneous chemical reactions but also demonstrates the potential for electroless plating method about surface modification on various metal substrates.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2008

A Pt-layer was deposited on the anode side of a Nafion membrane via a sputtering method in order to reduce methanol crossover in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The methanol permeation and the proton conductivity through the modified membranes were investigated. The performances of the direct methanol fuel cell were also tested using single cells with a Nafion membrane and the modified membranes. The Pt-layers on the membrane blocked both methanol crossover and proton transport through the membranes. Methanol permeability and proton conductivity decreased with an increase of the platinum layer thickness. At methanol concentration of 2 M, the DMFC employing the modified membrane with a platinum layer of 66 nm-thickness showed similar performance to that of a DMFC with a bare Nafion membrane in spite of the lower proton conductivity of the former. The maximum power density of the cell using the modified membrane with a platinum layer of 66 nm-thickness increased slightly while that of the cell with the bare membrane decreased abruptly when a methanol solution of 6M was supplied.