• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.487-487
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• 2011

Recently graphene has emerged as a fascinating 2D system in condensed-matter physics as well as a new material for the development of nanotechnology. The unusual electronic band structure of graphene allows it to exhibit a strong ambipolar electric field effect with high mobility. These properties lead to the possibility of its application in high-performance transparent conducting films (TCFs). Compared to indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes, which have a typical sheet resistance of ${\sim}60{\Omega}$/sq and ~85 % transmittance in the visible range (400?900 nm), the CVD-grown graphene electrodes have a higher/flatter transmittance in the visible to IR region and are more robust under bending. Nevertheless, the lowest sheet resistance of the currently available CVD graphene electrodes is higher than that of ITO. Here, we report an ingenious strategy, irradiation of MeV electron beam (e-beam) at room temperature under ambient condition, for obtaining size-homogeneous gold nanoparticle decorated on graphene. The nano-particlization promoted by MeV e-beam irradiation was investigated by transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy elemental mapping, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. These results clearly revealed that gold nanoparticle with 10 ~ 15 nm in mean size were decorated along the surface of the graphene after 1.5 MeV-e-beam irradiation. A chemical transformation and charge transfer for the metal gold nanoparticle were systematically explored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. This approach advances the numerous applications of graphene films as transparent conducting electrodes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.202-202
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• 2011

The research of 3-dimensional (3-D) scaffold for tissue engineering has been widely investigated as the importance of the 3-D scaffold increased. 3-D scaffold is needed to support for cells to proliferate and maintain their biological functions. Furthermore, its architecture defines the shape of the new bone and cartilage growth. Polycaprolactone (PCL) has been one of the most promising materials for fabricating 3-D scaffold owing to its excellent mechanical property and biocompatibility. However, there are practical problems for using it, in vitro and in vivo; extracellular matrix components and nutrients cannot penetrate into the inner space of scaffold, due to its hydrophobic property, and thus cell seeding and attachment onto the inner surface remain as a challenge. Thus, the surface modification strategy of 3-D PCL scaffold is prerequisite for successful tissue engineering. Herein, we utilized a mussel-inspired approach for surface modification of 3-D PCL scaffold. Modification of 3-D PCL scaffolds was carried out by simple immersion of scaffolds into the dopamine solution and stimulated body fluid, and as a result, hydroxyapatite-immobilized 3-D PCL scaffolds were obtained. After surface modification, the wettability of 3-D PCL scaffold was considerably changed, and infiltration of the pre-osteoblastic cells into the 3-D scaffold followed by the attachment onto the surface was successfully achieved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.388-388
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• 2011

Graphene, with its unique physical and structural properties, has recently become a proving ground for various physical phenomena, and is a promising candidate for a variety of electronic device and flexible display applications. The physical properties of graphene depend directly on the thickness. These properties lead to the possibility of its application in high-performance transparent conducting films (TCFs). Compared to indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes, which have a typical sheet resistance of ~60 ${\Omega}/sq$ and ~85% transmittance in the visible range, the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesized graphene electrodes have a higher transmittance in the visible to IR region and are more robust under bending. Nevertheless, the lowest sheet resistance of the currently available CVD graphene electrodes is higher than that of ITO. Here, we report an ingenious strategy, irradiation of MeV electron beam (e-beam) at room temperature under ambient condition,for obtaining size-homogeneous gold nanoparticle decorated on graphene. The nano-particlization promoted by MeV e-beam irradiation was investigated by transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy elemental mapping, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. These results clearly revealed that gold nanoparticle with 10~15 nm in mean size were decorated along the surface of the graphene after 1.0 MeV-e-beam irradiation. The fabrication high-performance TCF with optimized doping condition showed a sheet resistance of ~150 ${\Omega}/sq$ at 94% transmittance. A chemical transformation and charge transfer for the metal gold nanoparticle were systematically explored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. This approach advances the numerous applications of graphene films as transparent conducting electrodes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.243-248
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• 2012

