Copper hexacyanoferrate (Cu-HCF), which is a type of Prussian Blue analogue (PBA), possesses a specific lattice structure that allows it to selectively and effectively adsorb cesium with a high capacity. However, its powdery form presents difficulties in terms of recovery when introduced into aqueous environments, and its dispersion in water has the potential to impede sunlight penetration, possibly affecting aquatic ecosystems. To address this, sponge-type aluminum oxide, referred to as alumina foam (AF), was employed as a supporting material. The synthesis was achieved through a dip-coating method, involving the coating of aluminum oxide foam with copper oxide, followed by a reaction with potassium hexacyanoferrate (KHCF), resulting in the in-situ formation of Cu-HCF. Notably, Copper oxide remained chemically stable, which led to the application of 1, 3, 5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (H3BTC) to facilitate its conversion into Cu-HCF. This was necessary to ensure the proper transformation of copper oxide into Cu-HCF on the AF in the presence of KHCF. The synthesis of Cu-HCF from copper oxide using H3BTC was verified through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The manufactured adsorbent material, referred to as AF@CuHCF, was characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These analyses revealed the presence of the characteristic C≡N bond at 2,100 cm-1, confirming the existence of Cu-HCF within the AF@CuHCF, accounting for approximately 3.24% of its composition. AF@CuHCF exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 34.74 mg/g and demonstrated selective cesium adsorption even in the presence of competing ions such as Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+. Consequently, AF@CuHCF effectively validated its capabilities to selectively and efficiently adsorb cesium from Cs-contaminating wastewater.

The recycling of solid waste materials to fabricate carbon-based electrode materials is of great interest for low-cost green supercapacitors. In this study, porous carbon foam (PCF) was prepared from waste floral foam (WFF) as an electrode material for supercapacitors. WFF was directly carbonized at various temperatures of 600, 800, and 1,000 oC under an inert atmosphere. The WFF-derived PCF (C-WFF) was found to have a specific surface area of 458.99 m2/g with multi-modal pore structures. The supercapacitive behavior of the prepared C-WFF was evaluated using a three-electrode system in a 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. As a result, the prepared C-WFF as an active material showed a high specific capacitance of 206 F/g at 1 A/g, a rate capability of 36.4 % at 20 A/g, a specific power density of 2,500 W/kg at an energy density of 2.68 Wh/kg, and a cycle stability of 99.96 % at 20 A/g after 10,000 cycles. These results indicate that the C-WFF prepared from WFF could be a promising candidate as an electrode material for high-performance green supercapacitors.

Porous mullite-corundum ceramics were prepared using organic foam impregnation method with alumina and silica as raw materials. The influence of alkaline treatment and surfactant modification on polyurethane foam were studied. Effects of sintering process and material composition on porous mullite-corundum ceramics were investigated. The results show that the hang-pulp quantity of polyurethane foam increases with alkaline treatment. After treatment with 3 wt% SDS solution, the hang-pulp quantity of polyurethane foam further improved. Open porosity of sample decreased with elevation of sintering temperature and holding time, and compressive strength of sample showed a trend opposite to the change of porosity. The open porosity of the sample was enhanced by the increase of m(Al2O3/SiO2); the compressive strength decreased with increase of m(Al2O3/SiO2). However, when m(Al2O3/SiO2) was 2.5, the compressive strength of the sample reached 6.23 MPa, and the open porosity of the sample was 80.7 %.

Porous carbons have been widely used as electrode material for supercapacitors. However, commercial porous carbons, such as activated carbons, have low electrochemical performance. Nitrogen-doping is one of the most promising strategies to improve electrochemical performance of porous carbons. In this study, nitrogen self-doped porous carbon (NPC) is prepared from melamine foam by carbonization to improve the supercapacitive performance. The prepared NPC is characterized in terms of the chemical structures and elements, morphology, pore structures, and electrochemical performance. The results of the N2 physisorption measurement, X-ray diffraction, and Raman analyses reveal that the prepared NPC has bimodal pore structures and pseudo-graphite structures with nitrogen functionality. The NPC-based electrode exhibits a gravimetric capacitance of 153 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, a rate capability of 73.2 % at 10 A g−1, and an outstanding cycling ability of 97.85% after 10,000 cycles at 10 A g−1. Thus, the NPC prepared in this study can be applied as electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors.

