Publications by authors named "Tak H Kim"

Article Synopsis
  • Ascochyta blight is a significant issue for chickpea production worldwide, and controlling it typically involves fungicide use, which can impact crop quality.
  • Traditional diagnostic methods for detecting the Ascochyta rabiei pathogen require specialized equipment and trained personnel, making them time-consuming and complex.
  • A new rapid detection method using a molecular beacon probe has been developed, allowing for accurate pathogen detection in just 30 minutes and holding promise for future in-field applications despite being initially lab-based.
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Due to rapid urbanization, there have been continuous environmental threats from different pollutants, especially from microplastics. Plastic products rapidly proliferate significantly contributing to the occurrence of micro-plastics, which poses a significant environmental risk. These microplastics originated from diverse sources and are characterized by their persistent and widespread occurrence; human health and the entire ecosystem are adversely affected by them.

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Water electrolysis is among the recent alternatives for generating clean fuels (hydrogen). It is an efficient way to produce pure hydrogen at a rapid pace with no unwanted by-products. Effective and cheap water-splitting electrocatalysts with enhanced activity, specificity, and stability are currently widely studied.

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A wide array of environmental pollutants is often generated and released into the ecosystem from industrial and human activities. Antibiotics, phenolic compounds, hydroquinone, industrial dyes, and Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) are prevalent pollutants in water matrices. To promote environmental sustainability and minimize the impact of these pollutants, it is essential to eliminate such contaminants.

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In this work, lanthanum ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized via a simple co-precipitation method. Two different templates, namely sorbitol and mannitol, were used in this synthesis to tune the optical, structural, morphological, and photocatalytic properties of lanthanum ferrite. The synthesized lanthanum ferrite-sorbitol (LFOCo-So) and lanthanum ferrite-mannitol (LFOCo-Mo) were investigated through Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR), Raman, Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), and photoluminescence (PL) techniques to study the effects of the templates on the tunable properties of lanthanum ferrite nanoparticles.

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Although rapid industrialization has made life easier for humans, several associated issues are emerging and harming the environment. Wastewater is regarded as one of the key problems of the 21st century due to its massive production every year and requires immediate attention from all stakeholders to protect the environment. Since the introduction of nanotechnology, bismuth-based nanomaterials have been used in variety of applications.

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Persistent contaminants in wastewater effluent pose a significant threat to aquatic life and are one of the most significant environmental concerns of our time. Although there are a variety of traditional methods available in wastewater treatment, including adsorption, coagulation, flocculation, ion exchange, membrane filtration, co-precipitation and solvent extraction, none of these have been found to be significantly cost-effective in removing toxic pollutants from the water environment. The upfront costs of these treatment methods are extremely high, and they require the use of harmful synthetic chemicals.

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The unplanned anthropogenic activities and raced industrial revolution detrimentally causes serious threat to terrestrial and aquatic life. A high discharge of wastewater from industries using dyes affects living organisms and the environment. This paper presents studies on polycationic selenides (PCS) synthesized by hydrothermal methods for photocatalytic degradation of dyes.

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The challenges with scaffold profiling of cell-based assay includes accelerated cancer cell proliferation, induced scaffold toxicity, and identifying irrelevant cancer cell-based assays in batch assessments. This study investigates profiling carcinoma of breast cancer cells of MCF-7 model systems using silica nanoparticles scaffold sourced from synthetic materials and plant extracts. Herein, the engineered tissue scaffolds were used to create temporary structures for cancer cell attachments, differentiation, and subsequently to assess the metabolic activity of the cancer cell colonies.

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Nontoxic carbon nanoparticle samples prepared by both bottom-up and top-down approaches do not inhibit Gram-negative bacterial growth, indicating excellent biocompatibilities. However, cell growth inhibitory efficacies increase considerably when the carbon nanoparticles are conjugated with the antibiotic tetracycline. In tetracycline-resistant bacteria, these efficacies can approach tenfold higher activities when compared to tetracycline alone.

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Nanozymes are nanomaterials with intrinsic magnetism and superparamagnetic properties. In the presence of an external magnet, nanozyme particles aggregate and redisperse without a foreign attraction. We evaluated the performances of nanozyme by changing the biosensing platforms and substituting other biological variants for a complete cancer assay detection.

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We report carbon nanodots that can be utilized as effective color converting phosphors for the production of white light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Blue-excitable and yellow-emitting carbon nanodots, functionalized with 3-(imidazolidin-2-on-1-yl)propylmethyldimethoxysilane (IPMDS)-derived moieties (IS-CDs), are synthesized by a novel one-pot reaction in which the products from the initial reaction occurring between urea and 3-(2-aminoethylamino)propylmethyl-dimethoxysilane (AEPMDS) are further treated with citric acid. Distinctive from the majority of carbon nanodots reported previously, IS-CDs emit at 560 nm, under 460 nm excitation, with a quantum yield of 44%.

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Augmenting fluorescence intensity is of vital importance to the development of chemical and biochemical sensing, imaging and miniature light sources. Here we report an unprecedented fluorescence enhancement with a novel architecture of multilayer three-dimensional colloidal photonic crystals self-assembled from polystyrene spheres. The new technique uses a double heterostructure, which comprises a top and a bottom layer with a periodicity overlapping the excitation wavelength (E) of the emitters, and a middle layer with a periodicity matching the fluorescence wavelength (F) and a thickness that supports constructive interference for the excitation wavelength.

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Background: Lower face contouring surgery has become a popular aesthetic operation in most East Asian countries. Various surgical methods are used to improve lower face aesthetics. However, when a patient has both a short and a wide lower face, a chin-lengthening procedure should be performed simultaneously with narrowing genioplasty.

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Platinum nanoparticle has been supported on the tubular type titanium oxide using incipient wetness method employing H2PtCl6 as a precursor, where the loading was controlled to 4 wt%. The result of transmission electron micrographs of the sample showed the formation of Pt nanoparticles inside the tubule. The distribution of the particle size was found to be bimodal at ca.

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Nanostructured titanium oxides with various morphologies were prepared through the hydrothermal treatment of TiO2 anatase, using LiOH, NaOH and KOH as a peptizing agent at 400 K for 30 hrs. The obtained samples were characterized using the scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, BET measurement and the electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The observed morphologies such as tubule, partially plugged nanorod and polycrystalline nanoparticles can be tailored depending on the types of alkali metal ion, Na+, K+, and Li+ used in the hydrothermal treatments.

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As a potential adsorbent for humidity control, the mesoporous silica, SBA-15, with various pore sizes that was synthesized hydrothermally at different temperatures was examined by measuring the rate of water adsorption under ambient condition, 2.53 kPa H2O and 30 degrees C. The adsorption saturation quantity and the diffusion coefficient of water were changed consistently with the micropore fraction in SBA-15 obtained from the t-plot method.

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CO2 adsorption measurement at 273 K was employed to see if the porous material has either micropore or mesopore dominantly. The adsorption isotherm of CO2 on microporous solid such as zeolite A and Y was the typical Langmuir type while on SBA-15, silica gel and polymer, the adsorption isotherm was proportional to the applied pressure, following the Henry's law. Such distinctive difference between the adsorption isotherms provided the reasonable basis to discriminate the pore characteristics otherwise it was difficult to obtain it.

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Magnesium ion exchanged zeolite A was subject to the measurement of the temperature programmed desorption of NH3 to explore the possibility of the potential hydrogen carrier. The result suggested that the Mg supported NaA zeolite released a significant amount of ammonia corresponding to 1.4 Hwt% hydrogen at around 373 K.

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