Students Kim Min Soo and Lee Jung Hoon from the Department of Nano & Electronic Physics at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul) published a paper titled ‘A Study on Hollow Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Long-Term Cycling’ in the SCI journal MDPI Materials.

MDPI Materials is an international journal publishing papers in materials science and its applications. In this paper, students Kim Min Soo and Lee Jung Hoon focused their research on enhancing the long-term charge-discharge stability of secondary battery anode materials by utilizing the structural characteristics of hollow mesoporous silica.

Secondary battery cathode active materials are a core component determining the stable operation of portable electronic devices and electrochemical energy storage devices. They are the key material that accepts and stores lithium ions during charging and releases them again during discharge to supply power. Such cathode active materials require both high energy density and excellent structural stability and electrochemical reliability during long-term charge-discharge cycles. Silicon and silica-based cathodes, while offering high theoretical capacity, exhibit unstable characteristics regarding Coulombic efficiency and long-term cycling due to volume expansion and structural instability during charge-discharge cycles. Therefore, this study utilized hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles, previously researched as drug delivery materials, applying their structural characteristics as an anode active material. It confirmed that this approach provides excellent Coulombic efficiency and stable cycle performance eve

Professor Shim In Bo of the Department of Nano & Electronic Physics at Kookmin University, who supervised the research, stated, “To overcome the new risks to higher education posed by the proliferation of generative AI, a system is needed that integrates real-world problem-solving and research experience into the formal curriculum.” “This achievement demonstrates that even undergraduates with limited field experience can proactively explore areas beyond the curriculum and produce outstanding research results by utilizing the UROP, a formalized field experience education system,” he remarked. “I am very pleased that the academic passion and efforts of the two undergraduate research students who participated in this research have led to such excellent outcomes.”

Kim Min Soo shared his future plans, stating, “As an undergraduate research student, I am delighted to have had the meaningful experience of conducting experiments directly in the lab and writing a paper. Based on my interest in next-generation batteries, I wish to continue related research going forward.” Student Lee Jung Hoon also shared his thoughts, stating, “Participating as an undergraduate research student provided me with an unexpectedly valuable opportunity,” and “I sincerely thank the professor and the university for their active support in enabling my participation in this program.”

Meanwhile, this research was conducted with support from the Next-Generation Communications Business Group (Director: Professor Park Jun Seok) of the Advanced Innovation Convergence College and the UROP program of the Kookmin University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation.