Kyungwan Kim

Femtosecond x-ray laser pulses were used to probe micrometer-sized water droplets that were cooled down to 227 kelvin in vacuum. Isothermal compressibility and correlation length were extracted from x-ray scattering at the low-momentum transfer region. The temperature dependence of these thermodynamic response and correlation functions shows maxima at 229 kelvin for water and 233 kelvin for heavy water. In addition, we observed that the liquids undergo the fastest growth of tetrahedral structure

We prepared bulk samples of supercooled liquid water under pressure by isochoric heating of high-density amorphous ice to temperatures of 205 ± 10 kelvin, using an infrared femtosecond laser. Because the sample density is preserved during the ultrafast heating, we could estimate an initial internal pressure of 2.5 to 3.5 kilobar in the high-density liquid phase. After heating, the sample expanded rapidly, and we captured the resulting decompression process with femtosecond x-ray laser pulses at

Anthracene-based conjugated molecules are synthesized and J-aggregations are clearly observed in a single-crystal structure study. Single-crystal-based field-effect transistors (FETs) exhibit high field-effect mobility. They displayed dramatic photoinduced enhancement of the drain current and showed unusually high photoresponsivity under extremely low intensity light. Due to the photoinduced enhancement of excitons, single and multiple-stage memory operations are achieved.

We present a simple and up-scalable method to produce highly repaired graphene oxide with a large surface area, by introducing spherical multi-layered graphene balls with empty interiors. These graphene balls are prepared via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of Ni particles on the surface of the graphene oxides (GO). Transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy results reveal that defects in the GO surfaces are well repaired during the CVD process, with the help of nickel nanoparticles

Proteins serve as molecular machines in performing their biological functions, but the detailed structural transitions are difficult to observe in their native aqueous environments in real time. For example, despite extensive studies, the solution-phase structures of the intermediates along the allosteric pathways for the transitions between the relaxed (R) and tense (T) forms have been elusive. In this work, we employed picosecond X-ray solution scattering and novel structural analysis to track

Owing to its simplicity and low temperature conditions, magnesiothermic reduction of silica is one of the most powerful methods for producing silicon nanostructures. However, incomplete reduction takes place in this process leaving unconverted silica under the silicon layer. This phenomenon limits the use of this method for the rational design of silicon structures. In this effort, a technique that enables complete magnesiothermic reduction of silica to form silicon has been developed. The proce

New star-shaped crystalline molecules have been synthesized through Horner-Emmons reactions using hexyl-substituted thiophene-based carbaldehydes as dendrons and [1,2,4,5-tetra-(diethoxy-phosphorylmethyl)-benzyl]-phosphonic acid diethyl ester as the core units; these molecules have been fully characterized. Three thiophene-based star-shaped molecules exhibit good solubility in common organic solvents and good self-film-forming properties. They are intrinsically crystalline as they exhibit well-d

Ionic species often play important roles in chemical reactions occurring in water and other solvents, but it has been elusive to determine the solvent-dependent molecular structure with atomic resolution. The triiodide ion has a molecular structure that sensitively changes depending on the type of solvent and its symmetry can be broken by strong solute-solvent interaction. Here, by applying pump-probe x-ray solution scattering, we characterize the exact molecular structure of I(3)(-) ion in wate

Here we report structural dynamics of equine myoglobin (Mb) in response to the CO photodissociation visualized by picosecond time-resolved X-ray solution scattering. The data clearly reveal new structural dynamics that occur in the timescale of ∼360 picoseconds (ps) and ∼9 nanoseconds (ns), which have not been clearly detected in previous studies.

Time-resolved X-ray solution scattering is sensitive to global molecular structure and can track the dynamics of chemical reactions. In this article, we review our recent studies on triiodide ion (I3 (-)) and molecular iodine (I2) in solution. For I3 (-), we elucidated the excitation wavelength-dependent photochemistry and the solvent-dependent ground-state structure. For I2, by combining time-slicing scheme and deconvolution data analysis, we mapped out the progression of geminate recombination

β-Ga₂O₃Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were demonstrated with Ni Schottky contact deposited by the confined magnetic field-based sputtering (CMFS) method.

Nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) have a significant influence on the hydrogen bonds in water and aqueous solutions and have thus been the topic of extensive studies. However, the microscopic origin and the corresponding temperature dependence of NQEs have been elusive and still remain the subject of ongoing discussion. Previous x-ray scattering investigations indicate that NQEs on the structure of water exhibit significant temperature dependence [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 047801 (2005)PRLTAO0031-900710

have raised several issues regarding our recent paper on maxima in thermodynamic response and correlation functions in deeply supercooled water. We show that these issues can be addressed without affecting the conclusion of the paper.