• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.303-311
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• 2019

Reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC) has become a prospective device for energy storage and hydrogen production. Many studies have been conducted around the world focusing on system efficiency improvement and realization. The system should have not only high efficiency but also a certain level of simplicity for stable operation. External waste steam utilization was proved to remarkably increase the efficiency at solid oxide electrolysis system. In this study, RSOFC system coupled with waste steam was proposed and optimized in term of simplicity and efficiency. Ejector for fuel recirculation is selected due to its simple design and high stability. Three system configurations using ejector for fuel recirculation were investigated for performance of design condition. In parametric study, the system efficiencies at different current density were analyzed. The system configurations were simulated using validated lumped model in EBSILON(R) program. The system components, balance of plants, were designed to work in both electrolysis and fuel cell modes, and their off-design characteristics were taken into account. The base case calculation shows that, the system with suction pump results in slightly lower efficiency but stack can be operated more stable with same inlet pressure of fuel and air electrode.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.320-325
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• 2013

TUnitized reversible fuel cells (URFC) combine the functionality of a fuel cell and electrolyzer in one unitized device. For a URFC with proton exchange membrane, a titanium (Ti)-felt is applied to the gas diffusion layer (GDL) substrate at the oxygen electrode, and additionally titanium (Ti)-powders and TiN-powders are loaded in the GDL substrate as a micro porous layer (MPL). Double porous layer with TiN MPL was not acceptable for the URFC because both of fuel cell performance and electrolysis performance are degraded. The double porous layer with Ti-powder loading in the Ti-felt substrate influence rearly for the electrolysis performance. In contrast, the change of pore-size distribution brings a significant improvement of fuel cell performance under fully humidification conditions. This fact indicates that the hydrophobic meso-pores in the GDL play an important role for mass transport.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.345-351
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• 2024

The unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) is a method that can reduce costs and increase system simplification by unitizing a fuel cell system and a water electrolysis system. The spray method is suitable as the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) manufacturing method for URFC because it is easy to control the amount of catalyst, the size of the system is small, and economical manufacturing is possible. In this study, a numerical analysis of the effect of solution concentration on the spray method was performed to use it as basic data for the spray method to be used in MEA manufacturing. As result, as the Nafion solution concentration decreases it was found that the spray speed and the mass flow rate and the discrete phase model concentration increases and the spray range widens.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2019

Reversible solid oxide fuel cell (ReSOC) system was integrated with waste steam for electrical energy storage in distributed energy storage application. Waste steam was utilized as external heat in SOEC mode for higher hydrogen production efficiency. Three system configurations were analyzed to evaluate techno-economic performance. The first system is a simple configuration to minimize the cost of balance of plant. The second system is the more complicated configuration with heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The third system is featured with HRSG and fuel recirculation by blower. Lumped models were used for system performance analyses. The ReSOC stack was characterized by applying area specific resistance value at fixed operating pressure and temperature. In economical assessment, the levelized costs of energy storage (LCOS) were calculated for three system configurations based on capital investment. The system lifetime was assumed 20 years with ReSOC stack replaced every 5 years, inflation rate of 2%, and capacity factor of 80%. The results showed that the exergy round-trip efficiency of system 1, 2, 3 were 47.9%, 48.8%, and 52.8% respectively. The high round-trip efficiency of third system compared to others is attributed to the remarkable reduction in steam requirement and hydrogen compression power owning to fuel recirculation. The result from economic calculation showed that the LCOS values of system 1, 2, 3 were 3.46 ¢/kWh, 3.43 ¢/kWh, and 3.14 ¢/kWh, respectively. Even though the systems 2 and 3 have expensive HRSG, they showed higher round-trip efficiencies and significant reduction in boiler and hydrogen compressor cost.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.201.2-201.2
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• 2015

현대 디지털 사회에서 고효율 에너지와 파워소스에 관한 요구가 커짐에 따라 차세대 에너지 저장 소자에 대한 연구가 계속되고 있다. 그 중 리튬이온 배터리, 슈퍼커패시터, 그리고 연료 전지들이 우리의 일상생활에서 점점 더 중요하게 자리잡아가고 있는데 이런 다양한 에너지 저장소자 중 슈퍼커패시터가 많은 관심을 받고 있다. 이는 긴 수명, 빠른 충-방전 속도, 높은 에너지 밀도, 그리고 안전함 때문이다. 슈퍼커패시터는 에너지 저장 메커니즘에 따라 두 가지로 분류될 수 있는데 전기이중층 커패시터(EDLC)와 슈도커패시터(pseudocapacitor)로 나누어질 수 있다. 슈도커패시터는 active 물질과 전해질 이온 간의 전기화학적 반응으로 인해 EDLC보다 더 많은 에너지를 저장할 수 있다. 그러므로 지금까지 새로운 형태의 슈도용량성 물질을 만들기 위한 노력이 집중되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 전기화학적증착 방법을 통해 graphene-like ${\beta}$-nickel hydroxide (${\beta}-Ni(OH)_2$) 나노판 구조를 전도성 직물에 합성하였다. ${\beta}-Ni(OH)_2$ 슈도커패시터의 유연하고 효율적인 비용의 전극으로서 높은 비정전용량, 우수한 전기화학 가역성, 그리고 뛰어난 사이클 안정성을 보였다. 이런 쉬운 방법으로 유연한 전도성 직물에 합성된 metal hydroxide/oxide 나노구조는 웨어러블 에너지 저장소자와 변환소자 분야에 사용될 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.533-539
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• 2010

