• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 1998

The effects of additives such as zinc compounds in 4M KOH electrolyte of Al-air cell have been studied. Zinc compounds in electrolyte increased hydrogen evolution overpotential and TPC(tripotasium citrate)/CaO formed fine film on aluminum surface, and these additives decreased hydrogen evolution rate and corrosion rate of aluminum. These additives shifted the OCP in the positive direction on high purity aluminum(purity, 99.999%) and in the negative direction on Al No 1050(purity,99.5%). Addition of two or more additives resulted in the prevention or the reduction of corrosion rate and hydrogen evolution at OCP. As the overpotential on Al electrode increased, the hydrogen evolution rate decreased and the utilization of aluminum increased. At high current density$(>100mA/cm^2)$, TPC/CaO/ZnO additives increased the utilization of high purity aluminum up to that of aluminum alloys containing indium, gallium and thallium.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.696-702
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• 2018

Recently, the current thermal battery technology needs new materials for electrodes in the power and energy density to meet various space and defense requirements. In this paper, to replace the pellet type Li(Si) anode having limitations of the formability and capacity, electrochemical properties of the lithium anode with high density for thermal batteries were investigated. The lithium anode (Li 17, 15, 13 wt%) was fabricated by mixing the molten lithium and iron powder used as a binder to hold the molten lithium at $500^{\circ}C$. The single cell with 13 wt% lithium showed a stable performance. The 2.06 V (OCV) of the lithium anode was significantly improved compared to 1.93 V (OCV) of the Li(Si) anode. Specific capacities during the first phase of the lithium anode and Li(Si) were 1,632 and $1,181As{\cdot}g^{-1}$, respectively. As a result of the thermal battery performance test at both room and high temperatures, the voltage and operating time of lithium anode thermal batteries were superior to those of using Li(Si) anode thermal batteries. The power and energy densities of Li anode thermal batteries were also remarkably improved.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.419-424
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• 2010

The 125kW external reforming (ER) type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) system for developing a commercial prototype has been operated at Boryeong thermal power plant site since the end of 2009. The system consists of 125kW stack with $10,000 cm^2$ effective area, mechanical balance of plant (MBOP) with anode recycle system, and electrical balance of plant (EBOP). The 125kW MCFC stack installed in December, 2009 has been operated from January, 2010 after 20 days pre-treatment. The stack open circuit voltage (OCV) was 214V at initial load operation, which approaches the thermodynamically theoretical voltage. The stack voltage remained stable range from 160V to 180V at the maximum generating power of 120 kW DC. The stack has been operated for 3,270 hours and operated at rated power for 1,200 hours.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.339-344
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• 2021

In order to improve the PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) durability, it is important to accurately evaluate the durability of the membrane in a short time. Recently, DOE (Department of Energy) reported a protocol that combines the chemical and mechanical durability of membranes to evaluate them effectively. This protocol applies chemical/mechanical deterioration to the membrane by repeating wet/dry while OCV (Open Circuit Voltage) holding. The problem of this protocol is that it is highly affected by electrode degradation due to change cycles in OCV and that the evaluation time is long. By using oxygen instead of air as the cathode gas while leaving the other conditions of the DOE protocol as it is, the durability evaluation time could be reduced from 408 hours to 144 hours. By reducing the number of voltage change cycles to 1/3, the electrode degradation due to the voltage change cycle was reduced to 1/12 when oxygen was used compared to air at the end, thereby enabling more accurate evaluation of polymer membrane durability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.517-522
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• 2023

A chemical/mechanical durability test of polymer membrane evaluation method is used in which air and hydrogen are supplied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and wet/dry is repeated in the open circuit voltage (OCV) state. In this protocol, when wet/dry is repeated, voltage increase/decrease is repeated, resulting in electrode degradation. When the membrane durability is excellent, the number of voltage changes increases and the evaluation is terminated due to electrode degradation, which may cause a problem that the original purpose of membrane durability evaluation cannot be performed. In this study, the same protocol as the department of energy (DOE) was used, but oxygen was used instead of air as the cathode gas, and the wet/dry time and flow rate were also increased to increase the chemical/mechanical degradation rate of the membrane, thereby shortening the durability evaluation time of the membrane to improve these problems. The durability test of the Nafion 211 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was completed after 2,300 cycles by increasing the acceleration by 2.6 times using oxygen instead of air. This protocol also accelerated degradation of the membrane and accelerated degradation of the electrode catalyst, which also had the advantage of simultaneously evaluating the durability of the membrane and the electrode.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.157-163
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• 2010

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are commonly composed of ceramic compartments, and it is known that the physical properties of the ceramic materials can be changed according to the operating temperature. Thus, the physical properties of the ceramic materials have to be properly predicted to develop a highly reliable simulation model. In this study, several physical properties that can affect the performance of SOFCs were selected, and simulation models for those physical properties were developed using our own code. The Gibbs free energy for the open circuit voltage, exchange current densities for the activation polarization, and electrical conductivity for the electrolyte were calculated. In addition, the diffusion coefficient-including the binary and Knudsen diffusion mechanisms-was calculated for mass transport analysis at the porous electrode. The physical property and electrochemical reaction models were then simulated simultaneously. The numerical results were compared with the experimental results and previous works studied by Chan et al. for code validation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.71.2-71.2
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• 2010

