Originally,the term“Sherpa”denoted ahill-tribe of Tibetan descent,but it has since become synonymous with guides on Mount Everest,the world’s highest and most rugged mountain.Much like these Sherpas,research into the demanding task of developing catalysts for hydrogen production is making substantial progress and has earned recognition as the featured cover article in aprominent international journal.Professor Yong-Tae Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Graduate Institute of Ferrous&Eco Materials Technology,and Kyu-Su Kim,a doctoral student from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology(POSTECH),collaborated on aresearch project that offers apromising direction for the future development of catalysts for water electrolysis*1.Their study has garnered considerable academic attention and was showcased as the cover article in ACS Catalysis,an international journal in the field of chemistry.Water electrolysis,a method for producing hydrogen from the abundant resource of water,emerges as an environmentally friendly technology that produces no carbon dioxide emissions.However,this process faces limitations due to its reliance on precious metal catalysts such as iridium(Ir),rendering it economically unfeasible.Researchers are actively exploring the development of catalysts in the form of metal alloys to address this challenge.In the field of water electrolysis catalysis research,the primary catalysts under scrutiny are iridium,ruthenium(Ru),and osmium(Os).Iridium,despite its high stability,exhibits low activity and comes at asteep price.Conversely,ruthenium displays commendable activity and is amore cost-effective option compared to iridium,although it lacks the same level of stability.Osmium,on the other hand,readily dissolves under various electrochemical conditions,leading to the formation of nanostructures with an expanded electrochemical active surface area,thereby enhancing geometrical activity.Initially,the research team developed catalysts using both iridium and ruthenium.By combining these metals,they successfully preserved the excellent attributes of each,resulting in catalysts that demonstrated improvements in both activity and stability.Catalysts incorporating osmium exhibited high activity due to the expanded electrochemical active surface area achieved through nanostructure formation.These catalysts retained the advantageous properties of iridium and ruthenium.Subsequently,the team expanded their experimentation to include all three metals.The results showed amoderate increase in activity,but the dissolution of osmium had adetrimental effect,significantly compromising the structural integrity of iridium and ruthenium.In this series,the agglomeration and corrosion of nanostructures were accelerated,leading to adecline in the balance of catalytic performance.Based on these findings,the research team has proposed several avenues for further catalyst research.First and foremost,they stress the need for ametric that can simultaneously evaluate both activity and stability.This metric,known as the activity-stability factor,was initially introduced by Kim’s research group in an international journal in 2017.Additionally,the team advocates for the retention of superior catalyst properties even after the formation of nanostructures,in order to enhance the electrochemical active surface area of the electrocatalyst.They also highlight the importance of carefully selecting candidate materials that can effectively synergize when alloyed with other metals.The essence of this study lies not in presenting specific outcomes like the development of new catalysts,but rather in offering essential considerations for catalyst design. 查看详细>>

Professor Gil-Ho Lee from the Department of Physics at POSTECH was recently commended with the Prime Minister’s Award at the 2023 Science and ICT Day Ceremony on May 2,2023.Professor Lee was honored with the award for his world-leading research on hybrid quantum devices and for nurturing future experts of quantum technologies in Korea and advancing basic and applied research.Having earned his bachelor’s,master’s,and PhD degrees from POSTECH,Professor Lee joined its faculty in 2017 and has been teaching the next generation of scientists at POSTECH.The Prime Minister’s Award is presented to those who have contributed to the advancement of science and technology at the national level and raising the prestige of scientists and engineers in Korea.Also at the ceremony,POSTECH professor Hyoung Seop Kim(Graduate Institute of Ferrous&Energy Materials Technology,and Department of Materials Science and Engineering)was honored with the Hyeoksin Medal of the Order of Science and Technology Merit. 查看详细>>

