본 연구는 말똥성게(Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus)의 생식세포 및 pluteus 유생을 이용하여 중금속인 납(lead, Pb)과 아연(zinc, Zn)의 독성을 조사였다. H. pulcherrimus 배우자 및 배아에 미치는 Pb과 Zn의 독성은 각각 31, 63, 125, 250, 500 ppb 및 16, 31, 63, 125, 250 ppb의 농도에서 조사하였다. 0.5 M KCl 용액을 이용하여 방란 및 방정을 유도하였고, 수정률 및 정상 배아발생률의 조사는 수정 후 각각 10분 및 64시간째 관찰하여 시행하였다. Pb 노출 시 수정률은 대조군과 비교하여 유의적인 변화가 없었다. 그러나 정상 배아발생률은 농도가 높을수록 농도의존적으로 유의적인 감소를 보였다. Zn을 노출시켰을 경우 수정률과 정상 배아발생률은 농도가 높을 수록 농도의존적인 유의적 감소를 나타냈다. H. pulcherrimus의 정상 배아 발생에 대한 독성치는 각각 Pb (반수영향농도 (EC50) 45.13 ppb, 95% Cl 40.12~50.05 ppb), Zn (반수영향농도(EC50) 19.82 ppb, 95% Cl 18.26~21.31 ppb)로 나타났다. 또한 Pb과 Zn의 무영향농도(NOEC)는 각각 ⁄31.25 ppb 및 ⁄15.63 ppb로 나타났고, 최소영향농도(LOEC)는 31.25 및 15.63 ppb로 나타났다. 본 연구 결과, H. pulcherrimus의 초기 배아발생 과정은 Pb과 Zn 등의 중금속에 높은 민감성을 보인다. 따라서 H. pulcherrimus는 해양생태계 위해 평가를 위한 시험생물로서 사용이 가능하다고 사료된다.

We report on the NO gas sensing properties of Al-doped zinc oxide-carbon nanotube (ZnO-CNT) wire-like layered composites fabricated by coaxially coating Al-doped ZnO thin films on randomly oriented single-walled carbon nanotubes. We were able to wrap thin ZnO layers around the CNTs using the pulsed laser deposition method, forming wire-like nanostructures of ZnO-CNT. Microstructural observations revealed an ultrathin wire-like structure with a diameter of several tens of nm. Gas sensors based on ZnO-CNT wire-like layered composites were found to exhibit a novel sensing capability that originated from the genuine characteristics of the composites. Specifically, it was observed by measured gas sensing characteristics that the gas sensors based on ZnO-CNT layered composites showed a very high sensitivity of above 1,500% for NO gas in dry air at an optimal operating temperature of 200˚C; the sensors also showed a low NO gas detection limit at a sub-ppm level in dry air. The enhanced gas sensing properties of the ZnO-CNT wire-like layered composites are ascribed to a catalytic effect of Al elements on the surface reaction and an increase in the effective surface reaction area of the active ZnO layer due to the coating of CNT templates with a higher surface-to-volume ratio structure. These results suggest that ZnO-CNT composites made of ultrathin Al-doped ZnO layers uniformly coated around carbon nanotubes can be promising materials for use in practical high-performance NO gas sensors.

Both iron-deficient and zinc-sufficient diets have been known to be associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer. We investigated that effect of dietary zinc on the formation of colonic aberrant crypt foci (ACF) induced by azoxymethane (AOM) followed by dextran sodium sulfate in iron-deficient mice. Five-week old ICR mice were acclimated for 1 week and fed on iron-deficient diet (4.50 ppm iron) with three different zinc levels (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 ppm) for 12 weeks. The total number of aberrant crypt (AC) and ACF was measured in the colonic mucosa after methylene blue staining. The total ACF numbers of low Zn (LZn), medium Zn (MZn) and high Zn (HZn) diet groups were 10.00 ± 2.67, 8.78 ± 3.12, and 7.96 ± 2.44, respectively and there were no significant differences among the groups. However, the total AC numbers of HZn (27.07 ± 3.88) and MZn (26.39 ± 5.59) diet groups were significantly low compared to LZn (22.57 ± 5.09) diet group (p<0.01). Cytosolic SOD activity was the highest in LZn diet group. But thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances level in liver was also the highest in LZn diet group compared to other groups. There is no difference in cell proliferation in mucous membrane among the groups, while apoptotic positive cells were increased in the HZn diet group. The high zinc diet exhibited decreased β-catenin-stained areas on the mucous membrane of colon compared to the LZn or MZn diet group. These findings indicate that dietary zinc might exert a modulating effect on development of ACF/AC in the mice with iron-deficient status.

