• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.63-65
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• 2008

The tissue distribution of $TiO_2$, nanopaprticles was investigated in mice after oral administration, and skin treatment. Male mice were treated with the dose of 5 g/kg of $TiO_2$ for three consecutive days and sacrificed at 24 hours after the last administration. As results, the orally administered $TiO_2$ nanoparticels were shown to be distributed in the testis, lung, and brain at 24 hours after the last treatment. Kidney does not seem to be the main target of $TiO_2$ nanoparticle distribution. It means that $TiO_2$ nanoparticles (17 nm) are easily absorbed through entero-gastric system and may cause toxicity in brain, lung, and reproductive organs. The distribution of skin treatment showed the same pattern like oral administration.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.249-254
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• 2018

In order to improve the photo conversion efficiency (${\eta}$) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the electrospun $TiO_2$, $SiO_2$, $ZrO_2$ and $SnO_2$ nanofibers were added into the hydrothermally prepared $TiO_2$ nanoparticles for application to a photoelectrode for DSSCs. The $TiO_2$ nanofiber added photoelectrode exhibited a higher photo current density ($J_{sc}$) compared to the bare $TiO_2$ nanoparticles, which is caused from acceleration of the transfer of excited electron from dye molecule due to the nanofiber structure. The DSSCs with $SiO_2$ nanofibers shows a higher open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) of 0.67 V and the highest photo conversion efficiency was found to be 6.24%.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2003

TiO₂nanoparticles were synthesized using the metallorganic chemical vapor deposition process. Particles with and without metal ion dopants were obtained. X-ray photoelectron and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic measurements confirmed the stoichiometry of the TiO₂nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction patterns showed a polycrystalline anatase structure of TiO₂. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that these particles are of nanoscale dimensions. Exact particle size and size distribution analyses were carried out by dynamic light scattering. The average particle size was determined to be 22 nm. The nanosize particles provided large surface area for photocatalysis and a large number of free surface-charge carriers, which are crucial for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity. To improve the photocatalytic activity, metal ions, including transition metal ions $(Pd^{2+},\;Pt^{4+},\;Fe^{3+})$ and lanthanide ion $(Nd^{3+})$ were added to pure TiO₂nanoparticles. The effects of dopants on photocatalytic kinetics were investigated by the degradation of 2-chlorophenol under an ultraviolet light source. The results showed that the TiO₂nanoparticles with the metal ion dopants have higher photocatalytic activity than undoped TiO₂. The $Nd^{3+}$ ion of these dopant metal ions showed the highest catalytic activity. The difference in the photocatalytic activity with different dopants is related to the different ionic radii of the dopants.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.333-339
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• 2009

In this study, we investigated the biological toxicity of nano-scale Zn (0.1, 0.5, and 1 mol%)-doped $TiO_2$ and pure $TiO_2$ nanoparticles using zebrafish embryogenesis as our model organism. Zn-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared using a conventional hydrothermal method for the insertion of zinc into the $TiO_2$ framework. The characters of Zn-doped $TiO_2$ (0.1%, 0.5%, 1%Zn) and pure $TiO_2$ were about 7~8 nm. These sizes were smaller than 100~200 nm of $TiO_2$ was prepared using the sol-gel method. Particularly, in this study, we found no significant biological toxicity in the hatching rate and abnormal rate under expose pure $TiO_2$ and Zn-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared using a conventional hydrothermal method of zebrafish. It was different from the biological damage under $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared using sol-gel method. We assessed that the damage was not linked to the particle's nanometer size, but rather due to the prepare method. Moreover, $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared using a hydrothermal method were not shown to cause cytotoxic effects, like apoptosis and necrosis, that are the major markers of toxicity in organisms exposed to nanomaterials. Therefore, there is some relationship with biological toxicity of nanoparticles and the prepare method of nanometer size particles.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.239-243
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• 2018

Up to now, microstructure changes of photocatalysts have been studied to improve photocatalytic activity. Especially, to improve the adsorption of reactants and reactive sites, porous and fine crystal structures have received much attention because of their large specific surface area. In this study, $TiO_2$ nanotubes were synthesized by hydrothermal method using $TiO_2$ nanoparticles; nanotubes were evaluated by oxidized methylene blue reduction test. Using synthesized $TiO_2$ nanotubes, results of TEM showed that the $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were changed into folding sheets and nanotubes. XRD results showed that the peaks of the nanoparticles almost disappeared and only the rutile (110) and anatase (200) peaks were observed. Comparison of photocatalytic properties of nanoparticles and nanotube structures was performed by measuring the UV-vis absorbance with reducing oxidized methylene blue. As a result, the reduction rate of nanotubes was found to be $0.24{\mu}mol/s$, which was 2.6 times higher than the rate of reduction of nanoparticles.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.96-101
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• 2015