ZrN nanoparticles were prepared by an exothermic reduction of $ZrCl_4$ with $NaN_3$ in the presence of NaCl flux in a nitrogen atmosphere. Using a solid-state combustion approach, we have demonstrated that the zirconium nitride nanoparticles synthesis process can be completed in only several minutes compared with a few hours for previous synthesis approaches. The chemistry of the combustion process is not complex and is based on a metathesis reaction between $ZrCl_4$ and $NaN_3$. Because of the low melting and boiling points of the raw materials it was possible to synthesize the ZrN phase at low combustion temperatures. It was shown that the combustion temperature and the size of the particles can be readily controlled by tuning the concentration of the NaCl flux. The results show that an increase in the NaCl concentration (from 2 to 13 M) results in a temperature decrease from 1280 to $750^{\circ}C$. ZrN nanoparticles have a high surface area (50-70 $m^2/g$), narrow pore size distribution, and nano-particle size between 10 and 30 nm. The activation energy, which can be extracted from the experimental combustion temperature data, is: E = 20 kcal/mol. The method reported here is self-sustaining, rapid, and can be scaled up for a large scale production of a transition metal nitride nanoparticle system (TiN, TaN, HfN, etc.) with suitable halide salts and alkali metal azide.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2018

Cost-effective functional phosphor nanoparticles are prepared by introducing low-cost $SiO_2$ spheres to rare-earth phosphor ($YVO_4:Eu^{3+}$, $YVO_4:Er^{3+}$, and $YVO_4:Nd^{3+}$) shells using a sol-gel synthetic method. These functional nanoparticles are characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and general photoluminescence spectra. The $SiO_2$ sphere occupying the interior of the conventional phosphor is advantageous in significantly reducing the cost of expensive rare-earth phosphor nanoparticles. The sol-gel process facilitates the core-shell structure formation; the rare-earth shell phosphor has strong interactions with chelating agents on the surfaces of $SiO_2$ nanoparticles and thus forms layers of several nanometers in thickness. The photoluminescence wavelength is simply tuned by replacing the active materials of $Eu^{3+}$, $Er^{3+}$, and $Nd^{3+}$. Moreover, the photoluminescent properties of the core-shell nanoparticles can be optimized by manipulating the specific contents of active materials in the phosphors. Our simple approach substitutes low-cost $SiO_2$ for expensive rare-earth-based phosphor materials to realize cost-effective phosphor nanoparticles for various applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.408-420
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• 2016

This study proposes an alternative approach for the use of chitosan silver-based dressing for the control of foot infection with multidrug-resistant bacteria. Sixty-five bacterial isolates were isolated from 40 diabetic patients. Staphylococcus aureus (37%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.5%) were the predominant isolates in the ulcer samples. Ten antibiotics were in vitro tested against diabetic foot clinical bacterial isolates. The most resistant S. aureus and P. aeruginosa isolates were then selected for further study. Three chitosan sources were tested individually for chelating silver nanoparticles. Squilla chitosan silver nanoparticles (Sq. Cs-Ag⁰) showed the maximum activity against the resistant bacteria when mixed with amikacin that showed the maximum synergetic index. This, in turn, resulted in the reduction of the amikacin MIC value by 95%. For evaluation of the effectiveness of the prepared dressing using Artemia salina as the toxicity biomarker, the LC₅₀ was found to be 549.5, 18,000, and 10,000 μg/ml for amikacin, Sq. Cs-Ag⁰, and dressing matrix, respectively. Loading the formula onto chitosan hydrogel dressing showed promising antibacterial activities, with responsive healing properties for the wounds in normal rats of those diabetic rats (polymicrobial infection). It is quite interesting to note that no emergence of any side effect on either kidney or liver biomedical functions was noticed.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.273-277
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• 2010

