This study investigated the structural, dielectric, ferroelectric, and strain properties of (0.98-x)Bi_1/2Na_1/2TiO₃- 0.02BiFeO_3-xSrTiO₃ (BNT-BF-100xST, x＝0.20, 0.22, 0.24, 0.26, and 0.28). All samples were successfully synthesized using the conventional solid-state reaction method and sintered at 1,175℃ for 2 h. The average grain size of the BNT-BF-100x ceramics decreased with increasing ST content. Furthermore, we observed that the ferroelectric- relaxor transition temperature (T_F-R) decreased with increasing ST content, which eventually vanished in the BNT-BF-24ST ceramics. The results indicated that a ferroelectric to relaxor phase transition could be induced by ST modification. Consequently, a large electromechanical strain of 633 pm/V at 4 kV/mm was observed for the BNT-BF-26ST ceramics. These results imply that our materials have the competitive advantage of larger strain under lower operating field conditions compared with other BNT-based lead-free piezoelectric ceramics. We expect that BNT-BF-ST lead-free piezoelectric ceramics are promising candidates as a novel ternary BNT-based system and can find potential applications in actuators.

Micro-LEDs can be applied to various parts of a product. However, it has disadvantages compared to general LEDs in large displays such as low efficiency, intensity, and contrast ratio, among others, owing to their short history of study. The simulations were carried out using ray-tracing software to investigate the change in light intensity and light distribution according to pattern shapes on the sapphire substrate of the flip-chip micro-LED (FC μ-LED) array. Three patterns-concave square patterns, convex square patterns, and Ag coated convex patterns-which existed on the opposite side of FC μ-LEDs (115 ㎛ × 115 ㎛) array, were applied. The intensity of FC μ-LEDs on the center of the receivers depends on the pattern depth with shape. The concave square patterns having FC μ-LEDs arrays show that decreasing intensity as the patterns depth. On the contrary, the convex square patterns having FC μ-LEDs arrays shows that increasing intensity as the patterns depth. In addition, the highest intensity shows that FC μ-LEDs having Ag-coated convex patterns on the opposite side of sapphire lead to a reduction in light crosstalk owing to the Ag film.

In this study, we tried finding new materials to improve the stain resistance properties of polymer insulating materials. Using the filtered vacuum arc source (FVAS) with a graphite target source, DLC thin films were deposited on silicon and polymer insulator substrates depending on their thickness to confirm the surface properties, physical properties, and structural properties of the thin films. Subsequently, the possibility of using a DLC thin film as a protective coating material for polymer insulators was confirmed. DLC thin films manufactured in accordance with the thickness of various thin films exhibited a very smooth and uniform surface. As the thin film thickness increased, the surface roughness value decreased and the contact angle value increased. In addition, the elastic modulus and hardness of the DLC thin film slightly increased, and the maximum values of elastic modulus and hardness were 214.5 GPa and 19.8 GPa, respectively. In addition, the DLC thin film showed a very low leakage current value, thereby exhibiting electrical insulation properties.

Single-layer graphene is grown directly on Ti-buffered SiO₂ at 100℃. As a result of the AFM measurement of the Ti buffer layer, the roughness of approximately 0.2 nm has been improved. Moreover, the Raman measurement of graphene grown on it shows that the D/G intensity ratio is extremely small, approximately 0.01, and there are no defects. In addition, the 2D/G intensity ratio had a value of approximately 2.1 for single-layer graphene. The sheet resistance is also 89 Ω/□, demonstrating excellent characteristics. The problem was solved by using graphene and a lift-off patterning method. Low-temperature direct-grown graphene does not deteriorate after the patterning process and can be used for device and micro-patterning research.

In this study, we fabricated multilayer graphene on a glass substrate by stacking the monolayer graphene synthesized via chemical vapor deposition. The electrical sheet resistance and optical transmittance were evaluated to confirm the quality of the stacked multilayer graphene. Using the fabricated multilayer graphene/glass structure, we characterized its thermal radiative property in terms of the integrated emissivity. The integrated emissivity of the multilayer graphene/glass structure was tuned from 0.91 to 0.72 when the number of graphene layers was changed from 1 to 12. We also demonstrated that the emissivity tunability provided a way to control the apparent temperature of an object that can be used in infrared stealth applications.

Using facing target magnetron sputtering (FTMS) with a graphite target source, carbon nitride thin films were deposited on silicon and glass substrates at different substrate temperatures to confirm the tribological, electrical, and structural properties of thin films. The substrate temperatures were room temperature, 150℃, and 300℃. The tribology and electrical properties of the carbon nitride thin films were measured as the substrate temperature increased, and a study on the relation between these results and structural properties was conducted. The results show that the increase in the substrate temperature during the fabrication of the carbon nitride thin films increased the hardness and elastic modulus values, the critical load value was increased, and the residual stress value was reduced. Moreover, the increase in the substrate temperature during thin-film deposition was attributed to the improvement in the electrical properties of carbon nitride thin film.

In the case of ZnO:Al thin films, it is the best material that can replace ITO that is mainly used as a transparent electrode in electronic devices such as solar cells and flat-panel displays. In this study, ZnO:Al films were fabricated by using the RF dual magnetron sputtering method at various substrate temperatures. As the substrate temperature increased, the crystallinity of the ZnO:Al thin films was improved, and the electrical conductivity and electrical properties of the thin film improved owing to the increase in grain size. In addition, the surface roughness of the ZnO:Al thin films increased due to changes in the surface and density of the thin films. Moreover, the substrate temperature increased the density of thin films and improved their transmittance. To be applied to solar cells and other several electronic devices in the future, the hardness and adhesion properties of the thin film improve as the substrate temperature increases.

