The pitch-based activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were prepared from ethylene tar-derived pitches containing nickelocene (CNi) or nickel nitrate (NiN). The effects of different anions and contents of metal salts on the microstructure and surface chemical properties of fibers were investigated. The results revealed that Ni2+ from CNi mainly remained its pristine molecule in the organometal salt-derived pitch (OP-xCNi), while Ni2+ from NiN occurred complexation reaction with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the inorganic metal salt-derived pitch (IP-xNiN) due to the weaker binding ability between anions and Ni2+ of CNi than CNi. The XRD and SEM results confirmed that IP-3NiN-ACF contained Ni, NiO, Ni2O3 nanoparticles with different size distributions, while OP-3CNi-ACF only contained more uniformly distributed Ni nanoparticles with small size. Furthermore, OP-3.0CNi-ACF presented higher specific surface area of 1862 m2/ g and a pore volume of 1.69 cm3/ g than those of IP-3.0NiN-ACF due to the formation of pore structure during the in-situ catalytic activation of different metal nanoparticles. Therefore, this work further pointed out that the desired pore structure and surface chemistry of pitch-based ACFs could be obtained through regulating and controlling the interaction of anion species, metal cations and PAHs during the synthesis of pitch precursors.

The cobalt silicides were investigated for employment as a catalytic layer for a DSSC. Using an E-gun evaporation process, we prepared a sample of 100 nm-thick cobalt on a p-type Si (100) wafer. To form cobalt silicides, the samples were annealed at temperatures of 300 oC, 500 oC, and 700 oC for 30 minutes in a vacuum. Four-point probe, XRD, FE-SEM, and CV analyses were used to determine the sheet resistance, phase, microstructure, and catalytic activity of the cobalt silicides. To confirm the corrosion stability, we also checked the microstructure change of the cobalt silicides after dipping into iodide electrolyte. Through the sheet resistance and XRD results, we determined that Co2Si, CoSi, and CoSi2 were formed successfully by annealing at 300 oC, 500 oC, and 700 oC, respectively. The microstructure analysis results showed that all the cobalt silicides were formed uniformly, and CoSi and CoSi2 layers were very stable even after dipping in the iodide electrolyte. The CV result showed that CoSi and CoSi2 exhibit catalytic activities 67 % and 54 % that of Pt. Our results for Co2Si, CoSi, and CoSi2 revealed that CoSi and CoSi2 could be employed as catalyst for a DSSC.

Fe-doped TiO2 nanopowders were prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) varying Fe contents up to 8.0 wt.%. The UV-vis absorption showed that the UV absorption for the Fe-doped powder shifted to a longer wavelength (red shift). The absorption threshold depends on the concentration of nano-size Fe dopant. As the Fe concentration increased up to 4 wt.%, the UV-vis absorption and the magnetization were increased. The benefical effect of Fe doping for photocatalysis and ferromagnetism had the critical dopant concentration of 4 wt.%. Based on the UV absorption and magnetization, the dopant level is localized to the valence band of TiO2.

The copper oxide nano powders were synthesized by levitational gas condensation(LGC) method, and their high heterogeneous catalytic effects of oxidation of 2,3,5-trimethyl-1,4- hydroquinone (TMHQ) and catalase activity were studied. The observation of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows that most of these nano powders are uniform in size, with the average particle size of 35 nm. The nano powder consists of mainly , but it is aged to CuO phase. The catalytic effect which was clarified by oxidation of TMHQ and catalase depends on the amount of cuprite phase and the particle size.

The synthetic behaviors of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by Fe/MgO catalysts were investigated in 0~90 wt.% range of MgO mixture ratios by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) process. The CNTs were synthesized with 40 minutes of synthetic time, and 923 K of synthetic temperature using 0.1 L/min of ethylene gas and 1.0 L/min of hydrogen gas as synthetic and carrier gas, respectively. As the increase of synthetic temperatures and times, the diameters of CNTs become thicker. The carbon yield showed in a parabolic curve as MgO content increased and the maximum carbon yield was obtained at 30 wt.% of MgO. There were no obvious changes in the diameters of CNTs respect to the change of MgO content. Fe/MgO CNTs showed good crystalinity by High Resolution Transmission Electron microscope (HR-TEM) analysis. The behaviors of Fe/MgO CNTs have a tendency of depending on synthetic time and temperature rather than MgO content.

Modified inert gas condensation method was used to produce the nanocluster composites of . High-resolution TEM, SEM and catalytic measurements have been used to characterize the samples and study the synergistic effect between the CuO phase and (ceria) support. By varying the He pressure, the heating temperature and configuration of the heating boats inside the modified gas condensation chamber, nanoclusters of varying sizes, shapes and composition can be produced. The composition and nanostructured morphology were shown to influence the catalytic properties of the system. A copper content around 10 at% with a morphology that favors high-energy surfaces of ceria is shown to be beneficial for a high catalytic activity.

In this study, the thermo-catalytic hydrogenation using corn stark and wasted palm kernel shell was carried out for the production of hydrocarbon compounds in direct biomass liquefaction. The conversion of biomass in direct biomass liquefaction over Mo-based catalyst increased with increasing the reaction temperature and the content of the volatile matter contained in biomass and the corn starch was more available than the wasted palm kernel shell. And then, the conversion was about 97.9% using corn starch and was about 92.4% using wasted palm kernel shell at 400oC. It was confirmed that the liquefied products obtained after the thermo-catalytic reaction were C6, C7, C8-typed hydrocarbon compounds.