Undecylprodiginine and streptorubin B are red-pigmented antibiotics produced by Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). In this study, we investigated the correlation between productivity of these red-pigmented antibiotics and stress of pH shock. Biosynthesis of these red-pigmented antibiotics is enhanced at acidic pH shock on solid R2YE medium. The optimal pH shock is pH 4 which led to 1.6 fold and two-fold increase in the production of undecylprodiginine and streptorubin B as compared with control, respectively. In addition, the extract of pH 4 shocked cells exhibited a remarkable activity against Trichophyton mentagrophytes. However, neutral and basic pH shock did not give raise to promote a production of these red-pigmented antibiotics as well as antifungal activity. Thus, although the acidic pH shock is simple and easy method, it should be extremely effective approach to enhance a productivity of these red-pigmented antibiotics and other secondary metabolites.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.211-220
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• 2018

Incorporating nano-materials in thin-film composite (TFC) membranes has been considered to be an approach to achieve higher membrane performance in various water treatment processes. This study investigated the rejection efficiency of three target compounds, i.e., reserpine, norfloxacin and tetracycline hydrochloride, by TFC membranes with different graphene oxide proportions. Graphene oxide (GO) was incorporated into the polyamide active layer of a TFC membrane via an interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction. The TFC membranes were characterized with FTIR, FE-SEM, AFM; in addition, the water contact angle measurements as well as the permeation and separation performance were evaluated. The prepared GO-TFC membranes exhibited a much higher flux ($3.11{\pm}0.04L/m2{\cdot}h{\cdot}bar$) than the pristine TFC membranes ($2.12{\pm}0.05L/m2{\cdot}h{\cdot}bar$) without sacrificing their foulant rejection abilities. At the same time, the GO-modified membrane appeared to be less sensitive to pH changes than the pure TFC membrane. A significant improvement in the anti-fouling property of the membrane was observed, which was ascribed to the favorable change in the membrane's hydrophilicity, surface morphology and surface charge through the addition of an appropriate amount of GO. This study predominantly improved the understanding of the different PA/GO membranes and outlined improved industrial applications of such membranes in the future.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.546-550
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• 2008

In this study, 3-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was induced to simulate air flow and particle motion in the axial flow cyclone separator. The commercialized CFD code FLUENT was used to visualize pressure drop and particle collection efficiency inside the cyclone. We simulated 4 cyclone models with different shape of vane, such as turning angle or shape of cross section. For the air flow simulation, we calculated the flow field using standard ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence viscous model. Each model was simulated with different inlet or outlet boundary conditions. Our major concern for the flow filed simulation was pressure drop across the cyclone. For the particle trajectory simulation, we adopted Euler-Lagrangian approach to track particle motion from inlet to outlet of the cyclone. Particle collection efficiencies of various conditions are calculated by number based collection efficiency. The result showed that the rotation angle of the vane plays major roll to the pressure drop. But the smaller rotation angle of vane causes particle collection efficiency difference with different inlet position.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.279-286
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• 2018

The free longitudinal vibration of a circular truncated nanocone is investigated based on the nonlocal elasticity theory. Exact analytical formulations for tapered nanostructures are derived and the nonlinear differential governing equation of motion is developed. The nonlocal small scale effect unavailable in classical continuum theory is addressed to reveal the long-range interaction of atoms implicated in nonlocal constitutive relation. Unlike most previous studies applying the truncation method to the infinite higher-order differential equation, this paper aims to consider all higher-order terms to show the overall nonlocality. The explicit solution of nonlocal stress for longitudinal deformation is determined and it is an infinite series incorporating the classical stress derived in classical mechanics of materials and the infinite higher-order derivative of longitudinal displacement. Subsequently, the first three modes natural frequencies are calculated numerically and the significant effects of nonlocal small scale and vertex angle on natural frequencies are examined. The coupling phenomenon of natural frequency is observed and it is induced by the combined effects of nonlocal small scale and vertex angle. The critical value of nonlocal small scale is defined, and after that a new proposal for determining the range of nonlocal small scale is put forward since the principle of choosing the nonlocal small scale is still unclear at present. Additionally, two different types of nonlocal effects, namely the nonlocal stiffness weakening and strengthening, reversed phenomena existing in nanostructures are observed and verified. Hence the opposite nonlocal effects are resolved again clearly. The nano-engineers dealing with a circular truncated nanocone-based sensors and oscillators may benefit from the present work.