Lithium (Li) is a key resource driving the rapid growth of the electric vehicle industry globally, with demand and prices continually on the rise. To address the limited reserves of major lithium sources such as rock and brine, research is underway on seawater Li extraction using electrodialysis and Li-ion selective membranes. Lithium lanthanum titanate (LLTO), an oxide solid electrolyte for all-solid-state batteries, is a promising Li-ion selective membrane. An important factor in enhancing its performance is employing the powder synthesis process. In this study, the LLTO powder is prepared using two synthesis methods: sol-gel reaction (SGR) and solid-state reaction (SSR). Additionally, the powder size and uniformity are compared, which are indices related to membrane performance. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy are employed for determining characterization, with crystallite size analysis through the full width at half maximum parameter for the powders prepared using the two synthetic methods. The findings reveal that the powder SGR-synthesized powder exhibits smaller and more uniform characteristics (0.68 times smaller crystal size) than its SSR counterpart. This discovery lays the groundwork for optimizing the powder manufacturing process of LLTO membranes, making them more suitable for various applications, including manufacturing high-performance membranes or mass production of membranes.

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.

Poria cocos is an edible and pharmaceutical mushroom with a long history of medicinal use in Korea. For the last 30 years, the domestic cultivated supply of Poria cocos has been unable to meet consumer demand, so Poria cocos is collected in mountainous areas and also imported from China. Thus, to increase the supply of Poria cocos, many artificial cultivation methods have been studied. In this study, Poria cocos is cultivated under different environmental conditions using plastic bags and the results compared. When cultivating Poria cocos at different temperatures (20, 25, 30 and 35oC) and using different numbers of plastic bag layers (1, 2), the most efficient cultivation conditions were a temperature of 25-30oC and 2 plastic bag layers. The fastest growth was at 25-30oC, and the Poria cocos exhibited no weight change when cultivated using layers of plastic bags (1, 2).