본 연구에서는 생체모방형 비대칭 분리막 제조방법인 사각펄스양극산화법의 비대칭성 한계를 극복하기 위해 최근 보고된 셀렌산 전해액을 이용하고 표면개질에 따른 정류특성을 평가하였다. 분리막의 비대칭 원뿔형 채널은 최소직경이 10 nm이고 최대직경이 50 nm이며 길이가 5 μm이었다. 분리막의 정류특성은 기존 황산 전해액에서 제작된 것보다 높았으며 +1 V에서의 전류가 -1 V일 때보다 최대 2.9배를 나타내었다. 또한, 실란화 반응을 이용한 표면개질을 통해 술폰산기를 도입한 분리막은 반대로 -1 V에서의 전류가 +1 V일 때보다 전류의 최대 4.2배인 정류특성을 나타냈다. 실험에 대한 이론적 증명은 2D 모델에 수치해석 결과를 제시함으로써 뒷받침되었다. 본 연구의 결과는 서로 다른 정류방향을 갖는 두 종류의 이온 정류 분리막을 손쉽게 제작할 수 있는 방법을 제시하며 이온의 이동을 제어하기 위한 다양한 연구 분야에 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

This study presents the possibility of control of nano-fluidics in the bio-inspired nano-sized ion channel using a field effect transistor (FET) structure. We analyzed effects from main dominant factors to control the ion flow in nano-sized channel such as electro-osmosis, Diffusion effect, Coulomb force between ions and pressure force. Additionally, we suggest a strategy to control the ion flow accurately at the specific position in the nano channel by handling the viscosity, ion molecular density, pressure, gate and trans-cis voltages of FET structure.

Thin film electrode consisting purely of porous anodic tin oxide with well-defined nano-channeled structure was fabricated for the first time and its electrochemical properties were investigated for application to an anode in a rechargeable lithium battery. To prepare the thin film electrode, first, a bi-layer of porous anodic tin oxides with well-defined nano-channels and discrete nano-channels with lots of lateral micro-cracks was prepared by pulsed and continuous anodization processes, respectively. Subsequent to the Cu coating on the layer, well-defined nano-channeled tin oxide was mechanically separated from the specimen, leading to an electrode comprised of porous tin oxide and a Cu current collector. The porous tin oxide nearly maintained its initial nano-structured character in spite of there being a series of fabrication steps. The resulting tin oxide film electrode reacted reversibly with lithium as an anode in a rechargeable lithium battery. Moreover, the tin oxide showed far more enhanced cycling stability than that of powders obtained from anodic tin oxides, strongly indicating that this thin film electrode is mechanically more stable against cycling-induced internal stress. In spite of the enhanced cycling stability, however, the reduction in the initial irreversible capacity and additional improvement of cycling stability are still needed to allow for practical use.