In the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), carbon counter electrode has been tested for replacing the platinum counter electrode which has two drawbacks: limited surface area and high material cost. Poor mechanical stability of carbon layer due to weak bonding strength to electrically conductive TCO (transparent conducting oxide) glass substrate is a crucial barrier for practical application of carbon counter electrode. In the present study a carbon counter electrode with high conversion efficiency, comparable to Pt counter electrode, could be fabricated by adaption of a bonding layer between particulate carbon material and TCO substrate.

We investigated on the additive effect of carbon nanotube in the sulfur electrode on the first discharge curve and cycling property of lithium/sulfur cell. The sulfur electrode with carbon nanotube had two discharge plateau potentials and the first discharge capacity about 1200 mAh/g sulfur. The addition carbon nanotube into the sulfur electrode did not affect the first discharge behavior, but improved the cycling property of lithium/sulfur cell. The optimum content of carbon nanotube was 6 wt% of sulfur electrode

Ru-C nano-composite films were prepared by MOCVD, and their microstructures and their electrode properties for oxygen gas sensors were investigated. Deposited films contained Ru particles of 5-20 nm in diameter dispersed in amorphous C matrix. The AC conductivities associating to the interface charge transfer between Ru-C composite electrode and YSZ electrolyte were 100-1000 times higher than that of conventional paste-Pt electrodes. The emf values of the oxygen gas concentration cell constructed from the nano-composite electrodes and YSZ electrolyte showed the Nernstian theoretical values at low temperatures around 500 K. The response time of the concentration cell was 900 s at 500 K.

Powder library of pseudo four components Li-Ni-Co-Ti compounds were prepared for exploring the composition region with the single phase of the layer-type structure by using combinatorial high-throuput preparation system "M-ist Combi" based on electrostatic spray deposition method. The new layer-type compounds were found wider composition region than the previous report. This process is promising way to find multi component functional materials.

The natural graphite particles A and heat-treated graphite particles B at 1800 ℃ after pitch-coating were used as the anode base materials for lithium ion secondary battery. In order to improve the performance of anode materials, the base anode materials were treated with various acids. With the acid treatments of 62% HNO3 and 95% H2SO4 aqueous solution, the specific surface area and electrical conductivity of base anode materials were increased, and the initial charge-discharge capacity and cycle performance were improved due to the elimination of structural defects.

Al-Zn alloy/MnO2, seawater cell was considered as a primary aqueous cell with an average voltage range from 1.0 to 1.1V, and the electrolyte of seawater was uptaken into the cell. Eventually, the capacity of its usage will be used for long-term. However, the more use of this cell, the higher corrosion phenomenon of the electrode occurred. Due to its corrosion phenomenon, one main default has been observed with gradual decrease during a discharge process. In this research, a common-used active material for anode was LiNiO2. An active material for cathode, ZnXFeS2 was synthesized in high temperature by uptaken a small amount of 1.3 wt% of ZnS into FeS2, one of the transition-metal dichalcogenides in high temperature. Consequently, based on their usages shown above, this secondary aqueous lithium cell could be more developed. This cell was shown as remarkable charge/discharge performance during the charge/discharge processes. This cathode with active material was given a considerable efficiency of inserting Li+ ions. Moreever, in accordance with the characteristic of the crystal structure for ZnxFeS2, a small amount of ZnS was added which made it possible to reduce prominently velocity of corrosion during the charge/discharge cycle. By applying those merits, Al-Zn alloy/MnO2 seawater cell will be used as a fundamental data in order to transform into a secondary aqueous cell.

Plasma carbon blacks of 20~30 nm diameter were synthesized by direct decomposition of natural gas using a hybrid plasma torch system with 50 kW direct current and 4 MHz of radio frequency. The insulating rector which inside diameter of 400 mm and length of 1500 mm, respectively was kept at 300~400℃ during the preparation. The ultimate analysis of plasma carbon blacks reveals that the raw plasma carbon blacks contains a large quantity of volatile which is mainly consist of hydrogen. Therefore devolatilization of raw plasma carbon blacks were carried out at 900℃ for one hour under nitrogen atmosphere. The devolatilization leads to the decrease in electrical resistivity and surface oxygen functional groups of plasma carbon black significantly. In order to investigate the plasma carbon as a catalyst support, devolatilized plasma black at 900℃ (DPB) supported PtAu catalyst was synthesized by sodium boronhydride reduction method. Electrochemical measurements and direct formic acid fuel cell test indicated that catalytic activity of DPB supported PtAu catalyst for formic acid oxidation was similar to that of Vulcan XC-72 of commercial carbon black supported one.

In this study, hetero-electrode structures have been fabricated to increase luminescence efficiency. The presence of a thin layer of Sn or Ag at the organic-aluminum interface enhanced both electron injection efficiency and electroluminescence when compared to OLEDs using homogeneous electrode. In this paper, the effect of the cathode using Sn/Al hetero electrode structure is observed. Electric properties of the OLED using Sn/Al hetero cathode are improved in comparison of only Al cathode. The hetero-electrode existing different energy level induces the advanced structure of OLED can accumulate electron density. The luminescence efficiency of OLED with Sn/Al of Ag/Al cathode is higher because of their higher electron injection efficiency. And, the turn on voltage of the OLED device using Sn thin layer is lowest as about 10 V.

In most tissues, apoptosis plays a pivotal role in normal development and in regulation of cell number. Therefore inappropriate apoptosis is revealed in a variety of diseases. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of acupuncture and needle electrode electrical stimulation on the change of caspase-3, 9 and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) immunoreactive cells in the sprague dawley rats (SD rat). In immobilized SD rats (n=5), enhanced caspase-3 and caspase-9 expression were detected in the reticular part of substantia nigra, and enhanced nNOS was detected in the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray (DL-PAG) of midbrain and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus using immunohistochemistry. Following the immobilization, acupuncture (n=5) and needle electrode electrical stimulation (n=5, 2 Hz) was applied at Hg (LI4) acupoint of SD rats, respectively. The stress-induced enhancement in the expression of caspase-3, 9 and nNOS were The present results demonstrate that and needle electrode electrical stimulation are effective in the modulation of expression of caspase-3, 9 and nNOS induced by immobilization.

The best Ppy weight ratio was 7 wt% and the optimal electrode composition ratio was 78 : 17 : 5 wt.% of (MSP-20 : BP-20 =1 : 1), (Super P : Ppy =10 : 7) and P(VdF-co-HFP). Implantation of Ppy as the conducting agents have led to superior electrochemical characteristics because of the low of internal resistance and faradaic capacitance. The result of unit cell with Ppy 7 wt% were as follows: 28.02 Fig of specific capacitance, 1.34 Ω of DC-ESR and 0.36 Ω of AC-ESR. Unit cell showed a good stability up to 200 charge-discharge cycles, retaining 82% of their original capacity at 200 cycles. From the analysis of impedance, the electrodes with Ppy 7 wt% showed low ESR, low charge transfer resistance and quick reaction rate. It was inferred that quick charge-discharge was possible. As compared with the specific capacitance (rectangular shape) of CV, it was also concluded that the specific capacitance originated from thecompound phenomena of the faradaic capacitance by oxidation and reduction of Ppy and the non-faradaic capacitance by adsorption-desorption of activated carbon.

Nanostructured Cu-AlO composite powders were synthesized by thermochemical process. The synthesis procedures are 1) preparation of precursor powder by spray drying of solution made from water-soluble copper and aluminum nitrates, 2) air heat treatments to evaporate volatile components in the precursor powder and synthesis of nano-structured CuO + O, and 3) CuO reduction by hydrogen into pure Cu. The suggested procedures stimulated the formation of the gamma-AlO, and different alumina formation behaviors appeared with various heat treating temperatures. The mean particle size of the final Cu/AlO composite powders produced was 20 nm, and the electrical conductivity and hardness in the hot-extruded bulk were competitive with Cu/AlO composite by the conventional internal oxidation process