고체산화물연료전지는 청정에너지원으로써 기존의 발전방식을 대신할 차세대 에너지원으로 각광 받고 있다. 고체산화물 연료전지는 고온에서 작동하는 특성상 실험을 통하여 전극미세구조 및 구동조건을 최적화하는 것은 매우 어렵다. 본 연구는 전기화학식을 이용한 전산모사를 통해서 고체산화물 연료전지의 구동조건에 따른 성능 평가 및 전극의 미세구조 최적화 과정을 수행하였다. 전극 내 전달현상을 무시하고 오직 전기화학반응만을 고려한 전산모사는 단전지의 전극미세구조 및 구동조건에 따른 전지성능을 빠르게 예측할 수 있으며, 이를 기반으로 다양한 조건에서 얻은 전지 성능 데이터를 통해 전극미세구조를 최적화하였다. 개회로전압, 활성화분극, 저항분극, 물질수송손실을 표현하기 위하여 Nernst 식, Butler-Voler 식, 옴의 법칙, dusty-gas 모델을 각각 사용하였으며, 전극미세구조 및 구동조건의 변화는 물질확산계수 및 교환전류밀도를 통하여 그 영향이 전지성능에 반영된다. 온도, 압력, 주입 연료의 조성에 대한 성능평가가 수행되었으며, 1023K, 1 bar의 조건하에서 최적의 단전지 성능을 위한 기공도와 기공크기를 조사하였다. 더 향상된 단전지 성능 확보를 위해서 실험에서 쓰이는 기능층(functional layer)과 유사하게 넓은 반응 면적과 원활한 반응물 및 생성물의 이동을 보장하도록 기공도 및 기공크기를 그레이딩한 전극구조(graded-electrode)를 디자인하고 성능을 평가하였다. 그 결과 기존의 전지구조 대신에 그레이딩된 전극을 사용할 경우 50%이상 향상된 전지성능을 예측할 수 있었다.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.202-207
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• 2009

A 75kW MCFC stack with the reactive area of 9,600cm$^2$ has been operated and validated in Boryeong thermal power plant. The 75kW MCFC stack was installed at the end of November 28, 2008 and started initial operation on December 23, 2008 after pretreated for about 20 days. At initial load operation, the stack showed the Open Circuit Voltage of 137V, which approaches the theoretical value. At the early stage of rated power operation, the stack displayed the voltage of 104V at the current of 754A and reached the maximum generating power of 78.5kW DC. This stack has been operated for 2,890 hours until April, 2009. In addition, the operation time of rated power records 1890 hours. This Operating result is scheduled to be reflected the design of l25kW stack.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.53-63
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• 1995

A 100kW class stack consisting of 10 molten carbonate fuel cells has been fabricated. Internally manifold stack has been tested for endurance. Each cell in the stack had an electrode area of $100cm^2$ and reactant gases were distributed in each cells in a cross-flow configuration. Initial and long term operation performance of the stack was investgated as a function of gas utilization using a specially designed small scale stack test facility. It was possible to have a stack with an output of more than 100W using an anode gas of 72% $H_2/18%$ $CO_2/10%H_2O$ and cathode gas of 33% $O_2/67%$ $CO_2$ and 70% Air 30% $CO_2$. The output and voltage of the stack at a current 15A($150mA/cm^2$) and gas utilization of 0.4 showed 125.8W and 8.39V respectively by elapsed time of 310 hours operation. In long term operation characteristics, the voltage drop of 52.4mV/1000hour was observed after more than 1,840 hours operation. Among the voltage drop, the OCV loss was highest than other voltage loss such as internal resistance and electrode polarization. Non uniformity of 2voltages and degradation of cell voltage in the stack was observed in according to changing the utilization rate after a long term operation. Further work for increasing the performance prolonging the life of the stack are required.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2023

As a PEMFC (Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) cathode catalyst, Pt-Co/C has recently been widely used because of its improved durability. In a fuel cell, electrodes and electrolytes have a close influence on each other in terms of performance and durability. The effect on the electrochemical durability of the electrolyte membrane when Pt-Co/C was replaced in the Pt/C electrode catalyst was studied. The durability of Pt-Co/C MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) was higher than that of Pt/C MEA in the electrochemical accelerated degradation process of PEMFC membrane. As a result of analyzing the FER (Fluorine Emission Rate) and hydrogen permeability, it was shown that the degradation rate of the membrane of Pt-Co/C MEA was lower than that of Pt/C MEA. In the OCV (Open Circuit Voltage) holding process, the rate of decrease of the active area of the Pt-Co/C electrode was lower than that of the Pt/C electrode, and the amount of Pt deposited on the membrane was smaller in Pt-Co/C MEA than in Pt/C MEA. Pt inside the polymer membrane deteriorates the membrane by generating radicals, so the degradation rate of the membrane of Pt/C MEA with a high Pt deposition rate was higher than Pt-Co/C MEA. When the Pt-Co/C catalyst was used, the electrode durability was improved, and the amount of Pt deposited on the membrane was also reduced, thereby improving the electrochemical durability of the membrane.