• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.531-539
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• 2019

The development of cost-effective electrocatalysts with high durability is one of the most important challenges for the commercialization of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). The durability of the electrocatalyst has been studied in terms of structural change in the active metal and the support. In particular, in fuel cell vehicles, degradation of the carbon-based support is known to have a significant effect on the electrocatalyst deterioration since the start-up/shut-down cycle is frequently repeated. The requirements for the support of the electrocatalyst include high surface area, electrical conductivity, chemical stability, and so on. In this study, we propose the evaluation methods for choosing better support materials and present the physicochemical properties that promising carbon supports should have. Three kinds of carbon materials with different crystallinity are compared. From in-depth study using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and accelerated stress test, it is clearly confirmed that the durability of carbon-supported electrocatalysts is closely related to the physicochemical properties of the carbon supports.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.603-609
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• 2017

In the deployable solid surface antennas, the effects on the performances of antenna due to the structural errors that occur during the deployment are analyzed. The deployable solid surface antennas employed in a satellite are launched in folded configuration and those are deployed in the space environment, and the effects on the antenna performance are calculated depending on the type of surface errors. When the deviation error occurs in one panel, the degradation of performance appears in the side where the incomplete deployment of panel occurs. By assuming that the panel error distribution is in cosine function, the effect of errors are calculated and analyzed with regard to the types and the magnitude of the error. If the antena panel error is uniform, the gain is reduced and pattern is symmetric. For the panel error of cosine 1 or 3 cycle, the main lobe tilts while the pattern is symmetric and the gain reduces for 2 or 4 cycle error.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.201-207
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• 2012

Pulsed lasers at the 613 nm and 1064 nm wavelengths on nanoseconds have been utilized to characterize the damage on Si photodiode exposed to intense illumination. Morphological damages and structural changes at sites on the photodiode irradiated during microseconds of laser pulses were analyzed by FE-SEM images and XRD patterns, respectively. The removal of oxide coating, ripple, melting marks, ridges, and crater on photodiodes were definitely observed in order of increasing the pulse intensities generated above the damage threshold. Then, the degradation in photosensitivity of the Si photodiode irradiated by high power density pulses was measured as a function of laser irradiation time at the various wavelengths. The free charge carrier and thermal diffusion mechanisms could have been invoked to characterize the damage. The relative photosensitivity data calculated using the thermal diffusion model proposed in this paper have been compared with the experimental data irradiated above the damage threshold.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.763-771
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• 2001

Biphenyl dioxygenase (BPDO), which catalyzes the first step in the bacterial degradation of biphenyl and polychlorinated biphenyls, was characterized in Pseudomonas sp. B4. The bphA locus containing the four structural genes encoding BPDO were cloned and sequenced. A regulatory gene as well as a putative regulatory sequence were identified upstream of this locus. A transposase-like gene was found within a 1-kb region further upstream, thereby suggesting that the bphA locus may be carried on a transposable element. The three components of the BPDO enzyme have been separately overexpressed and purified from E. coli. The ferredoxin and terminal dioxygenase components showed biochemical properties comparable to those of two previously characterized BPDOs, whereas the ferredoxin reductase exhibited an unusually high lability. The substrate selectivity of BPDO was examined in vivo using resting cell assays performed with mixtures of selected polychlorinated biphenyls. The results indicated that para-substituted congeners were the preferred substrates. In vitro studies were carried out on a BPDO complex where the reductase from strain B4 we replaced by the more stable isoform from Comamonas testosteroni B-356. The BPDO enzyme had a specific activity of $0.26{\pm}0.02 {\mu}mol {min^-1}{mg^-1}\;of\;ISP_{BPH}$ with biphenyl as the substrate. The 2,3-, 4,4'-, and 2,4,4'-chlorobiphenyls were converted to single dihydrodiols, while 2,4'-dichlorobiphenyl gave rise to two dihydrodiols. The current data also indicated that 2,4,4'-trichlorobiphenyl was a better substrate than the 4,4'-dichlorinated congener.

• 보존과학연구
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• s.19
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• pp.3-22
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• 1998

The effect of pH on degradation of paper by some fungi, which able to degrade cellulose, was investigated. Trichoderma koningii, Aspergillus nigerand Penicillium nigulosum were cultured at $28^{\circ}C$ for 16 days in the selective medium (PH3, PH4, PH5, PH6, PH7, PH8, PH9, PH10, PHC) containing paper as substrate. Each paper was pretreated with each pH buffer (pH 3∼pH 10, D.W.)prior to addition to the selective medium. Enzyme activities in the each culture medium were measured spectroph to metrically using C.M.C., Avicel, PNPG as the substrates for endoglucanase, exoglucanase and $\beta$-glucosidase, respectively. In all experimental fungi, the enzyme activities of PH3 and PH9 medium were usually much higher than those of other experimental groups. However in the PH6medium, enzyme activity was lower than other groups. To analyze the concentration and pattern of protein in the each culture medium, the medium was concentrated by lyophilization. The protein concentration of PH3 and PH9 medium were relatively high (T.koningii; 6.31mg, 6,19mg, A.niger; 1.62mg, 1.96mg, P.nigulosum;2.50mg, 2.73mg, respectively), but that of PH6 was relatively low. The protein pattern of each medium was analyzed by using SDS-PAGE and VDS Image Master Analysis Program. The concentrations of bands in the each lane were usually high at lane2 (PH3) and lane8 (PH9) and low at lane5 (PH6). Therefore, the incresed cellulolytic activity of fungus against acidified paper could be result of structural change and deterioration of paper caused by being acidified.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.680-690
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• 2002

