• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.240-245
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• 2010

This work explored the catalytic effect of Pt in multi-wall carbon nanotube and poly-pyrrole conductive polymer electrocatalysts (Pt/PPy/MWCNT). A home-made Pt/PPy/MWCNT catalyst was first evaluated by comparing its electrochemical active surface area (ESA) with E-Tek commercial catalysts by cyclic voltammetry in $H_2SO_4$ solution. Then, the methanol oxidation currents of Pt/PPy/MWCNT and the hydrogen peaks in $H_2SO_4$ solution were serially measured with microporous electrode. This provided the current density of methanol oxidation based on the ESA, allowing a quantitative comparison of catalytic activity. The current densities were also measured for Pt/C catalysts of E-Tek and Tanaka Precious Metal Co. The current densities for the different catalysts were similar, implying that catalytic activity depended directly on the ESA rather than charge transfer or electronic conductivity.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.61-66
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• 2017

$SnO_2$ was electrodeposited on nodule-type Cu foil at varing current density and electrodeposition time. Unlike the previous research results, when the anodic current is applied, the $SnO_2$ layer was not electrodeposited and the substrate is corroded. When the cathodic current was applied, the $SnO_2$ layer could be successfully deposited. At this time, the surface microstructure of the powdery type was observed, which showed similar crystallinity to amorphous and had a very large surface area. Crystallinity increased after low-temperature heat treatment at $250^{\circ}C$ or lower. As a result of evaluating the charge/discharge performances as an anode material for lithium ion battery, it was confirmed that the capacity of the heat treated $SnO_2$ was increased more than 2 times, but it still showed a limit point showing initial low coulombic efficiency and low cyclability. However, it was confirmed that the battery performances may be enhanced through optimizing the electrodeposition process and introducing post heat treatment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.141-160
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• 2015

This study aims to investigate the impacts of chemical cleaning on the performance of a reverse osmosis membrane. Chemicals used for simulating membrane cleaning include a surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS), a chelating agent (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA), and two proprietary cleaning formulations namely MC3 and MC11. The impact of sequential exposure to multiple membrane cleaning solutions was also examined. Water permeability and the rejection of boron and sodium were investigated under various water fluxes, temperatures and feedwater pH. Changes in the membrane performance were systematically explained based on the changes in the charge density, hydrophobicity and chemical structure of the membrane surface. The experimental results show that membrane cleaning can significantly alter the hydrophobicity and water permeability of the membrane; however, its impacts on the rejections of boron and sodium are marginal. Although the presence of surfactant or chelating agent may cause decreases in the rejection, solution pH is the key factor responsible for the loss of membrane separation and changes in the surface properties. The impact of solution pH on the water permeability can be reversed by applying a subsequent cleaning with the opposite pH condition. Nevertheless, the impacts of solution pH on boron and sodium rejections are irreversible in most cases.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2018

Electrospinning is a versatile technique that utilizes electrostatic forces to produce very thin and fine fibers of polymer ranging from submicron to nanometer scale. The technique can be applied to fibers of a various polymer types. Working parameters in the electrospinning are very important to understand not only the nature of electrospinning but also the conversion of polymer solutions into nanofibers through electrospinning. Those parameters in the electrospinning can be broadly divided into three parts. The first parameter is solution parameters such as molecular weight of polymer, concentration, viscosity, surface tension and conductivity/surface charge density of solution. The second parameter is process such as voltage, distance between the collector and the tip of the syringe, shape of collectors, flow rate. The third parameter is ambient parameters such as humidity and temperature. Fibers which made by electrospinning with working parameters are applied for various fields according to shape such as medical, cloth, photodiode, a sensor technology, catalyst, filtration, battery etc.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.186-190
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• 2004

The electrokinetic bioremediation employing electrolyte circulation method was carried out for the cleanup of phenanthrene-contaminated kaolinite, and microorganism used in the biodegradation of phenanthrene was Sphingomonas sp. 3Y. The electrolyte circulation method supplied ionic nutrientsand the microorganism into soil, and inhibited the significant pH change of soil by increasing the soil buffering capacity by providing phosphate buffer compounds. When the remediation process was conducted without surfactant, the removal efficiency of phenanthrene, at the initial concentration of 200 ppm, was 69% for only 7 days. Higher microbial population and lower phenanthrene concentration were observed in the anode and middle regions of soil specimen than in the cathode region. The higher density of microorganism was because the microbial movement was in the direction of the anode part due to the negative surface charge. When Triton X-100 and APG of 20 g/1 were used to improve the bioavailability of phenanthrene strongly adsorbed onto soil surface, about 90 and 39% of phenanthrene removal were obtained. Consequently, it was confirmed that the microorganism preferred APC to phenanthrene as carbon source and so the removal efficiency with APG decreased less than that without APG.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.599-602
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• 2007

