Here, we report the development of a new and low-cost core-shell structure for lithium-ion battery anodes using silicon waste sludge and the Ti-ion complex. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the raw waste silicon sludge powder to be pure silicon without other metal impurities and the particle size distribution is measured to be from 200 nm to 3 μm by dynamic light scattering (DLS). As a result of pulverization by a planetary mill, the size of the single crystal according to the Scherrer formula is calculated to be 12.1 nm, but the average particle size of the agglomerate is measured to be 123.6 nm. A Si/TiO2 core-shell structure is formed using simple Ti complex ions, and the ratio of TiO2 peaks increased with an increase in the amount of Ti ions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations revealed that TiO2 coating on Si nanoparticles results in a Si-TiO2 core-shell structure. This result is expected to improve the stability and cycle of lithium-ion batteries as anodes.

Nanotechnology has become one of the fastest developing technologies and recently applied to a variety of industries. Thus, increasing number of nano materials including various nanoparticles would be discharged into wastewater and consequently entering a biological wastewater treatment process. However, the impact of the nano particles on biological wastewater treatment has not been estimated intensively. In this research, we investigated the effect of silica nanoparticle on the oxygen uptake rates (OURs) of activated sludge used in a conventional wastewater treatment process. The inhibition (%) values were estimated from the results of OURs experiments for the silica nanoparticles with various sizes of 10-15, 45-50, and 70-100 nm and concentrations of 50, 250, and 500 ppm. As results, the inhibition value was increased as the size of silica nano particles decreased and the injected concentration increased. The maximum inhibition value was investigated as 37.4 % for the silica nanoparticles with the size of 45-50 nm and concentration of 50 ppm. Additionally, the effect of size and concentration on the inhibition should be considered cautiously in case that the aggregation of particles occurred seriously so that the size of individual particles was increased in aquatic solution.

원자력 발전소의 증기발생기 슬러지 중에서는 이온교환수지가 발견되어서는 안 된다. 원자력 발전소의 증기발생기 슬러지 시료 중에서 발견되어 이온교환수지 입자로 의심되는 구형 입자들의 특성을 측정하였다. 미세조작기술을 이용하여 광학현미경으로 입자 크기 분포를, EPMA로 구형입자의 성분을, 그리고 IR 분광 스펙트럼 비교에 의하여 이온교환수지 여부를 조사하였다. 슬러지의 입자 크기는 1 내지 이었으나 구형 입자는 이었다. 슬러지의 주요 불순원소가 Si, Al, Mn, Cr, Ni, Zn, 그리고 Ti이었으나 구형 입자는 Si, Cu, Zn 이었다. 주성분은 두 경우 모두 철이었다. 구형 입자의 IR 분광스펙트럼은 증기발생기 취출수 정화계통에서 사용하는 이온교환수지의 스펙트럼과 비교했을 때 서로 일치하지 않음을 보여주었다. 이 결과들은 증기발생기 슬러지 시료 중에서 발견된 구형 입자가 이온교환수지는 아니며 일반적인 슬러지가 생성되는 과정에서 작은 슬러지 입자들이 크게 뭉쳐서 생성된 것임을 나타내고 있다.