• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.547-554
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• 2012

Chromium is generated from several industrial processes. It occurs in different oxidation states, but Cr(III) and Cr(VI) are the most common ones. Cr(VI) is a toxic, soluble environmental contaminant. Some bacteria are able to reduce hexavalent chromium to the insoluble and less toxic Cr(III), and thus chromate bioremediation is of considerable interest. An indigenous chromium-reducing bacterial strain, Rb-2, isolated from a tannery water sample, was identified as Ochrobactrum intermedium, on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The influence of factors like temperature of incubation, initial concentration of Cr, mobility of bacteria, and different carbon sources were studied to test the ability of the bacterium to reduce Cr(VI) under variable environmental conditions. The ability of the bacterial strain to reduce hexavalent chromium in artificial and industrial sewage water was evaluated. It was observed that the mechanism of resistance to metal was not due to the change in the permeability barrier of the cell membrane, and the enzyme activity was found to be inductive. Intracellular reduction of Cr(VI) was proven by reductase assay using cell-free extract. Scanning electron microscopy revealed chromium precipitates on bacterial cell surfaces, and transmission electron microscopy showed the outer as well as inner distribution of Cr(VI). This bacterial strain can be useful for Cr(VI) detoxification under a wide range of environmental conditions.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.14-17
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• 2006

A thin GaN semiconducting film that grows on sapphires due to metalorganic chemical vapor deposition was machined for nanophotonic applications. The thin film had multilayered superlattice structures, including nanoscaled InGaN layers. Eight alternating InGaN/GaN multilayers provided a blue light emission source. Nanoscaled holes, 150 nm in diameter, were patterned on polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) film using an electron beam lithography system. The PMMA film blocked the etching species. Air holes, 75 nm in diameter, which acted as blue light diffraction sources, were etched on the top GaN layer by an inductively coupled plasma etcher. Hexagonal lattice photonic crystals were fabricated with 230-, 460-, 690-, and 920-nm pitches. The 450-nm wavelength blue light provided the nanodiffraction destructive and constructive interferences phenomena, which were dependent on the pitch of the holes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1005-1009
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• 2006

High quality three-dimensional (3D) heterostructures were constructed by selective area (SA) molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using a specially patterned GaAs (001) substrate to improve the efficiency of tarrier transport. MBE growth parameters such as substrate temperature, V/III ratio, growth ratio, group V sources (As2, As4) were varied to calibrate the selective area growth conditions and the 3D GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructures were fabricated into the ridge type and the V-groove type. Scanning micro-photoluminescence $({\mu}-PL)$ measurements and the following analysis revealed that the gradually (adiabatically) coupled 1D-2DEG (electron gas) field effect transistor (FET) system was successfully realized. These 3D-heterostructures are expected to be useful for the realization of high-performance mesoscopic electronic devices and circuits since it makes it possible to form direct ohmic contact onto the (quasi) 1D electron channel.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.220-225
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• 2004

A new ion beam extraction system is designed using a simple ion mass filter and a micro mass balance and a QMS based detecting system. A quadrupole Mass Filter is used for selective ion beam formation from inductively coupled high density plasma sources with appropriate electrostatic lens and final analyzing QMS. Also a quartz crystal microbalance is set between a QMF and a QMS to measure the etching and polymerization rate of the mass selected ion beam. An inductively coupled plasma was used as a ion/radical source which had an electron temperature of 4-8 eV and electron density of $4${\times}$10^{11}$＃/㎤. A computer interfaced system through 12bit AD-DA board can control the pass ion mass of the qmf by setting RF/DC voltage ratio applied to the quadrupoles so that time modulation of pass ion's mass is possible. So the direct measurements of ion - surface chemistry can be possible in a resolution of $1\AA$/sec based on the qcm's sensitivity. A full set of driving software and hardware setting is successfully carried out to get fundamental plasma information of the ICP source and analysed $Ar^{+}$ beam was detected at the $2^{nd}$ QMS.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.218-227
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• 2024