23 F/cc grade new type of high density activated carbon from crystalline green cokes type of mesocarbon microbeads has been synthesized by chemical and electrochemical activation. In order for these materials to have high performance, electrochemical behavior during electrochemical activation has been investigated by sequential voltage applying schemes. These results showed that the effective voltage for electrochemical activation was about 2.7~3.2 V irrelevant to applying voltage due to the decrease of surface activation of activated carbon with high specific surface area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.146-149
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• 2004

Porous silicon(PS) as an excellent light diffuser can be used as an antireflection layer without other antireflection coating(ARC) materials. PS layers were obtained by electrochemical etching(ECE) anodization of silicon wafers in hydrofluoric acid/ethanol/de-ionized(DI) water solution($HF/EtOH/H_2O$). This technique is based on the selective removal of Si atoms from the sample surface forming a layer of PS with adjustable optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. A PS layer with optimal ARC characteristics was obtained in charge density (Q) of 5.2 $C/cm^2$. The weighted reflectance is reduced from 33 % to 4 % in the wavelength between 400 and 1000 nm. The weighted reflectance with optimized PS layers is much less than that obtained with a commercial SiNx ARC on a potassium hydroxide(KOH) pre-textured multi-crystalline silicon(mc-Si) surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.150.2-150.2
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• 2013

We elucidate the mechanism of the self-assembled organic layer formation at the organic/metal interface of hexaaza-triphenylene-hexacarbonitrile (HATCN)/Au(111) by first-principles calculations and Lowtemperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). In this work, we used HATCN to deposit organic material which is well known as an efficient OLED charge generation material. Low-temperature STM measurements revealed that self-assembled hexagonal porous structure is formed at terraces of Au(111). We also found that the hexagonal porous structure has chirality and forms only small (<1000 $nm^2$) phaseseparated chiral domains that can easily change their chiral phase in subsequence STM images at 80 K. To explain the mechanism of these observation, we calculated the molecular-molecular and molecule-surface interaction energies by using density functional theory method. We found that the change of their chiral phase resulted from the competition between the two energies. These results have not only verified our experimental observations, but also revealed the delicate balance between different interactions that caused the self-assembed structures at the surface.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.164-170
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• 2021

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) have emerged as large-scale energy storage systems (ESS) due to their advantages such as low cross-contamination, long life, and flexible design. However, Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in the negative half-cell causes a harmful influence on the performance of the VRFB by consuming current. Moreover, HER hinders V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction between electrode and electrolyte by forming a bubble. To address the HER problem, carbon nanotube/graphite felt electrode (CNT/GF) with oxygen functional groups was synthesized through the hydrothermal method in the H₂SO₄ + HNO₃ (3:1) mixed acid solution. These oxygen functional groups on the CNT/GF succeed in suppressing the HER and improving charge transfer for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction. As a result, the oxygen functional group applied electrode exhibited a low overpotential of 0.395 V for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction. Hence, this work could offer a new strategy to design and synthesize effective electrodes for HER suppression and improving the energy density of VRFB.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2022

The o-Vanillin - Glutamine Schiff base [2-Hydroxy-3-Methoxy BenzylidineCarbomyl) -2-Butanoic Acid] was examined for low carbon steel corrosion inhibition in acid media. Weight loss studies were carried out at three different temperatures to determine the inhibition efficiency (IE). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that the charge transfer resistance controlled the corrosion reaction and Tafel polarization indicated that the Schiff base acts as mixed mode of inhibitor. SEM images were recorded for the surface morphology of the low carbon steel surface. DFT studies revealed corrosion control mechanisms using quantum chemical parameters such as E_HOMO, E_LUMO, energy gap (∆E), chemical Hardness (η), chemical Softness (σ), Electronegativity (χ), and the fraction of electron transferred (∆N), which is calculated using Gaussian software 09. The gas-phase geometry was fully optimized in the Density Functional Theory (DFT/B3LYP-6-31G (d)).The DFT results are in good agreement with the experimental results. All the results proved that the Schiff Base (2-Hydroxy-3-Metoxy BenzylidineCarbomyl) -2-Butanoic is a suitable alternative for corrosion inhibition of low carbon steel in acid media.