Do you hate the camera bumps on the back of your smartphone?A new optical component called metalens–which was named one of the top 10 future technologies by the World Economic Forum in 2019–may be the answer.Composed of ananostructured array,this incredibly thin and lightweight optical device is currently the focus of much attention in the scientific community,even featured in aspecial issue of Nature Photonics.However,the production of metalenses requires highly precise techniques and can be expensive,posing achallenge for their scalable manufacturing.In agroundbreaking achievement,a team of researchers from POSTECH led by Professor Junsuk Rho(Department of Mechanical Engineering,Department of Chemical Engineering)has successfully mass-produced metalenses for visible light,the first in the world to do so.The team also included PhD candidates Joohoon Kim and Junhwa Seong,(Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH),as well as Professor Heon Lee and Wonjoong Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Korea University,and Dr.Gyoseon Jeon and Dr.Dong Hyun Yoon from the Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology(RIST).The findings from their study were recently published in Nature Materials.The team overcame the limitations of the fabrication process by combining two techniques used in semiconductor and display manufacturing:Photolithography uses light to pattern asubstrate,similar to taking aphotography,while nanoimprint lithography involves using astamp with nano-sized patterns to print patterns onto asubstrate.The researchers first created asingle pattern using electron beam lithography,then replicated the pattern using deep-ultraviolet ArF photolithography to create 12-inch master stamp.Using the stamp and nanoimprint lithography,they were able to successfully produce metalenses with a1 cm diameter at ahigh speed.Conventional nanoscale structures based on nanoimprint technology had low refractive indices,resulting in very low efficiencies of around 10 percent,requiring significant costs to improve their efficiency.The research team succeeded in improving the efficiency of the lens up to 90 percent by coating the lens with avery thin layer of titanium dioxide(TiO2)of about 20 nanometers.By combining the two technologies,the team was able to mass-produce high-performance metalenses with asimple process.The team also demonstrated the practicality of metalenses by creating lightweight virtual reality(VR)devices capable of displaying images in red,green,and blue.The study takes astep closer to commercializing metalenses through the synergy of the two existing technologies and has been selected as the inaugural project of the POSCO-POSTECH-RIST Convergence Research Institute,funded by POSCO.The success of the mass production of metalenses is anticipated to accelerate their commercialization and provide asignificant opportunity for POSCO’s transformation from asteel manufacturer to afuture-oriented material company.In response to the success of the research,Professor Junsuk Rho,the lead researcher,shared his thoughts on the achievement:“This study demonstrates the possibility of taking meta-material research,which has been in the research stage for 20 years without commercialization,to the industrial stage and making it applicable in real life.The significance of this achievement lies in the fact that we have succeeded in mass-producing metalenses for visible light on awafer scale,which is the most advanced technology in the world.”This study was financially supported by POSCO,the Samsung Research Funding&Incubation Center for Future Technology,the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF). 查看详细>>

Semiconductors are indispensable products in our lives,used in everything from smartphones and computers to vehicles.However,their development increasingly poses aproblem:as semiconductors improve in terms of function and production volume,the cost to the environment also increases.The greenhouse gases and waste which inevitably arise from the semiconductor manufacturing process have been raised as serious environmental issues,and in the face of the climate crisis,the academic and industrial communities are struggling to cope with them.A research team led by Professor Yong-Young Noh and Dr.Ao Liu in the Department of Chemical Engineering at POSTECH has successfully developed high-performance n-type semiconductor of Bi2S3 and p-type Te semiconductor through asimple thermal evaporation process.This technique has attracted attention in that they can be grown over alarge area using the thermal evaporating process which is used to manufacture the 8th generation large area OLED(2200 × 2500 mm),in driver circuits of OLED displays,and avariety of semiconductor circuits since it is inexpensive and environmentally friendly.Metal oxide/polycrystalline silicon(LTPO)currently has the advantage of longer battery life for mobile devices due to its low power consumption,but requires ahighly costly and complicated manufacturing process.To meet the growing demands for environmental,social,and governance(ESG)management,a great deal of research has been conducted to develop amore simple and environmentally friendly semiconductor manufacturing process by reducing energy consumption.Professor Noh’s team decided to use atwo-dimensional material,a transition metal chalcogen,which is similar to graphene.Chalcogen refers to sulfur,selenium,and tellurium,which—excluding oxygen—constitute Group 16 on the periodic table of elements.Compounds made of these transition metals have the properties of both conductors and semiconductors.Instead of the conventional solution process,the research team used Bi2S3 to manufacture the thin film of the semiconductor through athermal evaporation process in which the material is thermally evaporated in ahigh vacuum and the resulting steam is attached to the board.This process where the quantity of electric charge can be controlled through asimple thermal treatment and semiconductors and conductors can be discretionally manufactured without doping is considered acore proprietary technology of this research.The research team achieved ahigh-performance n-type thin film transistor based on this process and also successfully developed aTe high-performance p-type semiconductor in the same way.In addition,if this transistor and electronic circuit manufacturing process are added in the standard manufacturing process for OLEDs,they may be manufactured through asingle-step process.This method will contribute to significantly lowering the high cost of manufacturing OLEDs,which is currently considered one of the disadvantages of the technology.The budget and manufacturing cost required for the process can also be reduced since the thermal evaporation equipment currently in use for OLEDs may be utilized without new equipment for this process.Professor Noh who led the research explained,“The Bi2S3 and Te used for this research are very attractive materials that can be transitioned from conductors into semiconductors through asimple thermal treatment.This research was successful in realizing wafer-scale n-type and p-type transistors and the complementary inverter circuit constructed in combination of the two types of transistors through asimple thermal evaporation process,rather than through acostly MOCVD.”He added,“This research will lead to avariety of additional studies using chalcogen semiconductor devices and commercialization of the related technology.”He also explained his plan,saying“Based on this technology,we are expanding this research into memory devices and neuromorphic devices.”The study,published in Nature Communications,was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea and Samsung Display Corporation. 查看详细>>

Dr.Young Dae Yoon of Pohang Accelerator Laboratory(PAL)has won the Young Researcher Award from the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies(AAPPS)in the Division of Plasma Physics.He is the only Korean among the scientists selected for the award this year.This award is given to the scientist in the Asia Pacific region who has conducted outstanding research in the field of plasma physics.There are two categories of below 30 age group and below 40 age group.Recognized for his research accomplishments,Dr.Yoon has been selected as one of the six winners in the under 30 group.Dr.Yoon completed his PhD degree at California Institute of Technology(Caltech)and is currently working as apost-doc fellow at the PAL.His research focuses on two main areas,including high-temperature magnetized plasma related to nuclear fusion and astronomical physics,and electron beam instability related to accelerator physics.In his recent collaboration with POSTECH professor Gunsu Yoon(Department of Physics and Division of Advanced Nuclear Engineering),Dr.Yoon verified the process of non-collision equilibration of current sheets and explained the origin of diverged current sheets to solve along-standing problem in plasma physics,causing quite astir in academic circles.This study has attracted attention for compiling analytical theories,particle simulation using the KAIROS super computer from the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy(KFE),and the MMS satellite data from NASA.Thanks to his prolific research and recognized internationally,Dr.Yoon has published 12 papers over five years in authoritative academic journals such as Nature Communications,and was twice invited to present at the American Physical Society.He was previously the recipient of the POSCO Science Fellowship(2022)from the POSCO TJ Park Foundation and the POSTECH PIURI Postdoctoral Fellowship(2021).The Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies(AAPPS)has been awarding the Young Researcher Award to scholars under the age of 30 and under 40 who have been active in the field of plasma physics since 2018 by comprehensively evaluating the research accomplishments of the candidates.The award is recognized for its authority as it plays apivotal role in discovering talented plasma physicists and the award ceremony will be held at the 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Plasma Physics taking place this month. 查看详细>>

