Su-Un Lee

Hexoctahedral Au Nanocrystals with High-Index Facets and Their Optical and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Properties

Au nanocrystals (NCs) with an unprecedented hexoctahedral structure enclosed exclusively by high-index {321} facets have been prepared for the first time. Manipulating the NC growth kinetics by controlling the amount of reductant and the reaction temperature in the presence of a suitable surfactant was the key synthetic lever for controlling the morphology of the Au NCs. The hexoctahedral Au NCs exhibited efficient optical and surface-enhanced Raman scattering activities due to their unique morphological characteristics.

One-pot synthesis of monodisperse 5 nm Pd-Ni nanoalloys for electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation.

Highly monodisperse 5 nm Pd-Ni alloy nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by the reduction of Pd(acac)(2)/Ni(acac)(2) mixtures with tert-butylamine-borane complex (TBAB) in the presence of oleic acid (OA) and oleylamine (OAm). Employing TBAB as an effective reductant and OA/OAm combination as an effective stabilizing agent is crucial to the formation of monodisperse Pd-Ni NPs. Experimental results collectively verify that the Pd-Ni alloy NPs form through the sequential nucleation-interdiffusion process and the simultaneous reduction of both metal precursors by the one-pot protocol is the key to the formation of homogeneous NPs. The Pd-Ni NPs were well-dispersed on carbon supports and chemically dealloyed after acetic acid washing through the selective dissolution of the less noble Ni component. The Pd-Ni NP catalysts exhibited much higher electrocatalytic activity and stability for ethanol oxidation than those of a commercial Pd/C catalyst.

Ultrathin Free-Standing Ternary-Alloy Nanosheets.

A synthesis strategy for the preparation of ultrathin free-standing ternary-alloy nanosheets is reported. Ultrathin Pd-Pt-Ag nanosheets with a thickness of approximately 3 nm were successfully prepared by co-reduction of the metal precursors in an appropriate molar ratio in the presence of CO. Both the presence of CO and the interplay between the constituent metals provide fine control over the anisotropic two-dimensional growth of the ternary-alloy nanostructure. The prepared Pd-Pt-Ag nanosheets were superior catalysts of ethanol electrooxidation owing to their specific structural and compositional characteristics. This approach will pave the way for the design of multicomponent 2D nanomaterials with unprecedented functions.

Composition-Controlled PtCo Alloy Nanocubes with Tuned Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Reduction

Modification of the electronic structure and lattice contraction of Pt alloy nanocatalysts through control over their morphology and composition has been a crucial issue for improving their electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity. In the present work, we synthesized PtCo alloy nanocubes with controlled compositions (Pt(x)Co NCs, x = 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9) by regulating the ratio of surfactants and the amount of Co precursor to elucidate the effect of the composition of nanocatalysts on their ORR activity. Pt(x)Co NCs had a Pt-skin structure after electrochemical treatment. The electrocatalysis experiments revealed a strong correlation between ORR activity and Co composition. Pt₃Co NCs exhibited the best ORR performance among the various Pt(x)Co NCs. From density functional theory calculations, a typical volcano-type relationship was established between ORR activity and oxygen binding energy (E(OB)) on NC surfaces, which showed that Pt₃Co NCs had the optimal E(OB) to achieve the maximum ORR activity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements demonstrated that the electronic structure and lattice contraction of the Pt(x)Co NCs could be tuned by controlling the composition of NCs, which are highly correlated with the trends of E(OB) change.

Universal Sulfide-Assisted Synthesis of M–Ag Heterodimers (M = Pd, Au, Pt) as Efficient Platforms for Fabricating Metal–Semiconductor Heteronanostructures

We report a universal sulfide-assisted synthesis strategy to prepare dumbbell-like M-Ag heterodimers (M = Pd, Au, Pt). Sulfide ions can give fine control over the reaction kinetics of Ag precursors, resulting in the anisotropic overgrowth of Ag to realize the dumbbell-like heterodimers irrespective of the surface facets or components of the M domain. The M-Ag heterodimers were facilely transformed to M-Ag2S heterodimers via a simple sulfidation reaction. This study provides a versatile approach to realizing not only metal-metal heterodimers but also semiconductor-metal heterodimers and will pave the way for designing heteronanostructures with unprecedented morphologies and functions.

