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A joint team of researchers from Ajou University and Sungkyunkwan University has developed an ultra-sensitive graphene ion sensor using a novel acidity-detecting mechanism. This groundbreaking discovery, which transcends the theoretical limit expected of such sensors, is expected to have various applications, including for Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and diagnostic equipment.The team, co-led by Prof. Lee Jae-hyun (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering / Graduate Dept. of Energy Systems Research) of Ajou and Prof. Whang Dong-mok of Sungkyunkwan, published their findings under the title “Super-Nernstian pH Sensor Based on Anomalous Charge Transfer Doping of Defect-Engineered Graphene” as the featured article in the January 13 issue of Nano Letters (IF = 11.238), a prestigious journal on nanoscience and technology. Both professors were featured as the corresponding authors, with Dr. Jung Su-ho of Sungkyunkwan’s Advanced Institute of Nano Technology as the first author, and Hyun Sang-hwa, a graduate student in Ajou’s Dept. of Energy Systems Research, as a co-author.Thanks to its high conductivity and the exposure of its components on the surface, graphene has been garnering much attention as an ideal material for sensors. The low surfactant reactivity due to the low defect density, however, makes it difficult for the substances to be detected—ions, molecules, etc.—to attach to the graphene.Until recently, much of graphene research has therefore focused on inducing and increasing defects on the surface of the material so that other materials may be better absorbed by it. This increase in mechanical defects, however, also compromises the desirable qualities of graphene, preventing researchers from transcending the theoretical limit on sensitivity.Prof. Lee and his team have sought to overcome this dilemma by controlling the density of nuclei formed in the early stage of graphene synthesis so as to control the shape and size of the grains found on the resulting product. This nuclear growth density control method has enabled the researchers to produce a nanocrystalline graphene with engineered defects so as to permit the selective penetration by ions. In other words, the team has come up with a novel detection mechanism utilizing the reaction between graphene-penetrating ions and the substrate underneath.As a result, the team has developed a highly sensitive nanocrystalline graphene-based pH sensor that is capable of achieving a sensitivity as high as 140mV/pH under optimized conditions, far exceeding the marginal sensitivity of 59mV/pH associated with conventional pH sensors.Emphasizing that they were the first in the world to find a new sensing mechanism capable of transcending the theoretical sensitivity limit, Prof. Lee and his team assessed that their defect-engineered nanocrystalline graphene harbors much potential for producing “highly sensitive semiconductor ion sensors with possible applications in IoT and medical devices.”This study was made possible with the support of the research support programs for basic research labs and seasoned researchers provided by the National Research Foundation of Korea.Sensing mechanism of the nanocrystalline graphene pH sensor*Gr = graphene, nc-Gr = nanocrystalline grapheneChanges in the nanocrystalline graphene pH sensor’s sensitivity with different substrate conditionsFeatured on the cover of Nano Letters
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According to the “Employment Rate of University Graduates in February 2019 (Including Those Who Graduated in August 2018)” posted by the Ministry of Education, Ajou came in eighth among four-year research universities with 1,000 or more graduates in the Seoul-Gyeonggi region with a graduate employment rate of 70.4 percent.The average employment rate of all graduates from the 227 four-year universities nationwide dropped by a full percentage point to 63.4 percent. Since peaking at 65 percent in 2015, the national average has struggled to break through that threshold, recording 64.9 percent in 2016, 64.6 percent in 2017, 62.8 percent in 2018, and 64.4 percent in 2019.Among the 2,184 Ajou students who graduated in either August 2018 or February 2019, 70.4 percent have landed jobs. The School of Medicine had the highest employment rate at 100 percent, followed by the College of Pharmacy (89.7 percent). The other departments and colleges with higher-than-average graduate employment rates included the Department of Transportation System Engineering (86.7 percent), College of Nursing (82.6 percent), Department of Mathematics (80.8 percent), Department of Digital Media (79.8 percent), Department of History (77.8 percent), Department of Financial Engineering (77.4 percent), Department of Software (76.4 percent), Department of Industrial Engineering (76.3 percent), Department of Mechanical Engineering (75.2 percent), and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (74.4 percent).Not only was Ajou ranked highly, in eighth place, among the four-year universities with 1,000 or more graduates in Seoul-Gyeonggi, but it also came in eighth among the 30 universities ranked highly on The JoongAng Daily’s University Rankings 2019. Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University, Sogang University, Korea University, Yonsei University, Chung-Ang University, and Seoul National University were also ranked highly, with average graduate employment rates ranging from 70.9 percent to 78.6 percent.Ajou’s graduates also had an employment retention rate of 89.3 percent, which is calculated using workplace-based National Health Insurance data to see who among university graduates have maintained their workplace-based insurance policies for one year since landing their first job. High employment retention rates are often interpreted as indicating the decency and security of jobs that university graduates have found.Ajou came in eighth again among the 30 highest-rated universities on The JoongAng Daily’s University Rankings 2019 with a graduate employment retention rate of 89.3 percent. The other universities with higher rates were Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, the University of Seoul, Korea University, Hanyang University, Yonsei University, and Seoul National University, whose rates ranged from 90.4 percent to 93.3 percent.Ajou provides career path counseling and employment support programs for not only enrolled students and graduates but also local youth through its Career Development Center. The center helps younger enrolled students explore their career paths and enables older enrolled students to develop occupational competency and other skills they need to find jobs. It provides one-on-one counseling with expert advisors, short-term occupational training programs (offering courses on Excel, video production, coding, big data, etc.), mentoring from graduates, career camps for transfer students, and job lectures (semiconductors, secondary cells, etc.), in addition to various special lectures and AI-based interview preparation programs.The latest graduate employment rates were calculated as of the end of 2019 with respect to university students who graduated in either August 2018 or February 2019.Go to Ajou’s Career Development Center website.
