• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2016.10a
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• pp.520-523
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• 2016

This paper describes a DC-DC converter with MPPT control for thermoelectric energy harvesting. The designed circuit converts low voltage harvested from a thermoelectric generator into higher voltage for powering a load. A start-up circuit supplies VDD to a controller, and the controller turns on and off a NMOS switch of a main-boost converter. The converter supplies the boosted voltage to the load through the switch operation. Bulk-driven comparators can do the comparison under low voltage condition and are used for voltage regulation. Also, bulk-driven comparators raise system's efficiency. A peak conversion efficiency of 76% is achieved. The proposed circuit is designed in a 0.35um CMOS technology and its functionality has been verified through simulations. The designed chip occupies $933um{\times}769um$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2022

Piezoelectric energy harvesting technologies, which can be used to convert the electricity from the mechanical energy, have been developed in order to assist or power the wearable electronics. To realize non-toxic and biocompatible electronics, the lead-free (Ba_0.85Ca_0.15)(Ti_0.90Zr_0.10)O₃ (BCTZ) nanoparticles (NPs) are being studied with a great attention as flexible energy harvesting device. Herein, piezoelectric hybrid nanocomposites were fabricated using BCTZ NPs-embedded poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] matrix to improve the performance of flexible energy harvester. Output performance of the fabricated energy device was investigated by the well-optimized measurement system during the periodically bending and releasing motions. The generated open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current of the piezoelectric hybrid nanocomposite-based energy harvester reached up to ~15 V and ~1.1 ㎂, respectively; moreover, the instantaneous power of 3.5 ㎼ is determined from load voltage and current at the external load of 20 MΩ. This research is expected to cultivate a new approach to high-performance wearable self-powering electronics.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2011

The research and development of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicle (EV) are intensified due to the energy crisis and environmental concerns. In order to meet the challenging requirements of powering HEV, PHEV and EV, the current lithium battery technology needs to be significantly improved in terms of the cost, safety, power and energy density, as well as the calendar and cycle life. One new technology being developed is the utilization of composite cathode by mixing two different types of insertion compounds [e.g., spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ and layered $LiMO_2$ (M=Ni, Co, and Mn)]. Recently, some studies on mixing two different types of cathode materials to make a composite cathode have been reported, which were aimed at reducing cost and improving self-discharge. Numata et al. reported that when stored in a sealed can together with electrolyte at $80^{\circ}C$ for 10 days, the concentrations of both HF and $Mn^{2+}$ were lower in the can containing $LiMn_2O_4$ blended with $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2$ than that containing $LiMn_2O_4$ only. That reports clearly showed that this blending technique can prevent the decline in capacity caused by cycling or storage at elevated temperatures. However, not much work has been reported on the charge-discharge characteristics and related structural phase transitions for these composite cathodes. In this presentation, we will report our in situ x-ray diffraction studies on this mixed composite cathode material during charge-discharge cycling. The mixed cathodes were incorporated into in situ XRD cells with a Li foil anode, a Celgard separator, and a 1M $LiPF_6$ electrolyte in a 1 : 1 EC : DMC solvent (LP 30 from EM Industries, Inc.). For in situ XRD cell, Mylar windows were used as has been described in detail elsewhere. All of these in situ XRD spectra were collected on beam line X18A at National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory using two different detectors. One is a conventional scintillation detector with data collection at 0.02 degree in two theta angle for each step. The other is a wide angle position sensitive detector (PSD). The wavelengths used were 1.1950 ${\AA}$ for the scintillation detector and 0.9999 A for the PSD. The newly installed PSD at beam line X18A of NSLS can collect XRD patterns as short as a few minutes covering $90^{\circ}$ of two theta angles simultaneously with good signal to noise ratio. It significantly reduced the data collection time for each scan, giving us a great advantage in studying the phase transition in real time. The two theta angles of all the XRD spectra presented in this paper have been recalculated and converted to corresponding angles for ${\lambda}=1.54\;{\AA}$, which is the wavelength of conventional x-ray tube source with Cu-$k{\alpha}$ radiation, for easy comparison with data in other literatures. The structural changes of the composite cathode made by mixing spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ and layered $Li-Ni_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ in 1 : 1 wt% in both Li-half and Li-ion cells during charge/discharge are studied by in situ XRD. During the first charge up to ~5.2 V vs. $Li/Li^+$, the in situ XRD spectra for the composite cathode in the Li-half cell track the structural changes of each component. At the early stage of charge, the lithium extraction takes place in the $LiNi_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ component only. When the cell voltage reaches at ~4.0 V vs. $Li/Li^+$, lithium extraction from the spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ component starts and becomes the major contributor for the cell capacity due to the higher rate capability of $LiMn_2O_4$. When the voltage passed 4.3 V, the major structural changes are from the $LiNi_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ component, while the $LiMn_2O_4$ component is almost unchanged. In the Li-ion cell using a MCMB anode and a composite cathode cycled between 2.5 V and 4.2 V, the structural changes are dominated by the spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ component, with much less changes in the layered $LiNi_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ component, comparing with the Li-half cell results. These results give us valuable information about the structural changes relating to the contributions of each individual component to the cell capacity at certain charge/discharge state, which are helpful in designing and optimizing the composite cathode using spinel- and layered-type materials for Li-ion battery research. More detailed discussion will be presented at the meeting.