Zinc oxide as an optoelectronic device material was studied to utilize its wide band gap of 3.37 eV and high exciton biding energy of 60 meV. Using anti-site nitrogen to generate p-type zinc oxide has shown a deep acceptor level and low solubility. To increase the nitrogen solubility in zinc oxide, group 13 elements (aluminum, gallium, and indium) was co-added to nitrogen. The effect of aluminum on nitrogen solubility in a 3×3×2 zinc oxide super cell containing 72 atoms was investigated using density functional theory with hybrid functionals of Heyd, Scuseria, and Ernzerhof (HSE). Aluminum and nitrogen were substituted for zinc and oxygen sites in the super cell, respectively. The band gap of the undoped super cell was calculated to be 3.36 eV from the density of states, and was in good agreement with the experimentally obtained value. Formation energies of a nitrogen molecule and nitric oxide in the zinc oxide super cell in zinc-rich conditions were lower than those in oxygen-rich conditions. When the number of nitrogen molecules near the aluminum increased from one to four in the super cell, their formation energies decreased to approach the valence band maximum to some degree. However, the acceptor level of nitrogen in zinc oxide with the co-incorporation of aluminum was still deep.

We report the structural characterization of BixZn1-xO thin films grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. By increasing the Bi flux during the growth process, BixZn1-xO thin films with various Bi contents (x = 0~13.17 atomic %) were prepared. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements revealed the formation of Bi-oxide phase in (Bi)ZnO after increasing the Bi content. However, it was impossible to determine whether the formed Bi-oxide phase was the monoclinic structure α-Bi2O3 or the tetragonal structure β-Bi2O3 by means of XRD θ-2θ measurements, as the observed diffraction peaks of the 2θ value at ~28 were very close to reflection of the (012) plane for the monoclinic structure α-Bi2O3 at 28.064 and the reflection of the (201) plane for the tetragonal structure β-Bi2O3 at 27.946. By means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using a diffraction pattern analysis and a high-resolution lattice image, it was finally determined as the monoclinic structure α-Bi2O3 phase. To investigate the distribution of the Bi and Bi-oxide phases in BiZnO films, elemental mapping using energy dispersive spectroscopy equipped with TEM was performed. Considering both the XRD and the elemental mapping results, it was concluded that hexagonal-structure wurtzite BixZn1-xO thin films were grown at a low Bi content (x = ~2.37 atomic %) without the formation of α-Bi2O3. However, the increased Bi content (x = 4.63~13.17 atomic %) resulted in the formation of the α-Bi2O3 phase in the wurtzite (Bi)ZnO matrix.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (nZnO) are used in a various range, including ceramic manufacture, photocatalysis, UV filters, and the food industry. However, little is known about the effects of micro- and nano-particles during mouse embryo organogenesis. To determine whether ZnO affects size-dependent anomalies during embryonic organogenesis, mouse embryos were cultured for two days with 300 ug/ml micro ZnO (mZnO;80±25 μm) and nZnO (< 100 nm) and the developmental changes were then investigated. Quantity of Zn by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis, and expression patterns of various antioxidant enzymes in the embryos were investigated. Embryos exposed to mZnO or nZnO exhibited severe retardation of growth and development. In embryos exposed to mZnO and nZnO, yolk sac diameter, crown-rump length, and head length were significantly diminished. The morphological parameters, including yolk sac circulation, allantois, flexion, heart, hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain, otic system, optic system, branchial bars, maxillary process, mandibular process, olfactory system, caudal neural tube, forelimb, hindlimb, and somites in mZnO and nZnO-treated groups were significantly decreased. Zn absorption of the nZnO-treated group was significantly higher than that of the mZnO-treated group. Significantly decreased levels of CuZn-SOD, Mn-SOD, cGPx, and PHGPx mRNA were observed in the ZnO-treated group. In addition, antioxidant enzyme mRNA expressions of the nZnO group were significantly diminished, less than those of the mZnO treated group. These findings indicate that 300 ug/ml ZnO showed abnormality and nZnO may have a more severe effect than mZnO in developing embryos.

For application of nano-sized material in various fields, toxicity evaluation of nano-sized material is important. In the current study, a suspension of 50 nm-sized zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles at a dose of 1 g/kg body weight was injected intraperitonially into mice in order to identify the toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles. After 24 h, the blood and liver were taken and analyzed. According to the results of hematological analysis, white blood cell (p<0.001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p<0.001), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (p<0.05) in the ZnO nanoparticle treated group showed a significant decrease, compared to the control group. In serum biochemistry analysis, alanine aminotransferase (p<0.001) and aspartate amino-transferase (p<0.05) also induced a significant increase in the ZnO nanoparticle treated group, compared with the control group. In the histopathological examination, liver in mice treated with ZnO nanoparticles showed edema and degeneration in hepatocytes. Therefore, it is concluded that the liver is the target organ for 50 nm ZnO intraperitoneal exposure. In the future, greater attention should be paid to the potential toxicity induced by various routes and doses of ZnO nanoparticles.