Stepping stones are placed to help travelers to cross streams.As long as there are stepping stones that connect the both sides of the water,one can easily get across with just afew steps.Using the same principal,a research team at POSTECH has developed technology that cuts the power consumption in semiconductor devices in half by placing stepping stones.A research team led by Professor Junwoo Son and Dr.Minguk Cho(Department of Materials Science and Engineering)at POSTECH has succeeded in maximizing the switching efficiency of oxide semiconductor devices by inserting platinum nanoparticles.The findings from the study were recently published in the international journal Nature Communications.The oxide material with the metal-insulator phase transition*1,in which the phase of amaterial rapidly changes from an insulator to ametal when the threshold voltage is reached,is spotlighted as akey material for fabricating low-power semiconductor devices.The metal–insulator phase transition occurs when insulator domains,several nanometer(nm,billionth of ameter)units big,are transformed into metal domains.The key was to reduce the magnitude of the voltage applied to the device to increase the switching efficiency of asemiconductor device.The research team succeeded in increasing the switching efficiency of the device by using platinum nanoparticles.When voltage was applied to adevice,an electric current“skipped”through these particles and arapid phase transition occurred.The memory effect*2 of the device also increased by more than amillion times.In general,after the voltage is cut off,it immediately changes to the insulator phase where no current flows;this duration was extremely short at 1millionth of asecond.However,it was confirmed that the memory effect of remembering the previous firing of the devices can be increased to several seconds,and the device could be operated again with relatively low voltage owing to the residual metallic domains remaining near the platinum nanoparticles.This technology is anticipated to be essential for the development of next-generation electronic devices,such as intelligent semiconductors or neuromorphic semiconductor devices that can process vast amounts of data with less power.This study was conducted with the support from the Basic Science Research Program,Mid-career Researcher Program,and the Next-generation Intelligence Semiconductor Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea. 查看详细>>

Korea’s first Apple Developer Academy held its first class online on March 14.The Apple Developer Academy is an education program for developers in the making.The nine-month course will be conducted online to start,with in-person classes at POSTECH at alater date.On the first day of classes,both the students and the mentors showed much enthusiasm and strong engagement.The Apple Developer Academy–designed to provide computer science education and startup opportunities to the aspiring entrepreneurs,developers,and designers–will run five days aweek for nine months.The curriculum covers arange of courses including Coding,Design,App Business&Marketing,Professional Skills and Process to deliver amulti-disciplinary framework to equip students with the skills and experience they need to bring their ideas to life.Apple Developer Academy and POSTECH selected 200 students across the country to participate in the free program.The class of 2022 are atalented group of students with much personality,passion,and potential.“We’re thrilled to partner with Pohang University of Science and Technology to open Korea’s first Apple Developer Academy,and to support Korea’s next generation of developers and entrepreneurs”said Gordon Shukwit,the director of Apple Developer Academy.“The App Store ecosystem is an engine for creativity and economic development,and we can’t wait to see how the 200 students in the first Academy class use their skills to build new businesses and create apps that change the world.”“I was thinking about my career path while pursuing my major in life sciences and became interested in Apple’s operating system iOS;but Inoticed abig gap between the classes offered at school and the actual development work,”explained Jikyung Kim,a student enrolled in the Apple Developer Academy.“Apple’s education curriculum is what Ineed but what Iam looking forward to is growing together through collaborating with other students from different backgrounds.”Inseop Kim,who worked as aguitarist and sound engineer,said that he joined the developer academy to find anew way to express through app development.“I got the courage to apply after seeing an interview of aparticipant at the developer academy in Brazil who was aband musician.”He added,“It is exciting that this program allows adiverse group of people to create synergy and new values with their own ideas.”“POSTECH is thrilled to safely hold the first class of Korea’s first Apple Developer Academy,despite an ongoing pandemic,in partnership with Apple,a leading global company,”remarked President Moo Hwan Kim of POSTECH.“We will do our best to support these 200 exceptional individuals–full of potential–in their course of learning over the nine months so that they can grow into leaders who can contribute to the advancement of their communities and the nation.”There are more than adozen Apple Developer Academy sites around the world,including Detroit(US)and Italy.The first of its kind in Korea has opened at POSTECH.On average,graduates from the Apple Developer Academies receive 3job offers after completing the course and have launched more than 1,500 apps in the App store and founded 160 new companies in total.Korea has athriving iOS app economy,which supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.Launching an Apple Developer Academy builds on Apple’s partnership with Korea and is expected to create more jobs and startups across the country. 查看详细>>