The tabletop-scale terahertz (THz) light sources using femtosecond laser pulses are primarily based on spatiotemporal changes in electron charge. This review introduces a new scheme where the spin angular momentum of electrons contributes to THz wave generation. By focusing on laser-induced spin current generation in ferromagnets, we review the outstanding characteristics observed in nanometric ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic thin films, including high power, ultra-broadband, and polarization tunability. Additionally, research on various application technologies is introduced, including the development of devices combining semiconductors, large-area THz devices, and flexible THz devices, all based on nanoscale thin films. Through this, the principle of spintronic THz emission can be understood, contributing the advancement of various application studies utilizing electron spin as a next-generation THz optical device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.550-551
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• 2013

Large-area RF-driven ion source is being developed at Germany for the heating and current drive of ITER plasmas. Negative hydrogen (deuterium) ion sources are major components of neutral beam injection systems in future large-scale fusion experiments such as ITER and DEMO. RF ion sources for the production of positive hydrogen ions have been successfully developed at IPP (Max-Planck- Institute for Plasma Physics, Garching) for ASDEX-U and W7-AS neutral beam injection (NBI) systems. In recent, the first NBI system (NBI-1) has been developed successfully for the KSTAR. The first and second long-pulse ion sources (LPIS-1 and LPIS-2) of NBI-1 system consist of a magnetic bucket plasma generator with multi-pole cusp fields, filament heating structure, and a set of tetrode accelerators with circular apertures. There is a development plan of large-area RF ion source at KAERI to extract the positive ions, which can be used for the second NBI (NBI-2) system of KSTAR, and to extract the negative ions for future fusion devices such as ITER and K-DEMO. The large-area RF ion source consists of a driver region, including a helical antenna (6-turn copper tube with an outer diameter of 6 mm) and a discharge chamber (ceramic and/or quartz tubes with an inner diameter of 200 mm, a height of 150 mm, and a thickness of 8 mm), and an expansion region (magnetic bucket of prototype LPIS in the KAERI). RF power can be transferred up to 10 kW with a fixed frequency of 2 MHz through a matching circuit (auto- and manual-matching apparatus). Argon gas is commonly injected to the initial ignition of RF plasma discharge, and then hydrogen gas instead of argon gas is finally injected for the RF plasma sustainment. The uniformities of plasma density and electron temperature at the lowest area of expansion region (a distance of 300 mm from the driver region) are measured by using two electrostatic probes in the directions of short- and long-dimension of expansion region.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.166-170
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• 2004

Gluconobacter oxydans that produces the cellulose was isolated. In order to confirm the chemical features of cellulose, various spectrophtometeric analysis were carried out using electron microscopy, X-ray diffractogram, and CP/MAS $\^$13/C NMR. The purified cellulose was found to be identical to that of Acetobacter xylinum. For effective production of cellulose, the various carbon and nitrogen sources, mixture of calcium and magnesium ions, and biotin concentration were investigated in flask cultures. Among the various carbon sources, glucose and sucrose were found to be best for the production of cellulose, with maximum concentration of 2.41 g/L obtained when a mixture of 10 g/L of each glucose and sucrose were used. With regard to the nitrogen sources, when 20 g/L of yeast extract was used, the maximum concentration of bacterial cellulose was reached. The concentration of cellulose was increased with mixture of 2 mM of each Ca$\^$2+/ and Mg$\^$2+/. The optimum biotin concentration for the production of cellulose was in the range of 15 to 20mg/L. At higher biotin concentration (25-35mg/L). the bacterial cellulose production was lower.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.253-260
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• 2024