Transparent conducting aluminum-doped ZnO thin films were deposited using a sol-gel process. In this study, the important deposition parameters were investigated thoroughly to determine the appropriate procedures to grow large area thin films with low resistivity and high transparency at low cost for device applications. The doping concentration of aluminum was adjusted in a range from 1 to 4 mol% by controlling the precursor concentration. The annealing temperatures for the pre-heat treatment and post-heat treatment was 250˚C and 400-600˚C, respectively. The SEM images show that Al doped and undoped ZnO films were quite uniform and compact. The XRD pattern shows that the Al doped ZnO film has poorer crystallinity than the undoped films. The crystal quality of Al doped ZnO films was improved with an increase of the annealing temperature to 600˚C. Although the structure of the aluminum doped ZnO films did not have a preferred orientation along the (002) plane, these films had high transmittance (> 87%) in the visible region. The absorption edge was observed at approximately 370 nm, and the absorption wavelength showed a blue-shift with increasing doping concentration. The ZnO films annealed at 500˚C showed the lowest resistivity at 1 mol% Al doping.

Oxide semiconductors Thin-film transistors are an exemplified one owing to its excellent ambient stability and optical transparency. In particular zinc oxide (ZnO) has been reported because It has stability in air, a high electron mobility, transparency and low light sensitivity, compared to any other materials. For this reasons, ZnO TFTs have been studied actively. Furthermore, we expected that would be satisfy the demands of flexible display in new generation. In order to do that, ZnO TFTs must be fabricated that flexible substrate can sustain operating temperature. So, In this paper we have studied low-temperature process of zinc oxide(ZnO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on silicon nitride (SiNx)/cross-linked poly-vinylphenol (C-PVP) as gate dielectric. TFTs based on oxide fabricated by Low-temperature process were similar to electrical characteristics in comparison to conventional TFTs. These results were in comparison to device with SiNx/low-temperature C-PVP or SiNx/conventional C-PVP. The ZnO TFTs fabricated by low-temperature process exhibited a field-effect mobility of 0.205 cm2/Vs, a thresholdvoltage of 13.56 V and an on/off ratio of 5.73×106. As a result, We applied experimental for flexible PET substrate and showed that can be used to ZnO TFTs for flexible application.

EAF dust which is contained around 30% of zinc, 15% of iron and 3% of lead individually, is chemically treated by ammonium chloride, ammonia water, ammonia gas and carbon dioxide, and also tested and identified the ratios of the recovery of In by applied the variations of particle size, pH and heating temperature as well, in order to getting optimized recovery of the In metal after performing all of those processes. Experimental results showed that the rate of Zn recovery is 97% when the mixture of 1.3 of NH4Cl/EAF is heated to the temperature of 400℃ and leached by water, and 95% recovery of In when ammonia gas and carbon dioxide is added simultaneously and adjust the 9.5 of pH to the same mixture above. For the purpose of remove the impurities in the mixed sample, which is prepared by the two samples, indicated above showing as the ratio of 95% and 97% recovery, in case of applied the cementation process to it, and also by electrolytic process, produced the In plate of 95~97%, and acquired 99-99.5% of In metal ingot finally by applied the heating process at 470~500℃.

This study was performed to compare the dietary intake and food sources of zinc (Zn), using a database of Zn composition developed in this study, between elementary schoolchildren in a remote rural area (RA, n=58, 9.9±1.7 yrs) and those in an urban area (UA, n=60, 9.4±1.8 yrs) in Chungnam province in Korea. A dietary survey for three days by food record method was performed. All kinds of foods (n=273) consumed by subjects were collected by aliquot sampling method, and the Zn content of these foods were analyzed by wet technique. The results showed that the daily mean intakes of energy, calcium, iron, and vitamin C from diet in the RA were in the range of 49-88% of the Korean DRI (KDRI), while those in the UA were similar to or greater than the KDRI, except for calcium and iron. The daily mean intake of Zn from the RA diet was 7.0±0.5 mg/d (114.1±8.4% of the KDRI), and 16.0±1.0 mg/d (258.3±16.3% of the KDRI) in that of the UA (p〈0.001). The percentage of dietary intake of Zn less than 2/3 of the KDRI was 19.0% in the RA, in comparison to 1.7% in the UA. Those in the RA consumed Zn from plant foods more often than did those in the UA (p〈0.001). Beef rib stew was the food source with highest Zn amount for the total subjects, followed by beef rib meat, roasted; and beef soup w/seasoned red pepper sauce. These results showed that some children in the RA had poor Zn nutrition based upon low intakes and poor food sources of Zn, while overall, children in the UA had good Zn nutrition. Therefore, those in RAs should have their Zn nutrition improved through government policy and nutrition education.

