Transition metal oxide is widely used as a water electrolysis catalyst to substitute for a noble metal catalyst such as IrO2 and RuO2. In this study, the sol-gel method is used to synthesize the CuxCo3-xO4 catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER),. The CuxCo3-xO4 is synthesized at various calcination temperatures from 250 ℃ to 400 ℃ for 4 h. The CuxCo3- xO4 synthesized at 300 ℃ has a perfect spinel structure without residues of the precursor and secondary phases, such as CuO. The particle size of CuxCo3-xO4 increases with an increase in calcination temperature. Amongst all the samples studied, CuxCo3- xO4, which is synthesized at 300?, has the highest activity for the OER. Its onset potential for the OER is 370 mV and the overpotential at 10 mA/cm2 is 438 mV. The tafel slope of CuxCo3-xO4 synthesized at 300 ℃ has a low value of 58 mV/dec. These results are mainly explained by the increase in the available active surface area of the CuxCo3-xO4 catalyst.

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)–copper (Cu) composites are successfully fabricated by a combination of a binder-free wet mixing and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The SPS is performed under various conditions to investigate optimized processing conditions for minimizing the structural defects of CNTs and densifying the MWCNT–Cu composites. The electrical conductivities of MWCNT–Cu composites are slightly increased for compositions containing up to 1 vol.% CNT and remain above the value for sintered Cu up to 2 vol.% CNT. Uniformly dispersed CNTs in the Cu matrix with clean interfaces between the treated MWCNT and Cu leading to effective electrical transfer from the treated MWCNT to the Cu is believed to be the origin of the improved electrical conductivity of the treated MWCNT–Cu composites. The results indicate the possibility of exploiting CNTs as a contributing reinforcement phase for improving the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties in the Cu matrix composites.

Much attention has been paid to thermally conductive materials for efficient heat dissipation of electronic devices to maintain their functionality and to support lifetime span. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), which has a high thermal conductivity, is one of the most suitable materials for thermally conductive composites. In this study, we synthesize h-BN nanocrystals by pyrolysis of cost-effective precursors, boric acid, and melamine. Through pyrolysis at 900oC and subsequent annealing at 1500oC, h-BN nanoparticles with diameters of ~80 nm are synthesized. We demonstrate that the addition of small amounts of Eu-containing salts during the preparation of melamine borate precursors significantly enhanced the crystallinity of h-BN. In particular, addition of Eu assists the growth of h-BN nanoplatelets with diameters up to ~200 nm. Polymer composites containing both spherical Al2O3 (70 vol%) and Eu-doped h-BN nanoparticles (4 vol%) show an enhanced thermal conductivity (λ ~ 1.72W/mK), which is larger than the thermal conductivity of polymer composites containing spherical Al2O3 (70 vol%) as the sole fillers (λ ~ 1.48W/mK).

We report a synthesis of non-toxic InP nanocrystals using non-pyrolytic precursors instead of pyrolytic and unstable tris(trimethylsilyl)phosphine, a popular precursor for synthesis of InP nanocrystals. In this study, InP nanocrystals are successfully synthesized using hexaethyl phosphorous triamide (HPT) and the synthesized InP nanocrystals showed a broad and weak photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. As synthesized InP nanocrystals are subjected to further surface modification process to enhance their stability and photoluminescence. Surface modification of InP nanocrystals is done at 230°C using 1-dodecanethiol, zinc acetate and fatty acid as sources of ZnS shell. After surface modification, the synthesized InP/ZnS nanocrystals show intense PL spectra centered at the emission wavelength 612 nm through 633 nm. The synthesized InP/ZnS core/shell structure is confirmed with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES). After surface modification, InP/ZnS nanocrystals having narrow particle size distribution are observed by Field Emission Transmission Electron Microscope (FE-TEM). In contrast to uncapped InP nanocrystals, InP/ZnS nanocrystals treated with a newly developed surface modified procedure show highly enhanced PL spectra with quantum yield of 47%.

In this study, we prepare polymer solar cells incorporating organic ligand-modified Ag nanoparticles (O-AgNPs) highly dispersed in the P3HT:PCBM layer. Ag nanoparticles decorated with water-dispersible ligands (W-AgNPs) were also utilized as a control sample. The existence of the ligands on the Ag surface was confirmed by FT-IR spectra. Metal nanoparticles with different surface chemistries exhibited different dispersion tendencies. O-AgNPswere highly dispersed even at high concentrations, whereas W-AgNPs exhibited significant aggregation in the polymerlayer. Both dispersion and blending concentration of the Ag nanoparticles in P3HT:PCBM matrix had critical effects onthe device performance as well as light absorption. The significant changes in short-circuit current density (JSC) of thesolar cells seemed to be related to the change in the polymer morphology according to the concentration of AgNPsintroduced. These findings suggested the importance of uniform dispersion of plasmonic metal nanoparticles and theirblending concentration conditions in order to boost the solar cell performance.

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of electrodeposition conditions on the microstructural characteristics of copper thin films. The microstructure of electroplated Cu films was found to be highly dependent on electrodeposition conditions such as system current and current density, as well as the bath solution itself. The current density significantly changed the preferred orientation of electroplated Cu films in a DC system, while the solution itself had very significant effects on microstructural characteristics in a pulse-reverse pulse current system. In the DC system, polarization at high current above 30 mA, changed the preferred orientation of Cu films from (220) to (111). However, Cu films showed (220) preferred orientation for all ranges of current density in the pulse-reverse pulse current system. The grain size decreased with increasing current density in the DC system while it remained relatively constant in the pulse-reverse pulse current system. The sheet resistance increased with increasing current density in the DC system due to the decreased grain size.

Fe foam with above 90% porosity and 2 millimeter pore size was successfully fabricated by a slurry coating process. In this study, the binder contents were controlled to produce the Fe foam with different pore size, strut thickness and porosity. Firstly, the slurry was prepared by uniform mixing with Fe powders, distilled water and polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) as initial materials. After slurry coating on the polyurethane(PU) foam the sample was dried at 80oC. The PVA and PU foams were then removed by heating at 700oC for 3 hours. The debinded samples were subsequently sintered at 1250oC with holding time of 3 hours under hydrogen atmosphere. The three dimensional geometries of the obtained Fe foams with open cell structure were investigated using X-ray micro CT(computed tomography) as well as the pore morphology, size and phase.

Chalcopyrite CuInSe2(CIS) is considered to be an effective light-absorbing material for thin film photovoltaic solarcells. CIS thin films have been electrodeposited onto Mo coated and ITO glass substrates in potentiostatic mode at roomtemperature. The deposition mechanism of CIS thin films has been studied using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. Acyclic voltammetric study was performed in unitary Cu, In, and Se systems, binary Cu-Se and In-Se systems, and a ternaryCu-In-Se system. The reduction peaks of the ITO substrate were examined in separate Cu2+, In3+, and Se4+ solutions.Electrodeposition experiments were conducted with varying deposition potentials and electrolyte bath conditions. Themorphological and compositional properties of the CIS thin films were examined by field emission scanning electronmicroscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The surface morphology of as-deposited CIS films exhibitsspherical and large-sized clusters. The deposition potential has a significant effect on the film morphology and/or grain size,such that the structure tended to grow according to the increase of the deposition potential. A CIS layer deposited at −0.6Vnearly approached the stoichiometric ratio of CuIn0.8Se1.8. The growth potential plays an important role in controlling thestoichiometry of CIS films.

As continued scaling becomes increasingly difficult, 3D integration has emerged as a viable solution to achieve higher bandwidths and good power efficiency. 3D integration can be defined as a technology involving the stacking of multiple processed wafers containing integrated circuits on top of each other with vertical interconnects between the wafers. This type of 3D structure can improve performance levels, enable the integration of devices with incompatible process flows, and reduce form factors. Through silicon vias (TSVs), which directly connect stacked structures die-to-die, are an enabling technology for future 3D integrated systems. TSVs filled with copper using an electro-plating method are investigated in this study. DC and pulses are used as a current source for the electro-plating process as a means of via filling. A TiN barrier and Ru seed layers are deposited by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) with thicknesses of 10 and 30 nm, respectively. All samples electroplated by the DC current showed defects, even with additives. However, the samples electroplated by the pulse current showed defect-free super-filled via structures. The optimized condition for defect-free bottom-up super-filling was established by adjusting the additive concentrations in the basic plating solution of copper sulfate. The optimized concentrations of JGB and SPS were found to be 10 and 20 ppm, respectively.

Today, the modification of carbon foam for high performance remains a major issue in the environment and energy industries. One promising way to solve this problem is the optimization of the pore structure for desired properties as well as for efficient performance. In this study, using a sol-gel process followed by carbonization in an inert atmosphere, hollow spherical carbon foam was prepared using resorcinol and formaldehyde precursors catalyzed by 4-aminobenzoic acid; the effect of carbonization temperature and re-immersion treatment on the pore structure and characteristics of the hollow spherical carbon foam was investigated. As the carbonization temperature increased, the porosity and average pore diameter were found to decrease but the compression strength and electrical conductivity dramatically increased in the temperature range of this study (700˚C to 850˚C). The significant differences of X-ray diffraction patterns obtained from the carbon foams carbonized under different temperatures implied that the degree of crystallinity greatly affects the characteristics of the carbon form. Also, the number of re-impregnations of carbon form in the resorcinol-formaldehyde resin was varied from 1 to 10 times, followed by re-carbonization at 800˚C for 2 hours under argon gas flow. As the number of re-immersion treatments increased, the porosity decreased while the compression strength improved by about four times when re-impregnation was repeated 10 times. These results imply the possibility of customizing the characteristics of carbon foam by controlling the carbonization and re-immersion conditions.

The Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film solar cell is a candidate next generation thin film solar cell. For the application of an absorption layer in solar cells, CZTS thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at substrate temperature of 300˚C without post annealing process. Deposition time was carefully adjusted as the main experimental variable. Regardless of deposition time, single phase CZTS thin films are obtained with no existence of secondary phases. Irregularly-shaped grains are densely formed on the surface of CZTS thin films. With increasing deposition time, the grain size increases and the thickness of the CZTS thin films increases from 0.16 to 1μm. The variation of the surface morphology and thickness of the CZTS thin films depends on the deposition time. The stoichiometry of all CZTS thin films shows a Cu-rich and S-poor state. Sn content gradually increases as deposition time increases. Secondary ion mass spectrometry was carried out to evaluate the elemental depth distribution in CZTS thin films. The optimal deposition time to grow CZTS thin films is 150 min. In this study, we show the effect of deposition time on the structural properties of CZTS thin film deposited on soda lime glass (SLG) substrate using PLD. We present a comprehensive evaluation of CZTS thin films.

We report the effect of the chain length of carboxylic acid on the photoluminescence(PL) of /ZnS nanocrystals. /ZnS nanocrystals with emission wavelength ranging from 566 nm through 583 nm were synthesized with zinc acetate and carboxylic acids with various chain length. In this study, /ZnS nanocrystals prepared using long chain carboxylic acid showed more improved PL intensity. The origin of strong photoluminescence of the nanocrystals prepared with zinc acetate and long chain carboxylic acid was ascribed to improved size distribution due to strong reactivity between long chain carboxylic acid and zinc acetate.

Recently, the demand for the miniaturization of printed circuit boards has been increasing, as electronic devices have been sharply downsized. Conventional multi-layered PCBs are limited in terms their use with higher packaging densities. Therefore, a build-up process has been adopted as a new multi-layered PCB manufacturing process. In this process, via-holes are used to connect each conductive layer. After the connection of the interlayers created by electro copper plating, the via-holes are filled with a conductive paste. In this study, a desmear treatment, electroless plating and electroplating were carried out to investigate the optimum processing conditions for Cu via filling on a PCB. The desmear treatment involved swelling, etching, reduction, and an acid dip. A seed layer was formed on the via surface by electroless Cu plating. For Cu via filling, the electroplating of Cu from an acid sulfate bath containing typical additives such as PEG(polyethylene glycol), chloride ions, bis-(3-sodiumsulfopropyl disulfide) (SPS), and Janus Green B(JGB) was carried out. The desmear treatment clearly removes laser drilling residue and improves the surface roughness, which is necessary to ensure good adhesion of the Cu. A homogeneous and thick Cu seed layer was deposited on the samples after the desmear treatment. The 2,2'-Dipyridyl additive significantly improves the seed layer quality. SPS, PEG, and JGB additives are necessary to ensure defect-free bottom-up super filling.

The formation of high-quality polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) on relatively low cost substrate has been an important issue in the development of thin film solar cells. Poly-Si seed layers were fabricated by an inverse aluminum-induced crystallization (I-AIC) process and the properties of the resulting layer were characterized. The I-AIC process has an advantage of being able to continue the epitaxial growth without an Al layer removing process. An amorphous Si precursor layer was deposited on Corning glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering system with Ar plasma. Then, Al thin film was deposited by thermal evaporation. An SiO2 diffusion barrier layer was formed between Si and Al layers to control the surface orientation of seed layer. The crystallinity of the poly-Si seed layer was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The grain size and orientation of the poly-Si seed layer were determined by electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) method. The prepared poly-Si seed layer showed high volume fraction of crystalline Si and<100> orientation. The diffusion barrier layer and processing temperature significantly affected the grain size and orientation of the poly Si seed layer. The shorter oxidation time and lower processing temperature led to a better orientation of the poly-Si seed layer. This study presents the formation mechanism of a poly seed layer by inverse aluminum-induced crystallization.

In this study, a novel-processing route for fabricating microcellular zirconia ceramics has been developed. The proposed strategy for making the microcellula zirconia ceramics involved hollow microspheres as pore former. Compared to conventional dense microspheres pore former, well-defined pore structured zirconia ceramics were successfully fabricated. Effects of hollow microsphere content and sintering temperature on microstructure, porosity, pore distribution, and strength were investigated in the processing of microcellular zirconia ceramics.