Implantable biodegradable wafers were prepared with pamidronate -loaded poly (L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA, 75 : 25 mole ratio by lactide to glycolide, molecular weight : 20000 and 90000 g/mole) by direct compression method for the sustained release of pamidronate to investigate the possibility for the treatment of bone resorption. Pamidronate-loaded PLGA powders were prepared by means of physical mixing and spray drying with the control of formulation factors and characterized by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer. The pamidronate-loaded PLGA powders fabricated into wafers by direct compression under the constant pressure and time at room temperature. These wafers were also observed for their structural characteristic, release pattern, and degradation pattern. The release rate of pamidronate increased with increasing their initial loading ratio as well as increasing wafer thickness. The molecular weight of PLGA affects the release pattern : the higher molecular weight of PLGA, the faster release rate. It can be explained that the higher viscosity of high molecular PLGA solution at same concentration tends to aggregate PLGA and pamidronate resulting in unstable pharmaceutical dosage form. This system had advantages in terms of simplicity in design and obviousness of drug release rate and nay be useful as an implantable dosage form for the treatment of aural cholesteatoma.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2016

$TiO_2$ nanoparticles were synthesized by a sol-gel process using titanium tetra isopropoxide as a precursor at room temperature. Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared by photoreduction of $AgNO_3$ on $TiO_2$ under UV light irradiation and calcinated at $400^{\circ}C$. Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were characterized for their structural and morphological properties by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic properties of the $TiO_2$ and Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were evaluated according to the degree of photocatalytic degradation of gaseous benzene under UV and visible light irradiation. To estimate the rate of photolysis under UV (${\lambda}=365nm$) and visible (${\lambda}{\geq}410nm$) light, the residual concentration of benzene was monitored by gas chromatography (GC). Both undoped/doped nanoparticles showed about 80 % of photolysis of benzene under UV light. However, under visible light irradiation Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles exhibited a photocatalytic reaction toward the photodegradation of benzene more efficient than that of bare $TiO_2$. The enhanced photocatalytic reaction of Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles is attributed to the decrease in the activation energy and to the existence of Ag in the $TiO_2$ host lattice, which increases the absorption capacity in the visible region by acting as an electron trapper and promotes charge separation of the photoinduced electrons ($e^-$) and holes ($h^+$). The use of Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles preserved the option of an environmentally benign photocatalytic reaction using visible light; These particles can be applicable to environmental cleaning applications.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.504-507
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• 2012

Synthesis of RGO (reduced graphene oxide)-CdS composite material was performed through CBD (chemical bath deposition) method in which graphene oxide served as the support and Cadmium Sulfate Hydrate as the starting material. Graphene-based semiconductor photocatalysts have attracted extensive attention due to their usefulness for environmental and energy applications. The band gap (2.4 eV) of CdS corresponds well with the spectrum of sunlight because the crystalline phase, size, morphology, specic surface area and defects, etc., of CdS can affect its photocatalytic activity. The specific surface structure (morphology) of the photocatalyst can be effective for the suppression of recombination between photogenerated electrons and holes. Graphene (GN) has unique properties such as a high value of Young's modulus, large theoretical specific surface area, excellent thermal conductivity, high mobility of charge carriers, and good optical transmittance. These excellent properties make GN an ideal building block in nanocomposites. It can act as an excellent electron-acceptor/transport material. Therefore, the morphology, structural characterization and crystal structure were observed using various analytical tools, such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. From this analysis, it is shown that CdS particles were well dispersed uniformly in the RGO sheet. Furthermore, the photocatalytic property of the resulting RGO-CdS composite is also discussed in relation to environmental applications such as the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants. It was found that the prepared RGO-CdS nanocomposites exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity as compared with that of CdS nanoparticles. Therefore, better efficiency of photodegradation was found for water purification applications using RGO-CdS composite.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2010

Titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) particles deposited on different quantitative Fe-treated carbon nanotube (CNT) composites with high photocatalytic activity of visible light were prepared by a modified sol-gel method using TNB as a titanium source. The composites were characterized by BET, XRD, SEM, TEM and EDX, which showed that the BET surface area was related to the adsorption capacity for each composite. From TEM images, surface and structural characterization of for the CNT surface had been carried out. The XRD results showed that the Fe-ACF/$TiO_2$ composite mostly contained an anatase structure with a Fe-mediated compound. EDX results showed the presence of C, O, and Ti with Fe peaks in the Fe-CNT/$TiO_2$ composites. The photocatalytic activity of the composites was examined by degradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution under visible light, which was found to depend on the amount of CNT. The highest photocatalytic activity among the different composites was related to the optimal content of CNT in the Fe-CNT/$TiO_2$ composites. In particular, the photocatalytic activity of the Fe-CNT/$TiO_2$ composites under visible light was better than that of the CNT/$TiO_2$ composites due to the introduction of Fe particles.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.129-134
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• 2006

Lon, also known as protease La, belongs to a class of ATP-dependent serine protease. It plays an essential role in degradation of abnormal proteins and of certain short-lived regulatory proteins, and is thought to possess a Ser-Lys catalytic dyad. To examine the structural organization of Lon, we performed an electron microscope analysis. The averaged images of Lon with end-on orientation revealed a six-membered, ring-shaped structure with a central cavity. The side-on view showed a two-layered structure with an equal distribution of mass across the equatorial plane of the complex. Since a Lon subunit possesses two large regions containing nucleotide binding and proteolytic domains, each layer of the Lon hexamer appears to consist of the side projections of one of the major domains arranged in a ring. Lon showed a strong tendency to form hexamers in the presence of $Mg^{2+}$, but dissociated into monomers and/or dimers in its absence. Moreover, $Mg^{2+}$-dependent hexamer formation was independent of ATP. These results indicate that Lon has a hexameric ring-shaped structure with a central cavity, and that the establishment of this configuration requires $Mg^{2+}$, but not ATP.