This paper presents a new method for the improvement of color temperature without the change of the driving scheme using transparent dielectric layers with various metal oxides (CeO2, Co3O4, CuO, Fe2O3, MnO2, NiO) in plasma display panels (PDP). In this study, we fabricated ZnO-B2O3-SiO2-Al2O3 glasse with various metal oxides and examined the optical properties of these glasses. As the metal oxides were added to the glasses, the visible transmittances of the dielectric layers decreased and the transmittances in special wavelength regions were reduced at different rates. The change of the transmittance in each wavelength range induced the variation of the visible emission spectra and the change of the color temperature in the PDP. The addition of Co3O4 and CuO slightly decreased the intensity of the blue light, but the intensities of the green and the red light were significantly decreased. Therefore, the color temperature can be improved from 6087K to 7378K and 7057K, respectively.

Various silanes, amino silane, vinyl silane, sulfur silane (TESPD), and ZS (TESPD/zinc soap complex), are added into chlorinated isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (CIIR)/soft clay/carbon black (CB) and CIIR/hard clay/CB compounds and they are investigated with respect to the vulcanization characteristics, the processability, and the mechanical properties. Comparing hard clay and soft clay filled compounds, hard clay (Suprex) filled system shows a higher die C tear than the soft clay (GK) filled one. The other properties (Mooney, extrusion torque/pressure, torque rise (MH-ML), modulus at 300%) are close to each other. Among various silanes, the ZS treated hard clay (Suprex) compound shows the highest mechanical property following hard clay(S)/vinyl silane(V) and soft clay(GK)/vinyl silane(V) compounds. The TESPD and the ZS effectively helps a formation of a strong 3-dimensional network structure between silica and CIIR via coupling reaction due to bifunctional nature of TESPD. In addition to that, the ZS added compounds show both a better processability and mechanical properties compared to the S2 ones at low concentration due to improved compatibility between zinc soap and CIIR matrix. Only the ZS added compound shows both improved processabilities (Mooney, Extrusion torque-& pressure) and improved mechanical properties (degree of crosslinking, elongation modulus, tear, and fatigue to failure counts) on both CIIR/hard clay/CB and CIIR/soft clay/CB compounds.

Various silanes, amino silane, vinyl silane, TESPD, and ZS (TESPD/zinc soap complex), are added into chlorinated isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (CIIR)/soft clay/carbon black (CB). The vulcanization characteristics, the processability, and the mechanical properties are measured. In soft clay/CB filled CIIR system, there are no significant changes in Mooney viscosity among compounds. Vinyl silane added compound shows a low extrusion torque. All the silane added compounds shows an increased modulus. The mechanical properties are significantly increased when the S2 is added into CIIR/soft clay/CB compounds.

Various silanes, amino silane, vinyl silane, TESPD, and ZS (TESPD/zinc soap complex), are added into chlorinated isobutylene-isoprene copolymer (CIIR)/hard clay/carbon black (CB) compound and they are investigated with respect to the vulcanization characteristics, the processability, and the mechanical properties. In hard clay/CB filled system, only ZS silane added compound shows both lower Mooney viscosity and extrusion torque while vinyl silane added compound showed only a lower extrusion torque. All the ZS added compounds showed the lowest viscosity among them. The silane added compounds showed an increased modulus. In 'fatigue to failure' count test, the ZS added compound showed superior counts compared to other silane (amino, vinyl, TESPD) added compounds. The mechanical properties were significantly increased when the S2 and ZS were added into CIIR/hard clay/CB compound. The ZS added compounds showed a significant improvement on elongation modulus.

We have demonstrated the feasibility of using electrospinning method to fabricate long and continuous composite nanofiber sheets of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) incorporated with zinc oxide (ZnO). Such PAN/ZnO composite nanofiber sheets represent an important step toward utilizing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as materials to achieve remarkably enhanced physico-chemical properties. In an attempt to derive these advantages, we have used a variety of techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) to obtain quantitative data on the materials. The CNFs produced are in the diameter range of 100 to 350 nm after carbonization at 1000℃. Electrical conductivity of the random CNFs was increased by increasing the concentration of ZnO. A dramatic improvement in porosity and specific surface area of the CNFs was a clear evidence of the novelty of the method used. This study indicated that the optimal ZnO concentration of 3 wt% is enough to produce CNFs having enhanced electrical and physico-chemical properties.