Ni-YSZ supported button cells were prepared by spray-coating YSZ and screen-printing YSZ-LSM powder as an electrolyte and oxygen electrode on Ni-YSZ cermet disks. In order to identify the polarization loss mechanism in high temperature electrolysis current-voltage characteristics coupled with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were investigated as a function of temperature, current load, and the humidity. The effects of the different current collectors of platinum and silver for oxygen electrodes were compared. With Ag current collector two polarization losses were distinguished. The high frequency component was attributed to the Ni-YSZ cermet which was less susceptible to temperature variation but increasing in loss with humidity. The lower frequency component was attributed to the LSM electrode. Platinum current collector led to a much lower polarization loss.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.28-28
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• 2018

수전해(electrochemical water splitting)는 연료전지의 가역적 역반응을 이용하여 물로부터 수소와 산소를 발생시키는 기술이다. 산소는 음극에서 발생하는데, 이 때 음극 표면은 고농도의 산소 음이온 및 라디칼에 장시간 노출된다. 때문에 기계적, 화학적 내구성이 우수한 전극재를 사용할 필요가 있다. 불용성 전극 (dimensionally stable anode, DSA)은 이러한 기술적 요구사항을 잘 만족하는 상용화 된 전극이다. 티타늄이나 티타늄 합금 표면에 촉매를 미량 반복 살포하여 산화물 형태의 매우 견고한 표면을 형성함으로서 내구성을 확보한다. 그러나, 보통 DSA 제조 기법의 특징에 따라 다공성 표면 구조를 사용하지는 않기 때문에 생산 과정이 복잡하고 비용이 많이 발생하는 문제를 여전히 나타내고 있다. 본 연구는 상기 문제를 개선하기 위한 수전해용 음극 제조 기술에 관한 연구이다. 티타늄과 티타늄 합금은 동일한 양극산화 기술 적용이 가능하다는 점을 이용하여 티타늄 기판으로부터 다공성 구조를 형성함으로써 바인더의 사용을 배제하였다. 단일공정양극산화기법 (single-step anodization)을 이용하여 $IrO_2$와 $RuO_2$를 도핑함으로써 TiO2에 촉매능을 부여하였다. 제조된 나노튜브들의 구조적 특징을 HR-TEM (High-resolution transmission electron microscope)과 FE-SEM (Field-emission scanning electron microscope)으로 분석하고 SAED (selective area electron diffraction) 패턴을 분석하여 전극재의 결정성을 확인하였다. 알칼라인 분위기에서 일으킨 산소발생반응 (oxygen evolution reaction, OER)의 LSV (linear sweep voltammetry) 결과를 XPS (X-ray photoelectron microscoscopy) 결과와 연관지어 촉매 표면 구조와 과전압의 관계를 해석하였다. LSV 결과로부터 Tafel 분석을 연달아 수행함으로써 전극의 속도결정단계를 정의하였다. 최종적으로 사이클 테스트 통하여 DSA로써의 성능을 평가하였다.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.554-564
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• 1996

Oxygen reduction in an alkaline fuel cell was studied by using perovskite of $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}Co_{1-x}Fe_xO_3$(x=0.00, 0.01, 0.10, 0.20, 0.35, and 0.50) as an oxygen electrode catalyst. The changes in the catalytic properties as a function of Fe content were investigated by XRD, TG, and TPR. XRD patterns gave different lattice parameters of the catalysts. TG study revealed that Fe was so stabilized in the perovskite structure as to be hardly reduced even up to $900^{\circ}C$, and the amount of oxygen which was eliminated at high temperature increased with the fraction of Fe because Fe induced the increase of Co-O binding energy. From TPR study, ${\alpha}$-(low temperature peak) and ${\beta}$-(high temperature peak)states were observed. The bond strength of the ${\beta}$-species which was associated strongly with Co of the perovskite increased proportionally with the fraction of Fe. The ${\alpha}$-species, reversible oxygen, was the active species in the oxygen reduction. The ${\alpha}$-peak temperature which reflected the binding energy between Co and ${\alpha}$-state oxygen moved to lower temperature with the increase of lattice parameter of the catalytst due to the increase of Fe content. The decrease in the binding energy increased the activity in the oxygen reduction, but the decrease of ${\alpha}$-species with the increase of Fe content decreased the activity. The increase in the surface area with Fe content had little effect on the activity.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.217-222
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• 2022

It is very important to analyze the OCV change behavior during the open circuit potential holding (OCV holding) process, which accelerates the evaluation of the electrochemical durability of the PEMFC membrane. In this study, an empirical formula using the experimental data of three MEAs with different durability was created and compared. The durability evaluation time of the reinforced membrane MEA without radical scavenger inside the membrane was 383 h, and the durability evaluation time of the reinforced membrane MEA with radical scavenger inside the membrane was 1,000 and 1,650 h, respectively. The degradation of the membrane was divided into the reversible degradation that can be recovered by activation and the irreversible degradation that is not recovered. The irreversible degradation of the membrane was indicated by an increase in hydrogen permeability, and the change in hydrogen permeability was similar to the irreversible degradation constant c of all three MEAs. The initiation of irreversible deterioration without recovery is indicated by an increase in hydrogen permeability, and the OCV is not recovered due to an increase in hydrogen permeability, so the slope of the OCV recovery line (ORL) decreases, which can be confirmed by an increase in the constant c value of the empirical formula.