• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.908-916
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• 2010

Fullerene-60 nanoparticles were used for studying their effect on the low-density polyethylene (LDPE) biodegradation efficiency of two potential polymer-degrading consortia comprising three bacterial strains each. At a concentration of 0.01% (w/v) in minimal broth lacking dextrose, fullerene did not have any negative influence upon the consortia growth. However, fullerene was found to be detrimental for bacterial growth at higher concentrations (viz., 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1%). Although addition of 0.01% fullerene into the biodegradation assays containing 5mg/ml LDPE subsided growth curves significantly, subsequent analysis of the degraded products revealed an enhanced biodegradation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) revealed breakage and formation of chemical bonds along with the introduction of ${\nu}C$-O frequencies into the hydrocarbon backbone of LDPE. Moreover, simultaneous thermogravimetric-differential thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTG-DTA) revealed a higher number of decomposition steps along with a 1,000-fold decrease in the heat of reactions (${\Delta}H$) in fullerene-assisted biodegraded LDPE, suggesting the probable formation of multiple macromolecular byproducts. This is the first report whereby fullerene-60, which is otherwise considered toxic, has helped to accelerate the polymer biodegradation process of bacterial consortia.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.881-884
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• 1999

We have studied the other unit which is partial element in fullerene $C_{90}$. The energy of the higher fullerene increased by 5.6 kcal/mol for each $1.0{\beta}$ of planarity for the other units and increased by 11.0 kcal/mol for each $2C_1$ other unit at RHF/AM1 method. Therefore, we have known that the stable $C_{90}$ isomer do not have $C_1$ unit in other unit and have small planarity. The confirmable $C_{90}$ isomers by experiment satisfies these two conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.348-348
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• 2016

Low dark current (off-current) and high photo current are both essential for a solution processed organic photodetector (OPD) to achieve high photo-responsivity. Currently, most OPDs utilize a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photo-active layer that is prepared by the one-step deposition of a polymer:fullerene blend solution. However, the BHJ structure is the main cause of the high dark current in solution processed OPDs. It is revealed that the detectivity and spectral responsivity of the OPD can be improved by utilizing a photo-active layer consisting of an interdiffused polymer/fullerene bilayer (ID-BL). This ID-BL is prepared by the sequential solution deposition (SqD) of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6] phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) solutions. The ID-BL OPD is found to prevent undesirable electron injection from the hole collecting electrode to the ID-BL photo-active layer resulting in a reduced dark current in the ID-BL OPD. Based on dark current and external quantum efficiency (EQE) analysis, the detectivity of the ID-BL OPD is determined to be $7.60{\times}1011$ Jones at 620 nm. This value is 3.4 times higher than that of BHJ OPDs. Furthermore, compared to BHJ OPDs, the ID-BL OPD exhibited a more consistent spectral response in the range of 400 - 660 nm.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.423-437
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• 2015

Polyvinylidene fluoride/fullerene nanoparticle (PVDF/$C_{60}$) composite microfiltration (MF) membranes were fabricated by a non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) using N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) as solvent and deionized water (DI) as coagulation solution. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was added to the casting solution to form membrane pores. $C_{60}$ was added in increments of 0.2% from 0.0% to 1.0% to produce six different membrane types: one pristine PVDF membrane type with no $C_{60}$ added as control, and five composite membrane types with varying $C_{60}$ concentrations of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0%, respectively. The mechanical strength, morphology, pore size and distribution, hydrophilicity, surface property, permeation performance, and fouling resistance of the six membranes types were characterized using respective analytical methods. The results indicate that membranes containing $C_{60}$ have higher surface porosity and pore density than the pristine membrane. The presence of numerous pores on the membrane caused weaker mechanical strength, but the water flux of the composite membranes increased in spite of their smaller size. Initial flux and surface roughness reached the maximum point among the composite membranes when the $C_{60}$ concentration was 0.6 wt.%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.366-371
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• 2022

Recently many efforts have been made to develop a novel class of non-fullerene electron acceptor materials for high-performance organic solar cells. In this work, anthraquinone derivatives, TMAQ and THAQ, were prepared and their availability as electron acceptor materials for organic solar cells were investigated in terms of optical, thermal, electrochemical properties, and solar cell devices. Compared to TMAQ, a significant bathochromic shift of absorption band was observed for THAQ owing to intramolecular hydrogen-bond-assisted CT interactions. Thanks to the fused aromatic ring structure and benzoquinone unit, both TMAQ and THAQ exhibited a high thermal stability and an efficient electron reduction process. In particular, the intramolecular O-H---O=C hydrogen bond of THAQ plays an important role in improving the thermal stability and electron reduction properties. In the P3HT:acceptor solar cell system, THAQ-based devices had more than ca. 6 times higher power conversion efficiency than TMAQ -based devices. These results serve as a guide for developing high-efficient anthraquinone-based electron acceptor materials.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.445-448
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• 2009

