Organic-inorganic hybrid coating films have been used to increase the transmittance and enhance the physical properties of plastic substrates. Sol-gel organic-inorganic thin films were fabricated on polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrates using a dip coater. Metal alkoxide precursor tetraethylsilicate (TEOS) and alkoxy silanes including decyltrimethoxysilane (DTMS), 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS), phenyltrimethoxysilane (PTMS), 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSPM) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS) were used to synthesize sol-gel hybrid coating solutions. Sol-gel synthesis was confirmed by the results of FT-IR. Cross-linking of the Si-O-Si network during synthesis of the sol-gel reaction was confirmed. The effects of each alkoxy silane on the coating film properties were investigated. All of the organicinorganic hybrid coatings showed improved transmittance of over 90 %. The surface hardness of all coating films on the PMMA substrate was measured to be 4H or higher and the average thickness of the coating films was measured to be about 500 nm. Notably, the TEOS/DTMS coating film showed excellent hydrophobic properties, of about 97°.

Li1.5Al0.5Ti1.5(PO4)3 (LATP) is considered to be one of the promising solid-state electrolytes owing to its excellent chemical and thermal stability, wide potential range (~5.0 V), and high ionic conductivity (~10-4 S/cm). LATP powders are typically prepared via the sol-gel method by adding and mixing nitrate or alkoxide precursors with chelating agents. Here, the thermal properties, crystallinity, density, particle size, and distribution of LATP powders based on chelating agents (citric acid, acetylacetone, EDTA) are compared to find the optimal conditions for densely sintered LATP with high purity. In addition, the three types of LATP powders are utilized to prepare sintered solid electrolytes and observe the microstructure changes during the sintering process. The pyrolysis onset temperature and crystallization temperature of the powder samples are in the order AC-LATP > CA-LATP > ED-LATP, and the LATP powder utilizing citric acid exhibits the highest purity, as no secondary phase other than LiTi2PO4 phase is observed. LATP with citric acid and acetylacetone has a value close to the theoretical density (2.8 g/cm3) after sintering. In comparison, LATP with EDTA has a low sintered density (2.2 g/cm3) because of the generation of many pores after sintering.

Transition metal oxide is widely used as a water electrolysis catalyst to substitute for a noble metal catalyst such as IrO2 and RuO2. In this study, the sol-gel method is used to synthesize the CuxCo3-xO4 catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER),. The CuxCo3-xO4 is synthesized at various calcination temperatures from 250 ℃ to 400 ℃ for 4 h. The CuxCo3- xO4 synthesized at 300 ℃ has a perfect spinel structure without residues of the precursor and secondary phases, such as CuO. The particle size of CuxCo3-xO4 increases with an increase in calcination temperature. Amongst all the samples studied, CuxCo3- xO4, which is synthesized at 300?, has the highest activity for the OER. Its onset potential for the OER is 370 mV and the overpotential at 10 mA/cm2 is 438 mV. The tafel slope of CuxCo3-xO4 synthesized at 300 ℃ has a low value of 58 mV/dec. These results are mainly explained by the increase in the available active surface area of the CuxCo3-xO4 catalyst.

Cost-effective functional phosphor nanoparticles are prepared by introducing low-cost SiO2 spheres to rareearth phosphor (YVO4:Eu3+, YVO4:Er3+, and YVO4:Nd3+) shells using a sol-gel synthetic method. These functional nanoparticles are characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and general photoluminescence spectra. The SiO2 sphere occupying the interior of the conventional phosphor is advantageous in significantly reducing the cost of expensive rare-earth phosphor nanoparticles. The sol-gel process facilitates the core–shell structure formation; the rare-earth shell phosphor has strong interactions with chelating agents on the surfaces of SiO2 nanoparticles and thus forms layers of several nanometers in thickness. The photoluminescence wavelength is simply tuned by replacing the active materials of Eu3+, Er3+, and Nd3+. Moreover, the photoluminescent properties of the core–shell nanoparticles can be optimized by manipulating the specific contents of active materials in the phosphors. Our simple approach substitutes low-cost SiO2 for expensive rare-earth-based phosphor materials to realize cost-effective phosphor nanoparticles for various applications.

Nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (N-doped TiO2) is attracting continuously increasing attention as a material for environmental photocatalysis. The N-atoms can occupy both interstitial and substitutional positions in the solid, with some evidence of a preference for interstitial sites. In this study, N-doped TiO2 is prepared by the sol–gel method using NH4OH and NH4Cl as N ion doping agents, and the physical and photocatalytic properties with changes in the synthesis temperature and amount of agent are analyzed. The photocatalytic activities of the N-doped TiO2 samples are evaluated based on the decomposition of methylene blue (MB) under visible-light irradiation. The addition of 5 wt% NH4Cl produces the best physical properties. As per the UV-vis analysis results, the N-doped TiO2 exhibits a higher visible-light activity than the undoped TiO2. The wavelength of the N-doped TiO2 shifts to the visible-light region up to 412 nm. In addition, this sample shows MB removal of approximately 81%, with the whiteness increasing to +97 when the synthesis temperature is 600℃. The coloration and phase structure of the N-doped TiO2 are characterized in detail using UV-vis, CIE Lab color parameter measurements, and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD).

Anti-reflection coating films have used to increase the transmittance of displays and enhance the efficiency of solar cells. Hydrophobic anti-reflection coating films were fabricated on a glass substrate by sol-gel method. To fabricate an anti-reflection film with a high transmittance, poly ethylene glycol (PEG) was added to tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) solution. The content of PEG was changed from 1 to 4 wt% in order to control the morphology, thickness, and refractive index of the SiO2 thin films. The reflectance and transmittance of both sides of the coated thin film fabricated with PEG 4 wt% solution were 0.3% and 99.4% at 500 nm wavelength. The refractive index and thickness of the thin film were n = 1.29 and d = 105 nm. Fluoro alkyl silane (FAS) was used for hydrophobic treatment on the surface of the anti-reflection thin film. The contact angle was increased from 13.2˚ to 113.7˚ after hydrophobic treatment.

The sol-gel method was used to prepare binary metal oxide (IrO2-RuO2) pH sensor. The electrodes that mole percent compositions (mol%) of IrO2 and RuO2 were 70:30 and 30:70 were selected. The characterizations of Nernstian response over pH range, response rate, interference on alkaline metals and reproducibility were investigated. Also the electroanalytical properties of these electrodes were evaluated in comparison with a commercial glass pH electrode. The composition of IrO2:RuO2 70:30 mol% was chosen as better electrode formulation. The electrode was not susceptible to the action of interfering ions such as Li+, Na+ and K+.

Li1+xAlxTi2-x(PO4)3(LATP) is a promising solid electrolyte for all-solid-state Li ion batteries. In this study, LATP isprepared through a sol-gel method using relatively the inexpensive reagents TiCl4. The thermal behavior, structuralcharacteristics, fractured surface morphology, ion conductivity, and activation energy of the LATP sintered bodies areinvestigated by TG-DTA, X-ray diffraction, FE-SEM, and by an impedance method. A gelation powder was calcined at 500oC.A single crystalline phase of the LiTi2(PO4)3(LTP) system was obtained at a calcination temperature above 650oC. The obtainedpowder was pelletized and sintered at 900oC and 1000oC. The LTP sintered at 900~1000oC for 6 h had a relatively low apparentdensity of 75~80%. The LATP(x=0.3) pellet sintered at 900oC for 6 h was denser than those sintered under other conditionsand showed the highest ion conductivity of 4.50×10−5S/cm at room temperature. However, the ion conductivity of LATP(x=0.3) sintered at 1000oC decreased to 1.81×10−5S/cm, leading to Li volatilization and abnormal grain growth. For LATPsintered at 900oC for 6 h, x=0.3 shows the lowest activation energy of 0.42eV in the temperature range of room temperatureto 300oC.