The HDDR(hydrogenation-disproportionation-desorption-recombination) process can be used as an effective way of converting no coercivity Nd-Fe-B material, with a coarse grain structure to a highly coercive one with a fine grain. Careful control of the HDDR process can lead to an anisotropic without any post aligning process. In this study, the effect of hydrogen gas input at various temperature in range of of hydrogenation stage (named Modified-solid HDDR, MS-HDDR) on the magnetic properties has been investigated. The powder from the modified-solid HDDR process exhibits Br of 11.7 kG and iHc of 10.7 kOe, which are superior to those of the powder prepared using the normal HDDR process.

Carbon material shows relatively high strength at high temperature in vacuum atmosphere and can be easily removed as CO or gas in oxidation atmosphere. Using these characteristics, we have investigated the applicability of carbon mold for precision casting of high melting point metal such as nickel. Disc shape carbon mold with cylindrical pores was prepared and Ni-base super alloy (CM247LC) was used as casting material. The effects of electroless Nickel plating on wettability and cast parameters such as temperature and pressure on castability were investigated. Furthermore, the proper condition for removal of carbon mold by evaporation in oxidation atmosphere was also examined. The SEM observation of the interface between carbon mold and casting materials (CM247LC), which was infiltrated at temperature up to , revealed that there was no particular product at the interface. Carbon mold was effectively eliminated by exposure in oxygen rich atmosphere at for 3 hours and oxidation of casting materials was restrained during raising and lowering the temperature by using inert gas. It means that the carbon can be applicable to precision casting as mold material.

Films consisting of a silicon quantum dot superlattice were fabricated by alternating deposition of silicon rich silicon nitride and Si3N4 layers using an rf magnetron co-sputtering system. In order to use the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure for third generation multi junction solar cell applications, it is important to control the dot size. Moreover, silicon quantum dots have to be in a regularly spaced array in the dielectric matrix material for in order to allow for effective carrier transport. In this study, therefore, we fabricated silicon quantum dot superlattice films under various conditions and investigated crystallization behavior of the silicon quantum dot super lattice structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra showed an increased intensity of the 840 cm-1 peak with increasing annealing temperature due to the increase in the number of Si-N bonds. A more conspicuous characteristic of this process is the increased intensity of the 1100 cm-1 peak. This peak was attributed to annealing induced reordering in the films that led to increased Si-N4 bonding. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that peak position was shifted to higher bonding energy as silicon 2p bonding energy changed. This transition is related to the formation of silicon quantum dots. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis also confirmed the formation of silicon quantum dots. This study revealed that post annealing at 1100˚C for at least one hour is necessary to precipitate the silicon quantum dots in the SiNx matrix.

Solar cells have been more intensely studied as part of the effort to find alternatives to fossil fuels as power sources.The progression of the first two generations of solar cells has seen a sacrifice of higher efficiency for more economic use ofmaterials. The use of a single junction makes both these types of cells lose power in two major ways: by the non-absorptionof incident light of energy below the band gap; and by the dissipation by heat loss of light energy in excess of the band gap.Therefore, multi junction solar cells have been proposed as a solution to this problem. However, the 1st and 2nd generation solarcells have efficiency limits because a photon makes just one electron-hole pair. Fabrication of all-silicon tandem cells using anSi quantum dot superlattice structure (QD SLS) is one possible suggestion. In this study, an SiOx matrix system was investigatedand analyzed for potential use as an all-silicon multi-junction solar cell. Si quantum dots with a super lattice structure (Si QDSLS) were prepared by alternating deposition of Si rich oxide (SRO; SiOx (x=0.8, 1.12)) and SiO2 layers using RF magnetronco-sputtering and subsequent annealing at temperatures between 800 and 1,100oC under nitrogen ambient. Annealing temperaturesand times affected the formation of Si QDs in the SRO film. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra and x-rayphotoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that nanocrystalline Si QDs started to precipitate after annealing at 1,100oC for onehour. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images clearly showed SRO/SiO2 SLS and Si QDs formation in each 4, 6, and8nm SRO layer after annealing at 1,100oC for two hours. The systematic investigation of precipitation behavior of Si QDsin SiO2 matrices is presented.

Hexagonal barium ferrite () nano-particles have been successfully fabricated by spraypylorysis process. precursor solutions were synthesized by self-assembly method. Diethyleneamine (DEA) surfactant was used to fabricate the micelle structure of Ba-DEA complex under various DEA concentrations. powders were synthesized with addition of Fe ions to Ba-DEA complex and then fabricated powders by spray-pyrolysis process at the temperature range of . The molar ratio of Ba/DEA and heat-treatment temperatures significantly affected the magnetic properties and morphology of powders. powders synthesized with Ba/DEA molar ratio of 1 and heat-treated at showed the coercive forces (iHc) of 4.2 kOe with average crystal size of about 100 nm.