• Journal of Institute of Convergence Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 2013

Spherical active carbon materials have been used for the removal of pollutants in the area of food processing, water treatment, air purification, oral administration. Moreover, they are now expected to make an epoch in the areas of electronics, life science, environmental technology, and so on due to their superior physical properties. Carbon particles should be requested for the edgeless spherical shapes in order to minimize the loss due to the abrasion during the process and/or practical use, but the carbon particles manufactured from petroleum-based pitch do not meet these needs. Nowadays, thus, the spherical active carbon particles carbonized from various spherical polymer beads are studied with thermoplastic and/or thermosetting polymers. In this paper, the synthesis of spherical phenolic beads and furan beads, which are thermosetting polymers, and their carbonization techniques are examined.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.530-536
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• 2023

The theoretical capacity of silicon-based anode materials is more than 10 times higher than the capacity of graphite, so silicon can be used as an alternative to graphite anode materials. However, silicon has a much higher contraction and expansion rate due to lithiation of the anode material during the charge and discharge processes, compared to graphite anode materials, resulting in the pulverization of silicon particles during repeated charge and discharge. To compensate for the above issues, there is a growing interest in SiO_x materials with a silica or carbon coating to minimize the expansion of the silicon. In this study, spherical silica (SiO₂) was synthesized using TEOS as a starting material for the fabrication of such SiO_x through heating in a reduction atmosphere. SiO_x powder was produced by adding PVA as a carbon source and inducing the reduction of silica by the carbothermal reduction method. The ratio of TEOS to distilled water, the stirring time, and the amount of PVA added were adjusted to induce size and morphology, resulting in uniform nanosized spherical silica particles. For the reduction of the spherical monodisperse silica particles, a nitrogen gas atmosphere mixed with 5 % hydrogen was applied, and oxygen atoms in the silica were selectively removed by the carbothermal reduction method. The produced SiO_x powder was characterized by FE-SEM to examine the morphology and size changes of the particles, and XPS and FT-IR were used to examine the x value (O/Si ratio) of the synthesized SiO_x.

• Carbon letters
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• v.19
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• pp.23-31
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• 2016

Carbon rich fly ash was recently reported to have compositions that are ideal for use as a precursor and catalyst for carbon nanotube growth. This fly ash powder is mostly composed of pure carbon, predominantly present as sp². In this work, the effect of sonication time on the morphology and structural properties of carbon rich fly ash particles is reported. The obtained results show that ultrasound treatment is an effective tool for producing ultrafine particles/fragments with higher porosity, which might be suitable for the adsorption of gasses. Moreover, carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) of this fly ash were produced in parallel using the ball milling technique, and were evaluated as reinforcements for epoxy based composites. These CNPs have almost spherical shapes with particle sizes of around 30 nm. They were found to have strong C=O carbonyl group bonds, which might be generated during the ball milling process. The tensile testing results of a fly ash CNP reinforced epoxy composite showed significant improvements in the mechanical properties, mainly in the stiffness of the polymer. The stiffness value was increased by around 23% of that of neat epoxy. These CNPs with chemically active groups might also be useful for other applications.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.618-623
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• 2020

Spherical phenolic resin beads were synthesized by suspension polymerization at 98 ℃ from phenol, ortho-cresol, formaldehyde, with triethylamine as a basic catalyst, and spherical phenol-cresol copolymer resin beads with relatively low crosslinking density as well. Phenol reacts with formaldehyde at two ortho- and one para- positions to form a crosslinked structure, but ortho-cresol instead of phenol reduces the crosslinking density during copolymerization due to the methyl group at a ortho- position. As a result, spherical phenol-cresol copolymer beads showed more shrinkage with decreasing apparent density compared to the spherical phenol beads when carbonized at 700 ℃ under nitrogen. As the molecular weight of the cresol oligomer increases, the pore radius of the carbonized copolymer beads decreases, which is consistent with the density and shrinkage results. It was confirmed that the characteristics such as density decrease, shrinkage, yield and so on during carbonization can be controlled by controlling the degree of crosslinking of the spherical phenolic resin particles with cresol.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.279-284
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• 2013

The phenolic beads in macrosize range were obtained by suspension polymerization at $98^{\circ}C$ from phenol and formaldehyde in the presence of basic catalyst with a phenol to formaldehyde (P/F) range of 1:1~1:4, and they were carbonized to spherical carbon beads under nitrogen at $700^{\circ}C$. Thermal analysis on spherical phenolic beads obtained by suspension polymerization showed that the postcuring process is essential. In order to optimize the suspension polymerization, the effects of the P/F molar ratio, the pH of catalyst, and the molecular weight of stabilizer on the size distribution and yield of spherical phenol beads were examined separatively. The particle size was increased whereas the yield was decreased with P/F molar ratio. The increasing basicity of catalyst made the particle size to increase, while the molecular weight of stabilizer had more effect on the yield rather than on the particle size distribution. The thermal stability of the spherical phenolic beads obtained through postcure was also examined by TGA. The phenol beads of high P/F ratio still showed the weight loss at $220^{\circ}C$ even after postcure due to the high possibility of dibenzyl ether, while those of low P/F ratio showed the steady decrease in weight during $220^{\circ}C$ to $400^{\circ}C$, which showed that the optimal P/F ratio was 1:2.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.413-418
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• 2018

All-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSBs) using inorganic sulfide-based solid electrolytes are considered prospective alternatives to existing liquid electrolyte-based batteries owing to benefits such as non-flammability. However, it is difficult to form a favorable solid-solid interface among electrode constituents because all the constituents are solid particles. It is important to form an effective electron conduction network in composite cathode while increasing utilization of active materials and not blocking the lithium ion path, resulting in excellent cell performance. In this study, a mixture of fibrous VGCF and spherical nano-sized Super P was used to improve rate performance by fabricating valid conduction paths in composite cathodes. Then, composite cathodes of ASSBs containing 70% and 80% active materials ($LiNi_{0.6}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.2}O_2$) were prepared by a solution-based process to achieve uniform dispersion of the electrode components in the slurry. We investigated the influence of binary carbon additives in the cathode of all-solid-state batteries to improve rate performance by constructing an effective electron conduction network.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.137-145
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• 2021

Among the non-precious metal catalysts, iron-nitrogen doped carbon (Fe-N/C) catalysts have been recognized as the most promising candidates for an alternative to Pt-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) under alkaline and acidic conditions. In this study, the nano replication method using mesoporous silica, which features tunable primary particle sizes and shape, is employed to prepare the mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts with different shapes. Platelet SBA-15, irregular KIT-6, and spherical silica particle (SSP) were selected as a template to generate three different kinds of shapes of the mesoporous Fe-N/C catalyst. Physicochemical properties of mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts are characterized by using small-angle X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, and scanning electron microscopy images. According to the electrochemical evaluation, there is no morphological preference of mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts toward the ORR activity with half-cell configuration under alkaline electrolyte. By implementing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of Fe and N atoms in the mesoporous Fe-N/C catalysts, it is possible to verify that the activity towards ORR highly depends on the portions of "Fe-N" species in the catalysts regardless of the shape of catalysts. It was suggested that active site distribution in the Fe-N/C is one important factor towards ORR activity.