Recently, infrared (IR) and near-infrared (NIR) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were widely used for home medical applications owing to its low output power and wide exposed area for curing. For deep penetration of the light under the skin, multiple LEDs with wavelengths of 700~10,000 nm were located on a flexible printed circuit board. When multiple wavelengths of LEDs were soldered on a circuit board, the lifetime of LED module highly depends on LEDs with a short lifetime. The mean time to failure (MTTF) was able to calculate with the experimental results under high temperature and the Arrhenius model. The results of this study could help companies to approve the warranty of LED modules and its product.

Copper-chromium alloys have been used as contact materials of vacuum interrupters in circuit breakers, but new materials with highly stable performance are required to break the high voltage and high current barrier due to the recent increase in breaking capacity. In this paper, a new contact material was fabricated from a ternary alloy instead of existing Cu-Cr alloys. Its breaking performance and endurance were verified from a synthetic test and compared with that of various contact materials. The test results verified that the breaking performance of the new contact material was excellent.

In this study, we created a DBD plasma device and a MnO₂ catalyst mesh filter for evaluating ozone reduction of devices via the catalyst method. The DBD plasma device was manufactured by applying MnO₂ paste to soda lime glass via the screen-printing method. The MnO₂ catalyst mesh filter was manufactured by mixing MnO₂ powder with binder with a 10% difference in concentration from 10% to 50% and then applying it using the dip-coating method. Finally, we sintered a MnO₂ catalyst mesh filter in an electric furnace. We evaluated the characteristics of ozone generation according to the MnO₂ gas flow of DBD plasma devices, the opening ratio, and ozone reduction performance of the MnO₂ catalyst filters. Ozone reduction performance was approximately 20.4% at MnO₂10 wt%, 37.8% at MnO₂ 30 wt% and 50% at MnO₂ 50 wt%.

In this paper, we investigated the surface properties of polymer insulators to improve electrical insulation performance. First, after washing the polymer insulator in various ways, its contact angle was increased, thereby improving the hydrophobic properties and electrical insulation properties. In addition, TiO₂ thin films, which have been used as a photocatalytic material and have been applied to the polymer insulator surface of to enhance the surface and electrical insulating properties. For the sputtering method, the contact angle after coating the TiO₂ thin film increased with increasing RF power, but it was lower compared to that before coating, indicating that the hydrophobic properties of the surface were slightly deteriorated. Consequently, the electrical properties of the polymer-insulating material were maintained or improved after the TiO₂ thin-film coating.

Aluminum is a lightweight metal and has excellent properties with regard to conductivity, workability, and strength. It has been used in various industries owing to its economic benefits. To improve upon the mechanical properties and processability by adding various alloying elements to aluminum, improving the corrosion resistance and heat resistance by electrochemically forming a porous anodic film having a thickness and hardness on the surface of the aluminum alloy is crucial. In this study, the aluminum 6061 alloy was controlled by an anodization process in a 0.3M oxalic acid electrolyte at room temperature to investigate the oxide film parameters such as porosity and thickness depending on the modulating applied voltage and time. The anodizing experiment was performed by increasing the time from 1 h to 9 h at 2-h intervals at applied voltages of 50 V and 60 V.

Inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite solar cells have demonstrated considerable improvements, reaching 25.5% of certified power conversion efficiency in 2020 from 3.8% in 2009. In normal structured perovskite solar cells, TiO₂ electrontransporting materials require heat treatment process at a high temperature over 450℃ to induce crystallinity. Inverted perovskite solar cells have also been studied to exclude the additional thermal process by using [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as a non-oxide electron-transporting layer. However, the drawback of the PCBM layer is a charge accumulation at the interface between PCBM and a metal electrode. The impact of bathocuproin (BCP) buffer layer on photovoltaic performance has been investigated herein to solve the problem of PCBM. 2-mM BCP-modified perovskite solar cells were observed to exhibit a maximum efficiency of 12.03% compared with BCP-free counterparts (5.82%) due to the suppression of the charge accumulation at the PCBM-Au interface and the resulting reduction of the charge recombination between perovskite and the PCBM layer.

We modeled the helical turbine and three modified helical turbines for the structure of the hydraulic turbine for discharge water energy harvesting. A structure that can reduce the load applied to the blade by placing a center plate is our basic concept. The shape was reduced to 1/5, fixed to a size of 240 mm in height and 247 mm in diameter, and modeled by changing the width and the angle of the hydraulic turbine blade. The pipe inner diameter of the simulation pipeline equipment is 309.5 mm, and the simulation section was 4 m in the entire section. The flow velocity was measured for two cases, 1.82 m/s and 2.51 m/s, with the parameters being the amount of power generation, hydraulic turbine’s torque, and hydraulic turbine’s rotation speed. The measurement results confirmed that the flow velocity at the center, which has no pipe surface resistance, has a great influence on the amount of power generation; therefore, the friction area of the turbine blade should be increased in the center area. In addition, if the center plate is placed on the helical turbine, durability can be improved as it reduces the stress on the blade.