Metal–semiconductor yolk–shell heteronanostructures for plasmon-enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Plasmonic metal–semiconductor heteronanostructures with controlled topologies have attracted increasing attention as promising platforms for the efficient conversion of solar to chemical energy. Herein, we describe a novel synthesis route toward the formation of heteronanostructures with plasmonic metal yolks and semiconductor shells, which can enable the enhancement of light harvesting efficiency. Au nanorod-CdS yolk–shell nanostructures with well-defined structural configurations were realized by sulfidation and a subsequent cation exchange reaction with pre-synthesized Au nanorod@Ag core–shell nanostructures. The prepared yolk–shell nanostructures showed superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance under visible light irradiation over their core–shell nanostructured counterparts, CdS hollow nanoparticles, and Au nanorods. A series of mechanistic studies on the photocatalysis distinctly corroborated that the pronounced photocatalytic function of the yolk–shell nanostructures is due to the synergism between the radiative relaxation of the plasmon energy of the Au nanorod yolks and the multiple reflections of the incident light within their voids provided by the yolk–shell structure, which can promote the light absorption of CdS that can drive the photocatalysis. This study can provide a new perspective for designing hetero-nanoarchitectures with intended structures and desired functions.

Iterative preform design technique by tracing the material flow along the deformation path - Application to piston forging

Purpose – In the finite element analysis of a hot forging process, it is difficult to design an optimal preform because of highly nonlinear characteristics of design variables. In this paper, a new preform design method which can reduce the forming load and the die wear by removing the flash is developed and applied to the pre form design of a piston.Design/methodology/approach – After finite element analyses of hot forging processes, if the final product is found to have excessive flash and cause high die wear, a new preform design technique, so‐called iterative preform design technique is applied to obtain an optimal preform design. From the results of FE simulations, a boundary region at the outlet of the flash is first selected. Then, by tracing the section along the deformation path to the initial billet, it is possible to obtain a mapped section boundary in the initial billet. After updating the initial shape by removing the exterior region of the mapped section boundary, a finite element simulation...

Time-of-flight measurement with femtosecond pulses for high precision ranging lidar

The time-of-flight of light pulses has long been used as a direct measure of distance, but the state-of-the-art measurement precision using conventional light pulses or microwaves reaches only several hundreds of micromeres. This is due to the bandwidth limit of the photodetectors available today, which is in the picosecond range at best. Here, we improve the time-of-flight precision to the nanometer regime by timing femtosecond pulses through phase-locking control of the pulse repetition rate using the optical cross-correlation technique that exploits a second-harmonic birefringence crystal and a balance photodetector. The enhanced capability is maintained at long range without periodic ambiguity, being well suited to terrestrial lidar applications such as geodetic surveying, range finders and absolute altimeters. This method could also be applied to future space missions of formation-flying satellites for synthetic aperture imaging and remote experiments related to the general relativity theory.

Application of a hexahedral mesh compression method in a 3D hot forging process for efficient analysis of a flash

Purpose – In the finite element analysis of a hot forging process with hexahedral elements, flash region is difficult to analyze because of the thin shape. In this paper, a hot forging process is effectively analyzed by constructing a locally fine mesh in the flash region.Design/methodology/approach – When remeshing is decided by an error estimation and flash is generated, the boundary patch of the mesh is constructed and expanded in the normal direction of the flash region. After hexahedral mesh is constructed in the expanded patch with master grid approach, the boundary patch is compressed to the original shape and the nodes in the boundary are moved to the relative position of the boundary patch. Then, a locally fine mesh is constructed in the flash region. The quality of mesh on the boundary is again improved by adding surface element layer. Therefore, the hot forging process can be effectively analyzed by constructing the adaptive hexahedral mesh in the flash region.Findings – The results show that t...