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A team of researchers led by Ajou’s Prof. Seo Hyung-tak has successfully developed a high-precision sensor capable of detecting high concentrations of hydrogen. The researchers expect their work to help enhance the safety of hydrogen energy, supporting the production and application of hydrogen in the future.Prof. Seo (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering / Graduate Dept. of Energy Systems, pictured) and his team have invented a high-precision hydrogen sensor capable of detecting hydrogen at all levels of concentration, from particles per million (ppm) to 100 percent, using a new material created by combining an ultra-thin, multilayered, alloyed catalyst and electrodes. Their discovery was published in a paper entitled “Confined interfacial alloying of multilayered Pd-Ni nanocatalyst for widening hydrogen detection capacity” in the January 1 online issue of Sensors & Actuators B: Chemicals, an international journal on sensing technology. Dr. Lee Young-Ahn and Dr. Le Thai Duy, both of Ajou University, were featured as the co-first authors. The team also included Prof. Kim Hyun-you of Chungnam National University and Dr. Park Ju-cheol of the Gumi Electronics and Information Technology Research Institute.The range of possible applications of hydrogen as an alternative source of energy for automobiles, electricity generation, and other industries has been expanding rapidly as of late. The growing demand for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, in particular, highlights the importance of developing hydrogen applications for eco-friendly transportation. Safety, however, has been a chief issue hindering the rapid growth of hydrogen as a fuel. An odorless, colorless substance that is also extremely lightweight, hydrogen carries a significant risk of undetected leakage. It does not take much to trigger an explosion when the hydrogen concentration in the surrounding air reaches four percent. Because extremely high pressure is crucial to ensuring the high energy intensity (energy stored per unit volume) required of hydrogen as a fuel, it is critical to equip hydrogen-powered vehicles and other such machinery with well-functioning hydrogen detectors.Furthermore, to diversify the possible use of hydrogen for purposes including fuel cells, it is essential to have a device capable of monitoring and controlling the purity and concentration of hydrogen. High-precision sensors capable of monitoring high concentrations of hydrogen (95 to 100 percent) are in particularly high demand. Such high-concentration hydrogen sensors, however, can be very complex to develop. There are only a handful of expensive options available on the market worldwide today. None of the existing products, furthermore, are able to detect a wide range of hydrogen concentrations ranging from ppm levels to 100 percent.With the goal of finding a high-precision, highly reliable alternative to the palladium (Pd) catalyst electrodes that are widely used in the conventional chemically resistant hydrogen sensors, the Ajou researchers have developed a new electrode by layering ultra-thin films of Pd and nickel (Ni) in a lattice-like fashion, with each layer having a thickness on the nanometer scale. Numerous existing structures using either a Pd film or nano-Pd structure are capable of detecting hydrogen at limited and low concentrations, but have proven hopelessly incapable of detecting hydrogen at concentrations of 50 percent or above. The hydrogen atoms decoupled from hydrogen molecules by the Pd fail to desorb from Pd lattices, thereby saturating the hydrogen signals, while repeated hydrogen detection also hydrogenates the Pd film or structure, destroying the catalyst.Prof. Seo and his team’s ultra-thin Pd-Ni interfacial super-lattice is capable of detecting high concentrations of hydrogen with incredible precision. It has indeed demonstrated top-notch performance at all levels of concentration (linearity = 95 to 99 percent, response time of less than three seconds, and signal variation of one percent or less). The new sensor even stably maintained its high performance throughout the repetitive accelerated durability test (hydrogen detected 40,000 times), a key step before the manufacture of hydrogen fuel cell parts. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated, through atom-level calculations and ultra-high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), that the success was entirely due to the structural stability of the Pd-Ni nano-surfactant alloy (only two to three nanometers in thickness) and its ability to reduce the energy required for hydrogen desorption.Prof. Seo’s team unveiled its latest invention at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021, an exposition of today’s most cutting-edge technologies. Due to the pandemic, this annual IT and appliance industry expo, the largest of its kind in the world, was held exclusively online from January 11 to 14 this year.Prof. Seo explained: “Korean companies are solidifying their leadership in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles now that the demand for hydrogen energy is growing worldwide. Nevertheless, these companies have had to rely on very expensive and imported hydrogen sensors in order to ensure the safety of their products.”He added: “We are working on developing additional technologies to ensure the broad application of our new invention to hydrogen monitoring systems. Such systems have a wide array of potential applications in all hydrogen-using industries and sectors, including energy infrastructure, semiconductors, and petrochemicals.”The team’s study was made possible with the support of the Energy Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, as well as the Research Support Program for New Researchers with Advanced Overseas Accomplishments, Basic Research Support Program, and BK21 Four Program of the Ministry of Science and ICT and National Research Foundation of Korea. The team has been granted a patent for their sensor in Korea, and their applications for patents worldwide are in progress.Image of Prof. Seo Hyung-tak and his team’s hydrogen sensor shown at CES 2021
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A team of researchers led by those affiliated with the Ajou School of Medicine has demonstrated the existence of a chemical shield that protects tumor cells against attacks by immune cells, revealing a pathway to a new potential tumor treatment strategy.The team, led by Prof. Park Tae-jun (Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Prof. Kim Jang-hee (Dept. of Pathology), and Prof. Choi Yong-won (Dept. of Oncology-Hematology), has found that senescent tumor cells found in colorectal cancer serve to prevent immune cells from infiltrating the tumor, rendering them ineffective and thereby promoting the progression of colorectal cancer. The team’s findings were published in a paper entitled “Senescent Tumor Cells Build a Cytokine Shield in Colorectal Cancer” in the January 4 issue of Advanced Science.Senescent cells no longer grow and multiply, but still secrete a variety of substances. Micro-environmental changes associated with diverse illnesses have been attributed to the strong metabolic activities of these senescent cells. Until now, however, little had been known about how these old cells affect cancerous growths.Having verified the presence of senescent tumor cells in a surgically extracted specimen of colorectal cancer, the Ajou researchers observed that, the greater the number of senescent tumor cells found in a specimen, the slower the penetration of cytotoxic T-cells. The researchers also assayed the secretions found on the surfaces of senescent tumor cells and identified two specific cytokines responsible for the function of immune cells.The researchers demonstrated that CXCL12, a chemokine, inhibits the infiltration of cytotoxic T-cells into tumor cells, while CSF1, a cytokine, catalyzes the differentiation of macrophages that induce this immunosuppressant effect, thereby undermining the functioning of cytotoxic T-cells. They also found that, by inhibiting CXCL12 alone in mice with colorectal cancer, cytotoxic T-cells infiltrate the tumor cells far better, significantly inhibiting tumor growth.Concluding that senescent tumor cells in colorectal cancer can affect the progression of the cancer, the researchers expressed hope that their findings will “aid research and lead to the development of a new treatment strategy for colorectal cancer, which is quite resistant to immunotherapy, by targeting senescent tumor cells or the secretions they produce to inhibit immunotherapy.”This study was made possible with the support of the University-Centered Research Lab Support Program and Basic Research Program of the Ministry of Education, the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), and the Bio and Medical Technology Development Program (for the Enhancement of Clinician Scientists’ Research Capabilities) of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the NRF.Immunosuppressant function of senescent tumor cells in colorectal cancer# Pictured from left to right: Prof. Park Tae-jun (Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Prof. Kim Jang-hee (Dept. of Pathology), and Prof. Choi Yong-won (Dept. of Oncology-Hematology).
