• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2014

The composite anodes of exfoliated graphite (EG) and multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) were fabricated by using the binders with different content of epoxy in Nafion solution. The influence of the epoxy content in the anode binder on the performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC) was examined in a batch reactor. With the increase in the epoxy content in the anode binder, increase in physical binding force was observed, but at the same time an increase in the internal resistance of MFC was also observed. This was due to the increase in activation and ohmic resistance. For the anode binder without epoxy, the maximum power density was $1,892mW/m^2$, but a decrease in maximum power density was observed with the increase in the epoxy content in the anode binder. With the epoxy content of 50% in the anode binder, a decrease in the maximum power density to $1,425mW/m^2$ was observed, which about 75.3% of the anode binder without epoxy is. However, the material consisting of the same amount of epoxy and Nafion solution is a good alternative for anode binder in terms of durability and economics of MFC.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2023

In this work, we developed a Nafion polymer-coated impedance sensor with two gold electrode configurations to measure the ion concentration in solution samples. The gold electrodes were fabricated through the sputtering process, followed by surface modification using Nafion polymer. The resulting sensors enable the prevention of the polarization phenomenon on the electrode surface, resulting in stable measurement of electrochemical signals. Spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy measurements revealed that the thin film of Nafion was coated uniformly onto the surface of the gold electrode. The Nafion-coated sensor exhibited more stable impedance signals than the conventional gold electrode. It showed a highly reliable calibration curve (R² = 0.983) of the impedance sensor using a standard sodium chloride solution. In addition, a comparison experiment between the impedance sensor and a commercial conductivity sensor was performed to measure the ion concentration of artificial tears, showing similar results for the two sensors.

• Clean Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.99-103
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• 2007

Pt/Nafion self-humidifying membranes for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) were synthesized via a supercritical-impregnation method. The Nafion 112 membranes were impregnated with Pt(II) acetylacetonate from a supercritical carbon dioxide ($scCO_2$) solution at $80^{\circ}C$ and 19.8 MPa. After the impregnation, the Pt-impregnated Nafion membrane was converted Pt deposited Nafion(Pt/Nafion) membrane by reducing agent, sodium borohydride ($NaBH_4$) under $50^{\circ}C$ and 2 hours. The prepared Pt/Nafion membranes were investigated by SEM, EDS and EPMA. The performance of the Pt/Nafion membranes was examined in PEMFC as a self-humidifying membrane. The cell performance of the Pt/Nafion membrane at $65^{\circ}C$ is better than that of Nafion 112.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.434-439
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• 2012

To improve the performance of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators, Nafion films sandwiched with Nafion/conducting nanoparticulate electrospun webs were used as polymer electrolytes of IPMC. Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) and silver were the conducting nanoparticulates and the nanoparticles dispersed in a Nafion solution were electrospun. IPMCs with the Nafion/conducting nanoparticulate electrospun webs displayed improved displacements, response rates, and blocking forces. MWNT was superior to silver in terms of displacement and blocking force, and the webs without the conducting fillers also caused enhanced performances compared with the conventional IPMCs. These improvements were attributed to an elevated electrolyte flux through highly porous interlayers and capacitance induced by well dispersed conducting fillers, and low interfacial resistance between electrolyte and electrodes.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2016

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) using the electrolytes containing various vanadium ions in sulfuric acid as supporting solution are one of the energy storage devices in alternatively charging and discharging operation modes. The positive electrolyte contains $V^{5+}/V^{4+}$ and the negative electrolyte $V^{2+}/V^{3+}$ depending on the operation mode. To prevent the mixing of two solutions, proton exchange membranes are mainly used in VRFBs. Nafion 117 could be the most promising candidate due to the strong oxidative property of $V^{5+}$ ion, but causes high crossover of electroactive species to result in a decrease in coulombic efficiency. In this study, the composite membranes using Nafion ionomer and porous polyethylene substrate were prepared to keep good chemical stability and to decrease the cost of membranes, and were compared to the properties and performance of the commercially available electrolyte membrane, Nafion 117. As a result, the water uptake and ionic conductivity of the composite membranes increased as the thickness of the composite membranes increased, but those of Nafion 117 slightly decreased. The permeability of vanadium ions for the composite membranes significantly decreased compared to that for Nafion 117. In a single cell test for the composite membranes, the voltage efficiency decreased and the coulombic efficiency increased, finally resulting in the similar energy efficiency. In conclusion, the less cost of the composite membranes by decreasing 6.4 wt.% of the amount of perfluorinated sulfonic acid polymer due to the introduction of porous substrate and lower vanadium ion permeability to decrease self-discharge were achieved than Nafion 117.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.597-601
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• 2006