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is an efficient method for utilizing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar powers to produce green hydrogen. For PEMWE powered by renewable energy sources, its durability is a crucial factor in its performance since irregular and fluctuating characteristics of renewable energy sources, especially for wind power, can deteriorate the stability of PEMWE. Triangular voltage cycle is well able to simulate fluctuating wind power, but its effect on the durability has not been investigated extensively. In this study, the performance degradation of the PEMWE cell operated with the triangular voltage cycling was investigated at different ramping rates. The measured current responses during the cycling gradually decreased for both ramping rates, and I-V curve measurements before and after the cycling confirmed the degradation of the performances of PEMWE. For both measurements, the degradation rate was larger for 300 mV s^-1 than 30 mV s^-1, and they were determined as 0.36 and 1.26 mV h^-1 (at the current density of 2 A cm^-2) at the ramping rates of 30 and 300 mV s^-1, respectively. The comparison with other studies on triangular voltage cycling also indicate that an increase in the ramping rate accelerates the deterioration of the PEMWE performance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy results showed that the Ir catalyst was oxidized and did not dissolve during the voltage cycling. This study suggests that the ramping rate of the triangular voltage cycling is an important factor for the evaluation of the durability of PEMWE cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.71-71
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have drawn great academic attention due to their potential as low-cost renewable energy sources. DSCs contain a nanostructured TiO2 photoanode, which is a key-component for high conversion efficiency. Particularly, one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructured photoanodes can enhance the electron transport for the efficient collection to the conducting substrate in competition with the recombination processes. This is because photoelectron colletion is determined by trapping/detrapping events along the site of the electron traps (defects, surface states, grain boundaries, and self-trapping). Therefore, 1-D nanostructured photoanodes are advantageous for the fast electron transport due to their desirable features of greatly reduced intercrystalline contacts with specified directionality. In particular, anodic TiO2 nanotube (NT) electrodes recently have been intensively explored owing to their ideal structure for application in DSCs. Besides the enhanced electron transport properties resulted from the 1-D structure, highly ordered and vertically oriented nanostructure of anodic TiO2 NT can contribute additional merits, such as enhanced electrolyte diffusion, better interfacial contact with viscous electrolytes. First, to confirm the advantages of 1-D nanostructured material for the photoelectron collection, we compared the electron transport and charge recombination characteristics between nanoparticle (NP)- and nanorod (NR)-based photoanodes in DSCs by the stepped light-induced transient measurements of photocurrent and voltage (SLIM-PCV). We confirmed that the electron lifetime of the NR-based photoanode was much longer than that of the NP-based photoanode. In addition, highly ordered and vertically oriented TiO2 NT photoanodes were prepared by electrochemical anodization method. We compared the photovoltaic properties of DSCs utilizing TiO2 NT photoanodes prepared by one-step anodization and two-step anodization. And, to reduce the charge recombination rate, energy barrier layer (ZnO, Al2O3)-coated TiO2 NTs also applied in DSC. Furthermore, we applied the TiO2 NT photoanode in DSCs using a viscous electrolyte, i.e., cobalt bipyridyl redox electrolyte, and confirmed that the pore structure of NT array can enhance the performances of this viscous electrolyte.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.253.2-253.2
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• 2014

Micro hollow cathode discharges (MHCDs) are high-pressure, non-equilibrium discharges. Those MHCDs are useful to produce an excimer radiation. A major advantage of excimer sources is their high internal efficiency which may reach values up to 40% when operated under optimum conditions. To produce strong excimer radiation, the optimisation of the discharge conditions however needs a detailed knowledge of the properties of the discharge plasma itself. The electron density and temperature influence the excitation as well as plasma chemistry reactions and the gas temperature plays a major role as a significant energy loss process limiting efficiency of excimer radiation. Most of the recent spectroscopic investigations are focusing on the ultraviolet or vacuum ultraviolet range for direct detection of the excimer. In our experiments we have concentrated on investigating the micro hollow cathodes from the near UV to the near infrared (300~850 nm) to measure the basic plasma parameters using standard plasma diagnostic techniques such as stark broadening for electron density and the relative line intensity method for electron temperature. Finally, the neutral gas temperature was measured by means of the vibrational rotational structures of the second positive system of nitrogen.