Porous materials such as polymeric foam are widely adopted in engineering and biomedical fields. Porous materials often exhibit complex nonlinear behaviors and are sensitive to material and environmental factors including cell size and shape, amount of porosity, and temperature, which are influenced by the type of base materials, reinforcements, method of fabrication, etc. Hence, the material characteristics of porous materials such as compressive stress-strain behavior and void volume fraction according to aforementioned factors should be precisely identified. In this study, unconfined uniaxial compressive test for two types of closed-cell structure polyurethane foam, namely, 0.16 and 0.32 g/cm3 of densities were carried out. In addition, the void volume fraction of three different domains, namely, center, surface and buckling regions under various compressive strains (10%, 30 %, 50 % and 70 %) were quantitatively observed using Micro 3D Computed Tomography(micro-CT) scanning system. Based on the experimental results, the relationship between compressive strain and void volume fraction with respect to cell size, density and boundary condition were investigated.

Monolithic carbon foams with hierarchical porosity were prepared from polyurethane templates and resol precursors. Mesoporosity was achieved through the use of soft templating with surfactant Pluronic F127, and macroporosity from the polyurethane foams was retained. Conditions to obtain high porosity materials were optimized. The best materials have high specific surface areas (380 and 582 m2 g–1, respectively) and high electrical conductivity, which make them good candidates for supports in sensors. These materials showed an almost linear dependence between the potential and the pH of aqueous solutions.

Microbial fermented cellulose gel, citrus gel(CG), was successfully fabricated to porousfoam by radiation treatment and freeze drying. The chemically induced radiation was used to createhighly porous foam and further freeze drying of the CG produced tough foams with interconnectedopen pores for use in tissue engineering. The microstructure of the CG foam was controlled byvarying the irradiation dose and quenching temperature with pore size ranging from several micronsto a few hundred microns. Tensile strength and Gurley value of the CG foam were influenced byirradiation dose. These radiation induced CG foams are promising scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Porous HAp with three-dimensional network channels was prepared in a polymer foam process using a in-situ formation. HAp/polyol with various HAp solid contents was formed with an addition of isocyanate. Under all conditions, the obtained porous HAp had pore sizes ranging 50 μm to 250 μm. The influence of the HAp content on the physical and mechanical properties of porous HAp scaffolds was investigated. As the solid content increased, the porosity of the porous HAp decreased from 79.3% to 77.9%. On the other hand, the compressive strength of the porous HAp increased from 0.7 MPa to 3.7 MPa. With a HAp solid content of 15 g, the obtained porous HAp had physical properties that were more suitable for scaffolds compared to other conditions.

하중을 받는 대상제체의 하중경감과 구조물의 경량화를 위해 본 연구에서 개발한 공법은 기존의 인공경량성토공법을 개선한 공법으로써 다공성의 경량골재인 bottom ash와 시멘트를 주재료로 하는 슬러리에 기포제를 혼합 발포시켜 경량의 성토재료를 제조하고 이를 대상 구조물에 적용하는 기술이다. 이 공법의 소재인 기포혼합콘크리트의 경우도 시멘트를 주성분으로 하고 있기 때문에 시간 의존적 변형이 발생되고, 외기 환경에 노출되므로 내구성능 저하는 필연적으로 발생하게 된다. 따라서 적용한 경량성토제의 시간 의존성 장기거동과 내구성 문제를 보다 명확하게 규명할 필요가 있다고 판단된다. 본 연구에서는 선행 작업으로 콘크리트의 배합인자별 역학적 특성 분석을 토대로 영향을 미치는 주요 인자를 도출하였으며, 이를 토대로 장기거동과 내구성 실험에 필요한 배합변수를 설정하여 그들의 미치는 영향을 분석을 통해 평가하였다. 연구결과, 개발된 기포혼합콘크리트는 건조수축변형률이나 크리프 등의 장기거동과 동결융해 및 탄산화의 내구성 측면에 있어 기존의 경량기포콘크리트에 비해 우수한 효과를 보였으며 특히, bottom ash의 혼입이 저항성 향상에 매우 효과적인 것으로 나타났다.