국립 부경대학교

PKNU establishes a research base for technology to control 'exciton', a future material

Professor Kim Joo-Hyun

Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) announced that it was selected for the key research institutes for universities support project in the science and engineering field in 2022, which is a project to establish a university research base by the Ministry of Education.

The key research institutes for universities support project is a large-scale national project that induces the characterization and specialization of university research institutes through infrastructure support for university-affiliated research institutes in the science and engineering field.

Pukyong National University Institute of energy transport and fusion research (Director Kim Joo-Hyun, professor, major of polymer engineering, in the photo) was finally selected for this project and will receive 8 billion won from this month to 2031 to build a base research center that leads the high-tech industry.

By being selected for this project, the research institute plans to establish a technology that can control excitons (quasiparticles), which is the basis of a system that converts and stores next-generation energy, and implements future materials and devices using it.

Excitons are quasiparticles made in insulators or semiconductor materials. Because these particles are electrically neutral, they are attracting attention as a next-generation semiconductor or optical communication device that is faster and does not generate heat compared to electrons, however, there is a limitation in that particles are easily lost, so research to overcome this problem is active.

Accordingly, Pukyong National University Institute of energy transport and fusion research plans to operate a convergence research system by forming a material development team (prof. Kim Joo-Hyun, Jang Jae-Won, Kim Hyun-Sung), a material property analysis team (prof. Park Sung-Heum, Lee Bo-Ram), and a device application team (prof. Park Sung-Heum, Lee Bo-Ram, Kim Jeong-Hwan, Ko Min-Sung, Kim Joo-Hyun).

In addition, the research institute is planning to operate an industry-academic cooperation and international collaboration team for collaboration with overseas experts, and to spread the results to related companies in the region by collaborating with Busan metropolitan city.

Professor Kim Joo-Hyun, who oversees the project, said, "Through this project, we will develop the Institute of energy transport and fusion research into a hub research center in Busan by discovering and nurturing excellent young talent through specialization and specialization in the exciton-based next-generation semiconductor field."

For the successful operation of this project, Pukyong National University will provide financial infrastructure to nurture human resources and strengthen research capabilities, while Busan metropolitan city will provide financial and administrative support to secure regional bases for the research center.