고온에서 수소 분리 회수를 목적으로 silica/alumina 복합 막을 합성하였다. 막의 선택 투과 성능을 향상시키기 위해, sol-gel법에 의한 silica 및 alumina층을 중간층으로 도입하고, 그 위에 강제유동 CVD법에 의한 silica를 합성하였다. Sol-gel법에 의해 alpha-alumina tube에 합성한 gamma-alumina 및 silica 막은 Knudsen 확산 영역의 많은 mesopore를 포함하고 있어서 수소 선택 분리 막으로는 적합하지 못했다. 하지만, sol-gel법에 의해 합성한 silica/gamma-alumina층에 강제유동 CVD법으로 silica를 합성한 결과, 질소 투과 영역의 세공이 완전히 제거되어, 높은 수소 선택성을 가지는 복합 막이 형성되었다. 그 막은 온도에 따라 수소 투과 속도가 증가하여 450℃에서 5.57times10-8molm2sLPa1의 수소 투과 속도와, 9.52 kJ/mol의 활성화 에너지를 나타냈다. 분자체 효과에 의해 질소 투과가 완전히 배제되고, 수소만 선택적으로 투과되는 silica/alumina 복합막이 성공적으로 합성된다.

본 연구에서는 sol-gel법으로 제조된 PbTiO3 (PT) 단층박막내의 실시간 응력과 두께 수축거동, 그리고 다층박막의 미세경도를 온도의 함수로 측정하여 열처리에 따른 PT박막내의 물리화학적 변화를 설명하였다. 단층박막은 상온에서 220˚C까지 급격한 수축을 보였으며 총수축량의 83%가 이 온도구간에서 일어났다. as-spun된 박막 내에는 이미 75MPa의 인장응력이 존재하였으며 130˚C부터 뚜렷이 증가하여 250˚C에서 147MPa의 최대 인장응력을 나타냈다. 인장응력의 급격한 감소가 일어나는 370˚C부터는 본격적으로 치밀화된 PT박막과 Si 기판과의 열팽창계수 차이가 주로 박막내의 응력을 결정하며, 이것은 다층박막의 미세경도가 300˚C 이후에서 급격히 증가하는 사실로도 뒷받침된다. 한편 다층박막에서 단층박막과 달리 550˚C까지 열처리후 Perovskite 상이 많이 생성되었으며 이는 박막 두께의 증가에 따른 homogenous 핵생성 site의 증가 때문이라고 생각된다

BaO, SrCI2.6H2O 그리고 Ti(OPri)4를 출발 원료로 사용하여 균일한 BaxSr1-xTiO3(BST) 솔을 합성하였고, BST 박막을 회전 코팅 법으로 Si 및 Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si 기판위에 제조하였다. 적외선 및 NMR 스펙트럼 분석으로 킬레이션 조제로 사용한 acetylacetone(AcAc)이 엔올 형태로 Ti-알콕사이드와 결합하여 솔 안정화에 기여함을 확인하였다. Xedrogel에 대한 DT/TGA 및 적외선 스펙트럼 결과로부터 페로브스카이트 상생성이 600˚C 이상에서 이루어짐을 관찰하였다. 700˚C에서 열처리한 박마은 -300(10 KHz)의 상대유전율을 나타내었고, 결정립의 저항 및 입계의 병렬 RC 성분으로 등가회로를 구성할 수 있었다.

광화학 반응의 초기 유발을 위한 광촉매로 TiO2가 가장 널리 알려져 있으며, 기존의 상품보다 광촉매 활성도가 높은 촉매를 얻기 위해 Sol-Gel법을 이용하였다. TiO2 광촉매 제조를 위하여 전구체로서 Tetra-eth해-ortho-titanate(TEOT)를 이용하여 xerogeol 분말을 얻었으며, 광화학 반응의 효율을 측정하기 위해 분해대상 물질을 Dichloroacetic acid(DCA)로 선정하였다. 순수 titania 졸을 얻기 위한 최적조건은 알콕사이드 1몰당 물 40몰, 산 0.05몰이었고 pH의 범위는 3.3-3.6이었으며 Hexylene Glycol(HG)의 첨가량은 1몰임을 알 수 있었다. BET-N2방법을 이용하여 표면적을 측정한 결과 물/알콕 사이드의 몰비가 40-80범위에서 비표면적이 급격히 증가되어 DCA 의 광분해율도 증가하였으며, 몰 40몰을 첨가 후 졸-겔법으로 제조한 분말을 400˚C에서 1시간 열처리한 anatase phase의 TiO2가 최고의 광분해 효율인 약 21%를 보였다. 이는 상업용으로 가장 효율이 높은 Dagussa P-25의 DCA 분해 효율보다 2배 정도 높은 것으로 나타났다.