The rapid advancement of science and technology have pushed the boundaries to the point where naturally occurring materials are insufficient in providing the scientists with the tools for cutting-edge development.Metamaterials,as the name implies,are materials engineered to have properties not found in nature.These remarkable properties,such as negative refractive index and artificial magnetism,are crucial in enabling scientists to perform research at alevel and detail never before thought possible.Plasmonic metamaterial is an extraordinary metamaterial that uses surface plasmons to exhibit negative real permittivity.In other words,they have optical properties that differ from and are often opposite to those of glass or air.However,the fabrication of such complex nanostructures requires difficult and expensive top-down processes,such as multiple e-beam lithography,and consequently,are practically impossible at alarge-scale.Collaborative research conducted by Professors Jin Kon Kim(NCRI Center for Block Copolymer Self-Assembly)and Junsuk Rho from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology has successfully demonstrated an elegant and efficient process for the large-scale fabrication of sophisticated nanostructures that could be applied to develop metamaterials with unique optical properties.This achievement was published in the world-renowned Nature Publishing Group’s NPG Asia Materials.The research team used aversatile and scalable process known as block copolymer(BCP)self-assembly to fabricate ahigh-density array of 3D nanostructures of plasmonic silver nanorods by confining lamellar nanodomains inside cylindrical anodized aluminum oxide(AAO)pores.In other words,the team used BCP self-assembly with an AAO template to create ananostructure composed of vertically stacked‘accordion like’nanorods with alternating layers of plasmonic silver and PMMA over alarge area.The lamellar structure allows for multiple resonances in the visible and near-infrared spectrums that could be used for multi-analyte detection.This achievement is made even more noteworthy because the innovative process could be applied to large-scale metamaterial fabrication.Professors Kim and Rho expressed their anticipation that this novel process will be the key to overcoming aconundrum of metamaterials research and enable the cost-effective fabrication of metamaterials for multi-analyte sensing,imaging,and even invisibility.The National Creative Research Initiative Program and the National Research Foundation of Korea supported this research. 查看详细>>

Keysight Technologies,an industry leader in electronic measurement equipment,will establish its first joint research laboratory in Korea in conjunction with POSTECH.POSTECH Information Research Laboratories(PIRL)and Keysight Technologies Korea recently signed aMemorandum of Understanding for educational and research cooperation in the fields of 5G,B5G,and IoT.Under this MOU,Keysight will share its expertise with the top-notch minds at PIRL to not only nurture leaders in the respective fields but also to contribute to progressive advancements in 5G,B5G,and IoT.Furthermore,the establishment of the joint research laboratory will facilitate close cooperation and sustainable collaborative research between the two institutions.It is anticipated that this partnership will enable PIRL to become the preeminent research hub in the field.Professor Young-Joo Suh,the Director of PIRL,expressed his enthusiasm and said,“It is truly apleasure to have the PIRL-Keysight Joint Research Center established at POSTECH.”He also stated that PIRL will work towards establishing the best educational and research infrastructure in Korea.Jun-Ho Choi,the CEO of Keysight Technologies Korea,said,“I truly hope that this MOU will contribute to technological advancements in the field of 5G and IoT,as well as help enhance POSTECH students’practical research skills and capacity.”He also expressed his desire to cooperate and said,“Through joint research with POSTECH,we hope to develop great technologies and become one of the leading corporations in the field of 5G and IoT.” 查看详细>>

We live in ahyper-connected world where science and technology evolve at an exponential rate,and military science and technology,including the development of advanced equipment,are not exempt from this trend:National security is directly correlated with technological advances.To bolster Korea’s national defense capacity and better serve its populace,POSTECH and the Agency for Defense Development(ADD)have signed acooperative agreement for the advancement of military science and technology.The primary aim of this agreement is to nurture talented individuals in the respective field and foster the active exchange of resources between the institutions.POSTECH and ADD will also promote academic exchanges and carry out collaborative research to realize this vision.President Doh-Yeon Kim expressed his great anticipation and said,“It is my genuine desire that through this cooperative agreement with ADD,the outstanding research achievements and talented individuals of POSTECH will form asolid bedrock for Korea’s national security.”He also reaffirmed POSTECH’s passionate drive and said,“We will fully support the advancement of Korea’s technological resources through world-class collaborative output with ADD.”President Sae-Kyu Nam(ADD)said,“The power to drive advancements in national security lies in the hands of innovative scientists.”He added,“This cooperative agreement will become the all-important cornerstone of aself-reliant and independent national defense program.” 查看详细>>