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With the aim of providing new and more effective forms of support for businesses in line with today’s contactless trend, Ajou University became the first higher education institution in Korea to open a cyber training academy for university-affiliated businesses, offering online programs for employees and executives.The Leaders in Industry-University Cooperation (LINC+) Project Group at Ajou University recently announced that it opened the Ajou E-Innovation Net (AEIN) to provide the four major types of training and education required by law to employees and executives of the 1,500 or so university-affiliated businesses. The LINC+ Project Group coordinates exchanges between the university and affiliated businesses, promoting mutual growth and partnership.Businesses operating in Korea with five or more employees each are required by law to provide four types of education and training at least once a year to promote workplace safety and security. These sessions are education and training on sexual harassment, personal information and privacy, occupational safety and health, and disability awareness. Although all workers have the right to receive education and training on these subjects, small businesses struggle to develop and provide them on their own due to the costs involved.To help address this issue, the LINC+ Project Group opened AEIN, the first initiative of its kind ever attempted by a higher education institution in Korea, in October last year to provide trial classes for members of Ajou-affiliated businesses. In partnership with Edu-M, a local agency that certifies lifelong education programs, the group has established a platform that is accessible from anywhere at any time and launched eight programs so far, including those on occupational safety and health.AEIN is interfaced with the LINC+ Project Group’s directory of university-affiliated businesses and keeps real-time records on the classes applied for and completed by trainees. Trainees can also print online certificates upon completing each program. Over 1,100 employees and executives of Ajou-affiliated businesses have completed their training in just two months since AEIN’s opening. The university has provided all of these programs for free.The LINC+ Project Group intends to expand the range of programs on offer at AEIN and also improve the platform to provide mobile training courses accessible via smartphone. A broader array of programs aside from the required ones, such as those on the themes of workplace bullying, retirement pensions, and taxes, are now in development.In addition, the group intends to develop other platforms for online learning, including online seminars and cyber libraries, to help businesses partnered with Ajou University. The university’s goal is to develop and provide quality training content to businesses participating in student internship programs, subsidiaries of Ajou’s technology holding companies, companies in need of trainees, and other such businesses so as to generate a new stream of revenue from quality paid-for contents introduced over time.Oh Yeong-tae, Executive Vice President for University-Industry Cooperation, commented: “Our goal is to provide quality education and training services for affiliated and partner businesses through AEIN. Going forward, we will continue developing new measures to strengthen and continue our cooperation with industries.”# Go to AEIN: https://ajou_aein.edumit.co.kr/studyCenter/.
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Ajou University decided to organize its annual ceremony marking the start of the new year online, still determined to share New Year’s greetings and the University’s major accomplishments of the past year and plans for the new year with students notwithstanding the pandemic.The online ceremony featured a New Year’s address from University President Park Hyung-ju; the announcement of Ajou Vision 4.0, a mid- to long-term plan for the University’s development; and discussions of the University’s performance in 2020 and major plans for 2021. The ceremony also shared the top 10 headlines featuring Ajou University from 2020, showing notable achievements and progress that shone light on the school in the midst of COVID-19.Ajou President Park said during his address: “I am grateful for the dedication, hard work, and understanding that members of the Ajou community have shown us this past year.” He added: “Let us embark on this new year with new hopes, new expectations, and new attitudes.”“As a university committed to actively leading innovation in education,” Park explained, “Ajou will continue to develop a new paradigm in education with substantial effects on more disciplines and programs.” He went on: “We will continue with our various initiatives for strengthening the University’s research capabilities as well.”Ajou Vision 4.0, released upon the University’s anniversary in 2019, lays down the University’s goals for intermediate- and long-term growth, defining the trajectories in which education, research, and culture on campus are to evolve.# Watch the University President’s New Year’s address#Watch Ajou Vision 4.0 / Reflection on 2020 / Main Plans for 2021# Watch Top 10 Headlines from Ajou 2020
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Prof. Shim Tae-soup (left) and Kim Min-a (right)A team of Ajou researchers led by Prof. Shim Tae-soup (Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Dept. of Energy Systems Research) has developed stimulus-responsive hydrogel structures whose surfaces can be controlled at the micrometer level.The team’s work on generating crease patterns using stimulus-responsive hydrogels was entitled, “Stepwise Evolution of Crease Patterns on Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogels for the Production of Long-Range Ordered Structures,” and published as the featured article in the December issue of Advanced Materials Interfaces, an international journal on cutting-edge materials. Kim Min-a, a master’s candidate in the Department of Energy Systems Research, also participated as the first author.Crease-prone soft matter can change form easily when thermal energy is applied. Much applied research has been conducted to utilize its pliable physico-chemical properties and microstructures through application of a variety of external stimuli.Surface creases found on organisms, including fingerprints and palm prints, have especially garnered attention for their potential to increase the surface areas of industrial materials and for their superior fluid and elastic properties. Attempts have been made to simulate these creases in engineering. The mechanisms for forming such creases, however, occur arbitrarily without seeming patterns, frustrating researchers’ repeated attempts to create uniform and ordered two-dimensional crease structures.Prof. Shim’s team successfully created micro-level anisotropic creases on the surfaces of hydrogel films utilizing the reaction-diffusion system and the viscoelasticity of soft matter. As a result, the hydrogel films expanded in response to pH variations, with surface creases forming hexagonal or rectangular structures step by step.Furthermore, the team found that yeast cells cultured on these crease structures were aligned with reversibility, empirically demonstrating that the crease patterns are capable of aligning themselves through the mechanism of surface topology without undergoing chemical reactions with biomaterials.Prof. Shim explained: “The new crease formation mechanism we have discovered, by controlling the structures of polymer films step by step using their anisotropic creases, can be applied to a wide range of materials and stimuli. It can also be used to help develop platforms for inducing the growth of various biomaterials and analyzing cells.”The study was made possible with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea’s basic research program.