Quantitative evaluation of photocatalytic activity of oxide nanoparticles in aqueous solution is quite challenging in that the kinetic reaction rate is determined by a complicated interplay among various limiting factors such as light scattering and absorption, diffusion and adsorption of reactants in condensed liquid phase, photoexcited charge separation and recombination rate, and the exact nature of active sites determined by detailed morphology and crystallinity of nanocrystals. Here, we present our simple experimental results showing that the kinetic regime of a typical photocatalytic degradation experiment over UV-irradiated $TiO_2$ nanoparticles in aqueous solution is in that dominated by the photoactivity of $TiO_2$ and its concentration. This result lays a firm ground of using the measured kinetic reaction rate in evaluating photocatalytic efficiency of oxide nanocrystals under evaluation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.423-428
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• 2014

We synthesized Fe-doped $TiO_2/{\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ core-shell nanowires(NWs) by means of a co-electrospinning method and demonstrated their magnetic properties. To investigate the structural, morphological, chemical, and magnetic properties of the samples, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used, as was a vibrating sample magnetometer. The morphology of the nanostructures obtained after calcination at $500^{\circ}C$ exhibited core/shell NWs consisting of $TiO_2$ in the core region and ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ in the shell region. In addition, the XPS results confirmed the formation of Fe-doped $TiO_2$ by the doping effect of $Fe^{3+}$ ions into the $TiO_2$ lattice, which can affect the ferromagnetic properties in the core region. For comparison, pure ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ NWs were also fabricated using an electrospinning method. With regard to the magnetic properties, the Fe-doped $TiO_2/{\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ core-shell NWs exhibited improved saturation magnetization(Ms) of approximately ~2.96 emu/g, which is approximately 6.1 times larger than that of pure ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ NWs. The performance enhancement can be explained by three main mechanisms: the doping effect of Fe ions into the $TiO_2$ lattice, the size effect of the $Fe_2O3_$ nanoparticles, and the structural effect of the core-shell nanostructures.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.556-564
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• 2014

To synthesize a high-performance photocatalyst, N doped $TiO_2$ nanotubes deposited with Ag nanoparticles were synthesized, and surface characteristics, electrochemical behaviors, and photocatalytic activity were investigated. The $TiO_2$ nanotubular photocatalyst was fabricated by anodization; the Ag nanoparticles on the $TiO_2$ nanotubes were synthesized by a reduction reaction in $AgNO_3$ solution under UV irradiation. The XPS results of the N doped $TiO_2$ nanotubes showed that the incorporated nitrogen ions were located in interstitial sites of the $TiO_2$ crystal structure. The N doped titania nanotubes exhibited a high dye degradation rate, which is effectively attributable to the increase of visible light absorption due to interstitial nitrogen ions in the crystalline $TiO_2$ structure. Moreover, the precipitated Ag particles on the titania nanotubes led to a decrease in the rate of electron-hole recombination; the photocurrent of this electrode was higher than that of the pure titania electrode. From electrochemical and dye degradation results, the photocurrent and photocatalytic efficiency were found to have been significantly affected by N doping and the deposition of Ag particles.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2014

In the present work, $WO_3$ and $WO_3-TiO_2$ were prepared by the chemical deposition method. Structural variations, surface state and elemental compositions were investigated for preparation of $WO_3-TiO_2$ sonocatalyst. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed for characterization of these new photocatalysts. A rhodamine B (Rh.B) solution under ultrasonic irradiation was used to determine the catalytic activity. Excellent catalytic degradation of an Rh.B solution was observed using the $WO_3-TiO_2$ composites under ultrasonic irradiation. Sonocatalytic degradation is a novel technology of treating wastewater. During the ultrasonic treatment of aqueous solutions sonoluminescence, cavitaties and "hot spot" occurred, leading to the dissociation of water molecules. In case of a $WO_3$ coupled system, a semiconductor coupled with two components has a beneficial role in improving charge separation and enhancing $TiO_2$ response to ultrasonic radiations. In case of the addition of $WO_3$ as new matter, the excited electrons from the $WO_3$ particles are quickly transferred to $TiO_2$ particle, as the conduction band of $WO_3$ is 0.74 eV which is -0.5 eV more than that of $TiO_2$. This transfer of charge should enhance the oxidation of the adsorbed organic substrate. The result shows that the photocatalytic performance of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles was improved by loading $WO_3$.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.287-294
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• 2019

The possibility of eye exposure for workers participating in manufacturing of nanoparticles or consumers using products containing nanoparticles has been reported, but toxicity studies on the eye are scarce. In this study, cytotoxicity of five nanoparticles including silver, ceria, silica, titanium and zinc were tested using Statens Seruminstitut Rabbit Cornea (SIRC) cells. When cells were treated with nanoparticles with concentrations of $1-100{\mu}g/mL$ for 24 hr, zinc oxide nanoparticles showed higher toxicity to cornea cells. $LC_{50}$ of zinc oxide nanoparticles was less than $25{\mu}g/mL$ but those of other nanoparticles could not be calculated in this test, which means more than $100{\mu}g/mL$. Generation of reactive oxygen species was observed, and expression of apoptosis related biomarkers including Bax and Bcl-2 were changed after treatment of zinc oxide nanoparticles, while no other significant toxicity-related changes were observed in cornea cells treated with Ag, $CeO_2$, $SiO_2$ and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles.