The demand for energy is steadily rising because of rapid population growth and improvements in living standards. Consequently, extensive research is being conducted worldwide to enhance the energy supply. Transpiration power generation technology utilizes the vast availability of water, which encompasses more than 70% of the Earth's surface, offering the unique advantage of minimal temporal and spatial constraints over other forms of power generation. Various principles are involved in water-based energy harvesting. In this study, we focused on explaining the generation of energy through the streaming potential within the generator component. The generator was fabricated using sugar cubes, PDMS, carbon black, CTAB, and DI water. In addition, a straightforward and rapid manufacturing method for the generator was proposed. The PDMS generator developed in this study exhibits high performance with a voltage of 29.6 mV and a current of 8.29 μA and can generate power for over 40h. This study contributes to the future development of generators that can achieve high performance and long-term power generation.

The effect of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) as a freezing solvent on the pore structure of a porous tungsten body prepared by freeze-drying is analyzed. TBA slurries with a WO3 content of 10 vol% are prepared by mixing with a small amount of dispersant and binder at 30oC. The slurries are frozen at -25oC, and pores are formed in the frozen specimens by the sublimation of TBA during drying in air. After hydrogen reduction at 800oC and sintering at 1000oC, the green body of WO3 is completely converted to porous W with various pore structures. Directional pores from the center of the specimen to the outside are observed in the sintered bodies because of the columnar growth of TBA. A decrease in pore directionality and porosity is observed in the specimens prepared by long-duration drying and sintering. The change in pore structure is explained by the growth of the freezing solvent and densification.

To meet the current demand in the fields of permanent magnets for achieving a high energy density, it is imperative to prepare nano-to-microscale rare-earth-based magnets with well-defined microstructures, controlled homogeneity, and magnetic characteristics via a bottom-up approach. Here, on the basis of a microstructural study and qualitative magnetic measurements, optimized reduction conditions for the preparation of nanostructured Sm-Co magnets are proposed, and the elucidation of the reduction-diffusion behavior in the binary phase system is clearly manifested. In addition, we have investigated the microstructural, crystallographic, and magnetic properties of the Sm-Co magnets prepared under different reduction conditions, that is, H2 gas, calcium, and calcium hydride. This work provides a potential approach to prepare high-quality Sm-Co-based nanofibers, and moreover, it can be extended to the experimental design of other magnetic alloys.

Bi2Te3 powders are recovered by wet chemical reduction for waste n-type thermoelectric chips, and the recovered particles with different morphologies are prepared using various surfactants such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). When citric acid is added as the surfactant, the shape of the aggregated particles shows no distinctive features. On the other hand, rod-shaped particles are formed in the sample with CTAB, and sheet-like particles are synthesized with the addition of SDBS. Further, particles with a tripod shape are observed when EDTA is added as the surfactant. The growth mechanism of the particle shapes depending on the surfactant is investigated, with a focus on the nucleation and growth phenomena. These results help to elucidate the intrinsic formation mechanism of the rod, plate, and tripod structures of the Bi2Te3 recovered by the wet reduction process.

Noncontact direct-printed conductive silver patterns with an enhanced electrical resistivity are fabricated using a silver ink with a mixture of silver nanoparticles and nanoplates. The microstructure and electrical resistivity of the silver pattern are systematically investigated as a function of the mixing ratio of the nanoparticles and nanoplates. The pattern, which is fabricated using a mixture with a mixing ratio of 3(nanoparticles):7(nanoplates) and sintered at 200oC shows a highly dense and well-sintered microstructure and has a resistivity of 7.60 μΩ·cm. This originates a mutual synergistic effect through a combination of the sinterability of the nanoparticles and the packing ability of the nanoplates. This is a conductive material that can be used to fabricate noncontact direct-printed conductive patterns with excellent electrical conductivity for various flexible electronics applications, including solar cells, displays, RFIDs, and sensors.

High-quality colloidal CdSe/ZnS (core/shell) is synthesized using a continuous microreactor. The particle size of the synthesized quantum dots (QDs) is a function of the precursor flow rate; as the precursor flow rate increases, the size of the QDs decreases and the band gap energy increases. The photoluminescence properties are found to depend strongly on the flow rate of the CdSe precursor owing to the change in the core size. In addition, a gradual shift in the maximum luminescent wave (λmax) to shorter wavelengths (blue shift) is found owing to the decrease in the QD size in accordance with the quantum confinement effect. The ZnS shell decreases the surface defect concentration of CdSe. It also lowers the thermal energy dissipation by increasing the concentration of recombination. Thus, a relatively high emission and quantum yield occur because of an increase in the optical energy emitted at equal concentration. In addition, the maximum quantum yield is derived for process conditions of 0.35 ml/min and is related to the optimum thickness of the shell material.

BaTiO3-coated Fe nanofibers are synthesized via a three-step process. α-Fe2O3 nanofibers with an average diameter of approximately 200 nm are first prepared using an electrospinning process followed by a calcination step. The BaTiO3 coating layer on the nanofiber is formed by a sol-gel process, and a thermal reduction process is then applied to the core-shell nanofiber to selectively reduce the α-Fe2O3 to Fe. The thickness of the BaTiO3 shell is controlled by varying the reaction time. To evaluate the electromagnetic (EM) wave-absorbing abilities of the BaTiO3@Fe nanofiber, epoxy-based composites containing the nanofibers are fabricated. The composites show excellent EM wave absorption properties where the power loss increases to the high frequency region without any degradation. Our results demonstrate that the BaTiO3@Fe nanofibers obtained in this work are attractive candidates for electromagnetic wave absorption applications.

Vertically oriented nickel nanowire arrays with a different diameter and length are synthesized in porous anodic aluminium oxide templates by an electrodeposition method. The pore diameters of the templates are adjusted by controlling the anodization conditions and then they are utilized as templates to grow nickel nanowire arrays. The nickel nanowires have the average diameters of approximately 25 and 260 nm and the crystal structure, morphology and microstructure of the nanowires are systematically investigated using XRD, FE-SEM and TEM analysis. The nickel nanowire arrays show a magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis parallel to the nanowires and the coercivity and remanence enhance with decreasing a wire diameter and increasing a wire length.

Diameter-controlled tin oxide nanofibers have been successfully prepared using electrospinning and a subsequent calcination process; their diameters, morphologies, and crystal structures have been characterized. The diameters of the as-spun nanofibers can be decreased by lowering the concentration of a polymer and a tin precursor in the electrospinning solution because of the decrease in the solution viscosity. The crystal structure of the nanofibers calcined at various temperatures from 200˚C to 800˚C has been proved to be the tetragonal rutile of tin oxide; crystallinity is improved by increasing the temperature. However, nanofibers with lower concentrations of tin precursor do not maintain their fibrous structures after calcination at high temperatures. In this study, the effect of the relationship between the precursor concentration and the calcination temperature on the diameter and the morphology of the tin oxide nanofiber has been systematically investigated and discussed.

The existing metal getters are invariably covered with thin oxide layers in air and the native oxide layer must be dissolved into the getter materials for activation. However, high temperature is needed for the activation, which leads to unavoidable deleterious effects on the devices. Therefore, to improve the device efficiency and gas-adsorption properties of the device, it is essential to synthesize the getter with a method that does not require a thermal activation temperature. In this study, getter material was synthesized using palladium oxide (PdOx) which can adsorb H2 gas. To enhance the efficiency of the hydrogen and moisture absorption, a porous layer with a large specific area was fabricated by an etching process and used as supporting substrates. It was confirmed that the moisture-absorption performance of the SiO2/Si was characterized by water vapor volume with relative humidity. The gas-adsorption properties occurred in the absence of the activation process.

Much research into fuel cells operating at a temperature below 800℃. is being performed. There are sig-nificant efforts to replace the yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte with a doped ceria electrolyte that has high ionic con-ductivity even at a lower temperature. Even if the doped ceria electrolyte has high ionic conductivity, it also shows highelectronic conductivity in a reducing environment, therefore, when used as a solid electrolyte of a fuel cell, the power-generation efficiency and mechanical properties of the fuel cell may be degraded. In this study, gadolinium-doped ceriananopowder with Al2O3 and Mn2O3 as a reinforcing and electron trapping agents were synthesized by ultrasonic pyrol-ysis process. After firing, their microstructure and mechanical and electrical properties were investigated and comparedwith those of pure gadolinium-doped ceria specimen.

The quantum dots (QD) have unique electrical and optical properties due to quantum dot confinement effect. The optical properties of QDs are decided by various synthesis conditions. In a prior QDs study, a study on the QDs size with synthesis condition such as synthesis time and temperature is being extensively researched. However, the research on QDs size with composition ratio has hitherto received scant attention. In order to evaluate the ratio dependence of CdSe crystal, synthesis ratio of Se precursor is changed from 16.7 mol%Se to 44 mol%Se. As the increasing Se ratio, the band gap was increased. This is caused by red shift of emission. We confirmed optical property of CdSe QDs with composition ratio.

Metal nanowires can be coated on various substrates to create transparent conducting films that can potentially replace the dominant transparent conductor, indium tin oxide, in displays, solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, and electrochromic windows. One issue with these metal nanowire based transparent conductive films is that the resistance between the nanowires is still high because of their low aspect ratio. Here, we demonstrate high-performance transparent conductive films with silver nanofiber networks synthesized by a low-cost and scalable electrospinning process followed by two-step sequential thermal treatments. First, the PVP/AgNO3 precursor nanofibers, which have an average diameter of 208 nm and are several thousands of micrometers in length, were synthesized by the electrospinning process. The thermal behavior and the phase and morphology evolution in the thermal treatment processes were systematically investigated to determine the thermal treatment atmosphere and temperature. PVP/AgNO3 nanofibers were transformed stepwise into PVP/Ag and Ag nanofibers by two-step sequential thermal treatments (i.e., 150˚C in H2 for 0.5 h and 300˚C in Ar for 3 h); however, the fibrous shape was perfectly maintained. The silver nanofibers have ultrahigh aspect ratios of up to 10000 and a small average diameter of 142 nm; they also have fused crossing points with ultra-low junction resistances, which result in high transmittance at low sheet resistance.

Single crystalline Cu nanowires with controlled diameters and aspect ratios have been synthesized using electrochemical deposition within confined nanochannels of a porous anodic aluminium oxide(AAO) template. The diameters of nano-sized cylindrical pores in AAO template were adjusted by controlling the anodization conditions. Cu nanowires with diameters of approximately 38, 99, 274 nm were synthesized by the electrodeposition using the AAO templates. The crystal structure, morphology and microstructure of the Cu nanowires were systematically investigated using XRD, FE-SEM, TEM and SAED. Investigation results revealed that the Cu nanowires had the controlled diameter, high aspect ratio and single crystalline nature.

nanotubes were successfully synthesized using an electrospinning technique followed by calcination in air. The nanotubes were the single phase nature of and consisted of approximately 14 nm nanocrystals. SEM and TEM characterizations demonstrated that uniform hollow fibers with an average outer diameter of around 124 nm and wall thickness of around 25 nm were successfully obtained. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the nanotubes exhibited excellent cyclability and reversible capacity of up to 25 cycles at as compared to nanoparticles with a capacity of . Such excellent performance of the nanotube was related to the one-dimensional hollow structure which acted as a buffer zone during the volume contraction and expansion of Sn.