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Prof. Yoo Young-dong’s team has developed new mixed-dimensional in-plane heterostructures, generating hopes for the invention of a new core material for flexible and transparent electric and energy semiconductors.The team, led by Prof. Yoo (Dept. of Chemistry, pictured) has found a new method for synthesizing mixed-dimensional in-plane heterostructures, and published their findings under the title, “Mixed-Dimensional In-Plane Heterostructures from 1D Mo6Te6 and 2D MoTe2 Synthesized by Te-Flux-Controlled Chemical Vapor Deposition” in Small, an international nanoscience journal. Kim Hyeon-kyeong, currently in the combined postgraduate program at Ajou University, is listed as the first author on this paper that went on to be featured on the journal’s November 26 issue.Chalcogen compounds, used in two-dimensional semiconductors, promise utility as materials for next-generation electric and energy semiconductors for wearable devices and rollable displays as the rollable and transparent compounds possess superior electric and optic properties. However, the significant contact resistance that arises when these compounds and metallic electrodes are combined to create two-dimensional semiconductors has consistently limited compound performance.Prof. Yoo’s team used the chemical vapor deposition method (i.e., depositing films on semiconductors and metals through the vaporization of precursors with heat or plasma) to control the dimensions of the synthetic materials to be created, as the method using is suited to controlling the flux of precursors. As a result, the researchers were able to synthesize mixed-dimensional metal-semiconductor heterostructures. The metallic molybdenum telluride (Mo6Te6) on the first dimension is combined horizontally with the semiconductor-like molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) on the second dimension to create these novel structures. The team’s discovery provides new clues to the solution for minimizing contact resistance. A precursor refers to a material that transforms into a desired substance through chemical reactions.The team, moreover, has demonstrated the specific mechanism for synthesizing low-dimensional substances through flux control. When the amount of tellurium (Te) supplied per unit of time remains small, one-dimensional Mo6Te6 is synthesized with molybdenum (Mo) and Te atoms matched in an equal ratio. When the amount of Te supply per unit of time increases, two-dimensional MoTe2 is obtained, with double the amount of Te atoms bonding with Mo atoms. This mechanism can help synthesize not only mixed-dimensional materials, but also either one-dimensional or two-dimensional materials. The diverse low-dimensional materials so synthesized can be applied to electronics, optoelectronics, and catalysts.Prof. Yoo remarked: “The synthesis mechanism we have discovered is simple and expandable, and is therefore expected to help create much more diverse mixed-dimensional heterostructures. I expect these new synthetic structures to become core materials for making flexible and transparent next-generation electronic and energy semiconductors.”The study has been conducted with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea’s New Researcher Support Programs.
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A team of researchers from Ajou and Konkuk Universities has created a new polymer doping strategy based on their discovery of dynamic and thermodynamic factors affecting polymer doping.Prof. Kim Jong-hyun (Dept. of Applied Chemistry and Biological Engineering and Dept. of Molecular Science and Technology, pictured left) and Prof. Seo Hyung-tak (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, pictured right), both from Ajou, teamed up with Konkuk researchers led by Prof. Kim Bong-gi (Dept. of Organic and Nano System Engineering) to conduct the groundbreaking study, which has gone on to appear on the front cover of the December 10 issue of Advanced Materials (IF = 27.398). Professors Kim Jong-hyun, Seo Hyung-tak, and Kim Bong-gi participated as corresponding authors, and Yoon Sang-eun, currently in the combined postgraduate program in the Department of Molecular Science and Technology at Ajou University, was listed as the first author.The title of the study is “Improvement of Electrical Conductivity in Conjugated Polymers through Cascade Doping with Small-Molecular Dopants.”Active research on conjugated polymers for organic semiconductors has led to leaps in the performance of electric charge mobility, but researchers have struggled to achieve the desired high level of conductivity due to the difficulty of creating electric charges through doping that equally affects conductivity.The efficiency of molecular doping is known to be proportional to the energy offset between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the electron-supplying conjugated polymer and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the electron-receiving dopant. In their latest study, the Ajou and Konkuk researchers demonstrated that sequential use of dopants with different LUMOs increases doping efficiency, and were able to achieve the world’s highest level of conductivity for molecular doping—above 600 S/cm—with their strategy.The team has also demonstrated that the low doping efficiency associated with the use of dopants with high energy offsets from conjugated polymers stems from thermodynamics. They discovered that doping efficiency can be dramatically increased when doping is first attempted using a molecular dopant with a low energy offset and superior doping dynamics, followed by the use of a second dopant with a high energy offset. The researchers confirmed that this cascade effect is attributed to the decrease in activation energy needed for molecular doping.Prof. Kim Jong-hyun explained: “Our study provides in-depth insights into the energy orbitals of various molecular dopants, the dynamic and thermodynamic equilibria, and the conductivity of finally doped polymers, as well as an effective polymer doping strategy. Using this kind of strategy can significantly improve the conductivity of organic conductors that has hit an impasse as of late.”The team expects that development of new materials alongside their cascade doping strategy can lead to the discovery of highly flexible and highly elastic organic conductors capable of replacing conventional metal and oxide-film inorganic conductors.<Courtesy of WILEY VCH>
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2020 Ajou Valley Festa: ONtact, an event celebrating the achievements of Ajou’s industrial-academic cooperation projects, was held amid much interest and success. The event, held this year in the Ajou Valley Festa Online Pavilion December 7 through 11 due to the pandemic, drew more than 3,000 participants.2020 Ajou Valley Festa, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea and organized by Ajou’s LINC+ Project Group, Start-up Support Foundation, and Center for University Education Innovation, advertised and celebrated the outstanding achievements of the university’s industrial-academic cooperation projects over the past year.The event featured a wide variety of activities and programs for the participation and enjoyment of students and faculty members, partner businesses, and the local community, including: an exhibition of award-winning and lauded products of industrial-academic cooperation; an exhibition of the works of the Industrial Cooperation Centers (ICCs) and Regional Cooperation Centers (RCCs); free legal counseling, policy advice, and patent and management support for affiliated businesses; seminars on the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on businesses and local communities; meditation sessions and humanities lectures encouraging reflection amid COVID-19; and online votes on products on exhibitions. All activities and programs were in an online to promote contactless participation.The event ended on the afternoon of December 11 with the 2020 Ajou Valley Awards: Connecting Stars Ceremony, which involved handing out awards to organizations, businesses, faculty and staff that have been active in industrial-academic training, cooperation projects, and community engagement this year. There were also awards for the University’s departments that have facilitated industrial-academic cooperation by taking active measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.The Industrial-Academic Cooperation Awards for Students was also held to commend the achievements of students who have excelled in field practice, capstone design projects, entrepreneurial training, and industrial-academic cooperation training. Both the demonstrations of award-winning works and awards ceremonies were live-streamed online, with the audience attending the ceremonies via a video-conference platform.The awards ceremony for students also featured the 2020 Cross Plus Review Contest, hosted by Cross Plus, a council of the seven universities participating in the Leaders in Industry-University Cooperation (LINC) Plus Project (Ajou University, Gangneung-Wonju National University, Keimyung University, University of Ulsan, Jeju National University, Korea National University of Transportation, and Honam University). The grand prize for the best review went to Yeom Seong-woo, a management major at Ajou. Yeom took part in a long-term field training program run by the human resources department at a company he had been interested in, and used his experience to land a job in the human resources division of another IT company.Park Hyung-ju, Ajou University president, commented in his welcoming address: “Industrial-academic cooperation, which simultaneously produces, transfers, and utilizes new knowledge, is now among the three central missions of universities.” He added: “Ajou has a proven record of facilitating the use of knowledge so created, particularly in the form of technology transfers and entrepreneurship.”“On behalf of Ajou,” Park went on, “Rest assured that we will do our best to build upon and enhance the University’s capabilities for industrial-academic cooperation, which is on full display throughout this year’s festa, all toward impacting society at large for good.”Park Hyung-ju, Ajou president (left) / Oh Yeong-tae, Exec. VP of Industry-Academia Cooperation (right)Connecting Star Awards for exemplary affiliated businesses (from left to right): IDP; Cell & Bio; Ajou President Park Hyung-ju; Gyeonggi Business and Science Accelerator (Bio-Center); SJ Global; and IPG Automotive Korea Limited.In his opening message, Ajou’s Vice President for Industry-Academia Cooperation, Oh Yeong-tae, characterized 2020 as “a year in which we made a variety of attempts across all areas of industrial-academic cooperation to overcome COVID-19.” He added: “It is my hope that this year’s festa will recognize and disseminate the achievements of our cooperation, and re-inspire all members of the Ajou Valley with hopes for a better future and continued cooperation.”The online exhibitions for the festa will remain open to the public, so that viewers can help spread word of the achievements of Ajou’s industrial-academic cooperation projects.List of honoreesConnecting Star Ajou Valley Awards[Exemplary Partners of Industrial-Academic Cooperation]Hope and Nest Cooperative Federation (Mun Sang-cheol, chair) / Edu-M (Namgung Yeon-su, CEO) / Kickstart Investment (Lee Jeong-hee, CEO)[Exemplary Affiliated Businesses]Novelty Nobility (Park Sang-gyu, CEO) / Suprema (Mun Yeong-su, CEO) / Cell & Bio (Lee Yong-woon, CEO) / IPG Automotive Korea Limited (Nam Chang-hun, CEO) / IDP (Ahn Mi-suk, CEO) / SJ Global (Jeon Hyang-hee, CEO) / Gyeonggi Business and Science Accelerator Biotechnology Center (Kim Pan-su, director)[Exemplary Faculty Contributors]Kim Byeong-ju (School of Business) / Kim Su-dong (Chief Professor of Bio and Healthcare ICC/ Graduate School of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutics) / Lee Joo-yeong (Chief Professor of Smart Energy ICC/Dept. of Industrial Engineering / Kim Yong-seong (Chief Professor of Chem-Bio Medicine ICC/Dept. of Applied Chemistry and Biological Engineering)[Exemplary Staff Contributor]Lee Eun-ho (Cooperative Center for Research Facilities)[Contactless Industrial-Academic Cooperation Contributors]Accounting Team (Office of General Affairs), for managing the Infectious Diseases Control Committee and helping to meet the indicators of industrial-academic cooperation / Academic Affairs Team (Office of Academic Affairs), for organizing emergency response to student affairs and on-campus industrial-academic cooperation training and helping to meet the indicators of industrial-academic cooperation.Industrial-Academic Cooperatioin Awards for Students[2020 Industrial-Academic Cooperation Review Awards]First place: Kim Ui-yeong / Second place: Lee Seul-gi and Baek Jong-seong / Third place: Park Min-ho and Choi Jeong-min[Field Training Review Contest]Grand Prize: Yeom Seong-woo / First place: Kim Tae-woo and Kim Hyeon-jin / Second place: Woo Su-min, Kim Hye-seon, and Park Gyu-ri / Third place: Kang Min-jeong, Lee So-hee, Park Ju-hyeon, Bae Ji-hun, Kim Yeong-hun, and Seo Je-hun[Cross Plus Field Training Review Contest] (for seven universities)Grand Prize: Yeom Seong-woo / Third place: Kim Hyeon-jin[Capstone Design Contest]Grand Prize: Ongjudeul (Park Sae-byeol, Kim Na-yeong, Kim Joo-hee, and Yu Ha-eun)First place: A2B2 (Jeong Jae-uk, Choi Jin-yeong, Ju Jae-rin, and Han Ji-eun)Second place: real kk (Choi Seong-woo, Kim Tae-yun, Seo Ji-yong, and Kim Do-hyeon) / Tto? Tto! (Yu Gyeong-dong, Yun Do-gyeong, and Kim Seo-jeong) / undefined (Lee Dong-geon, Han Dong-min, Park Sang-hyeok, Kim Yeon-gyo, and Kim Yong-min)Third place: Homekeepa (Mo Hyeon-min, Lee Eun-chang, Lee Si-eun, Kim Jae-hak, and Park Hyeon-min) / ROSCA (Choi Yeong-ho, Baek Seung-hun, Lee Ji-seon, Kim Min-ji, and Bae Min) / Seonghwang (Hwang Ye-dam and Heo Seong-beom) / board (Park Jun-su, Yun Hong-jun, and Lee Jin-yeong)[LINC+ Entrepreneurial Idea Contest – Curricular Category]Grand Prize: High Mill (Kim Hye-seon, Park Seo-yeon, and Lim Chan-ho)First place: Hygiene Innovation (Lee Do-hun) / Blooming (Kim Min-ju, Kang Ji-won, and Lee Jae-min)Second place: YESS (Lee Gyu-hyeong) / always (Yun Eun-jin, Kim Sang-hee, Park Do-yeong, Lee Su-hyeon, and Jang Se-bin) / Limit Function (Ahn Seung-yeon, Kim Sang-min, Park Hyeon-dong, Choi Min-yeong, and Choi Jun-yeong) Third place: SCTV (Baek Jong-seong, Kim Gyu-yeob, Kim Seong-min, Kim Yeong-su, and Kim Yeong-min) / Daesangbatja (Hong Seo-hyeon, Kim Hyeon-ah, Kim Tae-ho, Yu Hye-bin, and Lee Ga-yeong) / Anti-Disposable (Kang Da-hyeon)[LINC+ Entrepreneurial Idea Contest – Extracurricular Category]First place: Ajou Bb (Nam Chang-hyeon, Kim Su-ah, Kwon Ji-han, and Song Yeong-beom)Second place: Gureumunhyojo (Jeong Seon-hyo, Heo Ji-eon, and Park Si-woo) / Mirroring (Jeong Gwang-myeong, Lee Ga-yeon, Yu Yeong-jun, and Lee Seon-hong) / Gochujang (Yuk Se-hyeon and Yun Hyeon-jun)Visit online exhibitions ☞ lincplusfesta.ajou.ac.kr Watch demonstrations and awards ceremonies ☞https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6jVHPqk2OYAwards for Exemplary Partners of Industrial-Academic Cooperation (from left to right): Hope and Nest Cooperative Federation, Ajou President Park Hyung-ju, Kickstart Investment, Edu-M.Industrial-Academic Cooperation Exemplary Faculty Contributors (from left to right): Prof. Kim Yong-seong, Prof. Kim Su-dong, Ajou President Park Hyung-ju, Prof. Kim Byeong-ju, Prof. Lee Joo-yeon.
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Prof. Cho In-sun (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, pictured) and his team have discovered a higher-efficiency photocathode capable of producing hydrogen energy from sunlight. The team’s discovery is expected to lead to a variety of economic applications in areas of energy technology where photovoltaic hydrogen generation is needed, such as solar cells and fuel cells.The team’s study on the new photocathode, at least four times more efficient than existing technology, was published in the November issue of Nano Energy (IF = 16.602) and entitled, “High-performance bulky crystalline copper bismuthate photocathode for enhanced solar water splitting.” Listed as authors were Dr. Shin Seong-sik of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology; Seo Gab-kyung and Kim Bit-na, both first authors and currently enrolled in the master’s program at Ajou University; and Hwang Sung-won, a doctoral candidate at Ajou University.The depletion of fossil fuel resources and climate change have led to growing demand for sustainable energy, including solar water splitting technology that generates hydrogen for fuel from sunlight, all without carbon emissions. Researchers working in this field, however, have struggled until recently to improve the efficiency of that process to the extent required for commercialization. Interest has been growing in affordable photo-electrodes capable of absorbing sunlight with great efficiency to generate electric charges.Research on photo-electrode materials has so far been focused on photoanodes capable of generating oxygen from oxides. Interest in photocathodes capable of generating hydrogen directly from water splitting has been comparatively limited. Prof. Cho’s team, however, broke new ground by seizing on a crystalline copper bismuthate photocathode (CuBi₂O₄).Copper bismuthate is the optimal material for photocathodes as it is readily available on the surface of the earth and obtaining it exerts little environmental impact. It also boasts a conduction band conducive to water splitting, an extremely low band gap energy level (1.6 to 1.8 eV) and a high internal voltage (> 1V), raising the theoretically potential photocurrent level to as high as 29 mA/cm². In practice, however, it has been difficult to achieve that potential due to the inferior quality of the actual film that limits electric charge mobility.Prof. Cho’s team found a solution to this problem in the evaporation-decomposition-controlled (EDC) method for producing better-quality films. The EDC process, designed to produce affordable solutions, controls the speed at which the solvent evaporates in the pre-annealing process so as to regulate the density and speed of crystalline grain growth. This process helps produce a dense film consisting of large particles, which significantly improves the mobility of electric charges and doubles the amount of photocurrent obtained. Compared to conventional films produced by electrophoresis or spray-coating, the EDC method increases the film’s photocurrent efficiency fourfold.Prof. Cho’s team was able to demonstrate a high photocurrent density of 3.5 mA/cm2 under standard sunlight conditions by coupling the copper bismuthate photocathode with a copper oxide (CuO) nano-underlayer. The photocurrent density is the highest reported to date.Prof. Cho states: “We still need to further improve efficiency and stability and increase the film’s surface in order to make it viable on the market. We expect additional research will lead us to find ways to improve the productivity and economicity of solar water splitting.”He adds: “Our recent discovery can be expanded into a process for synthesizing various oxide semiconductor films, and may have useful applications in other areas of energy technology, including solar cells and fuel cells.”The study was undertaken with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea’s support program for experienced researchers.Diagram of the double-bound (CuBi₂O₄ and CuO) photocathode made with the EDC process구리 비스무스 산화물CuBi₂O₄구리산화물CuO투명전극Transparent electrode유리 기판Glass substrateEffect of the CuBi2O4 film made with the EDC process(a)산소기체수소기체백금전극CBO전극(a)Oxygen gasHydrogen gasPlatinum electrodeCBO electrodeEDC 공정 -> Bulky CBO기존 공정 -> 기공 + 불순물EDC process à Bulky CBOConventional process à Porous + polluted(b)광전류(b)Photocurrent(d)이종접합 전극기존 전극 기술x 4배(d)Double-bound electrodeConventional electrodex4
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