This study examined the effect of the uptake of one and two electrons on the atomic structure of three isomers of $C_{20}$ clusters, namely the ring, bowl (corannulene like), and cage (the smallest fullerene). Geometry optimizations were performed using the hybrid density functional (B3LYP) methods for neutral, singly and doubly charged $C_{20},\;{C_{20}}^-,and\;{C_{20}}^{2-}$. These results show that the symmetry of the lowest energies for ring and bowl isomers were not changed, whereas the increasing order of energy for the cage (the smallest fullerene) isomers was changed from $D_{2h}\;<\;C_{2h}\;{\leq}\;C_2\;of\;C_{20}\;through\;Ci\;<\;C_{2h}\;<\;C_2\;<\;D_{2h}\;of\;{C_{20}}^-\;to\;Ci\;<\;C_2\;<\;D_{2h}\;<\;C_{2h}\;of\;{C_{20}}^{2-}$. The reduced symmetry isomers of the cage have comparative energy and the ground state symmetry of the neutral and single and double charged $C_{20}$ decreased with increasing number of electrons taken up in the point of energetics. Interestingly, the difference in energy between the ground state and the next higher energy state of ${C_{20}}^{2-}$ was 3.5kcal/mol, which is the largest energy gap of the neutral, single anion and double anion of the cage isomers examined.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.218-218
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• 2006

A number of new ideas have been implemented to control the droplet morphology and electrooptic properties of holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC). Doping of conductive fullerene particles to the conventional HPDLC induced dual effects of reducing both droplet coalescence and operating voltage. Chain transfer agent gave higher gel content with lower crosslink density, less dark reactions and less grating shrinkage with much smooth LC-polymer interfaces. Addition of octanoic acid (OA) to the formulation of HPDLC gave a decrease in droplet size and monotonic increase of the off state diffraction throughout the OA content.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1128-1134
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• 2010

Nanocarbon supported Fe/$TiO_2$ composite catalysts were prepared using CNTs (carbon nanotubes) and $C_{60}$ (fullerene) as nanocarbon sources by a modified sol-gel method. The Fe/$TiO_2$-nanocarbon composites were characterized by the BET surface area, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and UV-vis spectra. In comparison with non-nanocarbon doped Fe/$TiO_2$ composites, the nanocarbon supported Fe/$TiO_2$ composites had higher absorption ability with a larger specific surface area, and showed higher photocatalytic activity during the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light. The reasons for the obvious increase of photocatalytic activity indicated that the photoactivity not only benefits from nanocarbon introduced, but also relates to the cooperative effect of the Fe as a dopant.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.645-645
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• 2013

Applying a first-principles computational approach combining density-functional theory and matrix Green's function calculations, we have studied the effects [2+2] cycloaddition olligormerization of fullerene $C_{60}$ chains on their junction charge transport properties. Analyzing first the microscopic mechanism of the switching realized in recent scanning tunneling microscope (STM) experiments, we found that, in agreement with experimental conclusions, the device characteristics are not significantly affected by the changes in electronic structure of $C_{60}$ chains. It is further predicted that the switching characteristics will sensitively depend on the STM tip metal species and the associated energy level bending direction in the $C_{60}-STM$ tip vacuum gap. Considering infinite $C_{60}$ chains, however, we confirm that unbound $C_{60}$ chains with strong orbital hybridizations and band formation should in principle induce a much higher conductance state. We demonstrate that a nanoelectromechanical approach in which the $C_{60}-STM$ tip distance is maintained at short distances can achieve a metal-independent and drastically improved switching performance based on the intrinsically better electronic connectivity in the bound $C_{60}$ chains.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.694-701
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• 2013

A new copolymer named T-TI24T (poly((5,5-(2-butyl-5,6-bisdecyloxy-4,7-di-thiophen-2-yl-isoindole-1,3-dione))- alt-(2,5-thiophene))) based on phthalimide derivative and thiophene is synthesized by the Stille-coupling reaction. The polymer shows relatively high number average molecular weight of 86500 g/mol with good solubility in common organic solvents such as chloroform, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, and toluene and is thermally stable up to $380^{\circ}C$. Besides, it possesses a relatively low highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of -5.33 eV, promising the high open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) for photovoltaic applications. Active layer solution of polymer T-TI24T-as a donor and (6)-1-(3-(methoxycarbonyl)- {5}-1-phenyl[5,6]-fullerene (PCBM)-as an acceptor in different weight ratios is applied to fabricate the polymer solar cell devices. The ratio of polymer/PCBM affects the solar cell efficiency and the best performance exhibits in the device with polymer/PCBM = 1:3 (w/w), which shows a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.199% and a $V_{oc}$ of 0.99 V, respectively. Even though the device shows the very low PCE, the $V_{oc}$ is higher than that of well known bulk heterojunction type solar cell based on P3HT:PC61BM (c.a. 0.5 V).