Magnetite nanoparticles(NPs) have been the subject of much interest by researchers owing to their potential use as magnetic carriers in drug targeting and as a tumor treatment in cases of hyperthermia. However, magnetite nanoparticles with 10 nm in diameter easily aggregate and thus create large secondary particles. To disperse magnetite nanoparticles, this study proposes the infiltration of magnetite nanoparticles into hybrid silica aerogels. The feasible dispersion of magnetite is necessary to target tumor cells and to treat hyperthermia. Magnetite NPs have been synthesized by coprecipitation, hydrothermal and thermal decomposition methods. In particular, monodisperse magnetite NPs are known to be produced by the thermal decomposition of iron oleate. In this study, we thermally decomposed iron acetylacetonate in the presence of oleic acid, oleylamine and 1,2 hexadecanediol. We also attempted to disperse magnetite NPs within a mesoporous aerogels. Methyltriethoxysilicate(MTEOS)-based hybrid silica aerogels were synthesized by a supercritical drying method. To incorporate the magnetite nanoparticles into the hybrid aerogels, we devised two methods: adding the synthesized aerogel into a magnetite precursor solution followed by nucleation and crystal growth within the pores of the aerogels, and the infiltration of magnetite nanoparticles synthesized beforehand into aerogel matrices by immersing the aerogels in a magnetite nanoparticle colloid solution. An analysis using a vibrating sample magnetometer showed that approximately 20% of the magnetite nanoparticles were well dispersed in the aerogels. The composite samples showed that heating under an inductive magnetic field to a temperature of 45˚C is possible.

In this study, we demonstrated a simple and eco-friendly method, including mechanical polishing and attrition milling processes, to recycle sputtered indium tin oxide targets to indium tin oxide nanopowders and targets for sputtered transparent conductive films. The utilized indium tin oxide target was first pulverized to a powder of sub- to a few- micrometer size by polishing using a diamond particle coated polishing wheel. The calcination of the crushed indium tin oxide powder was carried out at 1000˚C for 1 h, based on the thermal behavior of the indium tin oxide powder; then, the powders were downsized to nanometer size by attrition milling. The average particle size of the indium tin oxide nanopowder was decreased by increasing attrition milling time and was approximately 30 nm after attrition milling for 15 h. The morphology, chemical composition, and microstructure of the recycled indium tin oxide nanopowder were investigated by FE-SEM, EDX, and TEM. A fully dense indium tin oxide sintered specimen with 97.4% of relative density was fabricated using the recycled indium tin oxide nanopowders under atmospheric pressure at 1500˚C for 4 h. The microstructure, phase, and purity of the indium tin oxide target were examined by FE-SEM, XRD, and ICP-MS.

Compared with bulk material, quantum dots have received increasing attention due to their fascinating physical properties, including optical and electronic properties, which are due to the quantum confinement effect. Especially, Luminescent CdSe quantum dots have been highly investigated due to their tunable size-dependent photoluminescence across the visible spectrum. They are of great interest for technical applications such as light-emitting devices, lasers, and fluorescent labels. In particular, quantum dot-based light-emitting diodes emit high luminance. Quantum dots have very high luminescence properties because of their absorption coefficient and quantum efficiency, which are higher than those of typical dyes. CdSe quantum dots were synthesized as a function of the synthesis time and synthesis temperature. The photoluminescence properties were found strongly to depend on the reaction time and the temperature due to the core size changing. It was also observed that the photoluminescence intensity is decreased with the synthesis time due to the temperature dependence of the band gap. The wavelength of the synthesized quantum dots was about 550-700 nm and the intensity of the photoluminescence increased about 22~70%. After the CdSe quantum dots were synthesized, the particles were found to have grown until reaching a saturated concentration as time increased. Red shift occurred because of the particle growth. The microstructure and phase developments were measured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD), respectively.

A new High Frequency Induction Heating (HFIH) process has been developed to fabricate dense reinforced with Fe-Ni magnetic metal dispersion particles. The process is based on the reduction of metal oxide particles immediately prior to sintering. The synthesized /Fe-Ni nanocomposite powders were formed directly from the selective reduction of metal oxide powders, such as NiO and . Dense /Fe-Ni nanocomposite was fabricated using the HFIH method with an extremely high heating rate of . Phase identification and microstructure of nanocomposite powders and sintered specimens were determined by X-ray diffraction and SEM and TEM, respectively. Vickers hardness experiment were performed to investigate the mechanical properties of the /Fe-Ni nanocomposite.