The degradation of the Nafion membrane by oxygen radical (OH, $HO_2$) was investigated in Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Nafion membrane was degraded in Fenton solution consisted with hydrogen peroxide (10-30％) and ferrous ion (1-4 ppm) at $80^{\circ}C$. After degradation in Fenton solution, C-F, S-O and C-O chemical bonds of membrane were broken by oxygen radical attack. Breaking of C-F bond reduced the mechanical strength of Nafion membrane, and hence induced pinholes, resulting in increase of $H_2$ crossover through the membrane. Decomposition of S-O and C-O bonds decreased the ion exchange capacity of the electrolyte membrane. The performance of unit cell composed the membrane, which was degraded in 30％ $H_2O_2$ with 4ppm $Fe^{2+}$ solution for 48 hr, was about half times as low as one with normal membrane.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.216-222
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• 2011

A multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) support with dual properties, an ionic property via tetra-amine and unpaired electrons via tri-amine, was prepared by radiation-induced graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and the subsequent amination of its epoxy group. The electrochemical microbial biosensor (EMB) was then fabricated by immobilization of a microbe (Alkaligenes spp.) onto the dual property-modified electrode, which was prepared with the mixture of the MWNT support and a $Nafion^{(R)}$ solution on a glass carbon (GC) electrode surface by a hand-casting method. The sensing range of the prepared EMB for phenol in a phosphate buffer solution was 0.005~7.0 mM. The total concentration of phenolic compounds in a commercial red wine was also determined using the EMB.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.307-318
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• 2020

Conventional perfluorinated sulfonic acid membrane, Nafion is widely used for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). It is desired to prevent vanadium ion permeation through a membrane to retain the capacity, and to keep the cell efficiency of a VRFB. Highly proton conductive and chemically stable Nafion membranes, however, suffer from high vanadium permeation, which induce the reduction in charge and discharge capacity by side reactions of vanadium ions. In this study, to resolve the issue, silica nanoparticles, which are functionalized with 3-aminopropyl group (fS) are introduced to enhance the long-term performance of a VRFB by lowering vanadium permeation. It is expected that amine groups on silica nanoparticles are converted to positive ammonium ion, which could deteriorate positively charged vanadium ions' crossover by Gibbs-Donnan effect. There is reduction in proton conductivity may due to acid-base complexation between fS and Nafion side chains, but ion selectivity of proton to vanadium ion is enhanced by introducing fS to Nafion membranes. With the composite membranes of Nafion and fS, VRFBs maintain their discharge capacity up to 80% at a high current density of 150 mA/㎠ during 200 cycles.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.187-192
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• 2006

The preparation and characterization of new polymer composite membranes containing polyphenylene oxide (PPO) thin films with hetropoly acid (HPA) are presented. PPO thin films with phosphotungstic acid (PWA) or phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) have been prepared by using the solvent mixture. The PWA and PPO can be blended using the solvent mixture, because PPO and PWA are not soluble in the same solvent. In this study, methanol was used as a solvent dissolving PWA and chloroform was used as a solvent dissolving PPO. PPO-PWA solutions were cast onto a glass plate with uniform thickness. The composite membranes were prepared by casting Nafion mixture on porous PPO-PWA films. The morphology and structure of these PPO-PWA films were observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The composite membranes were characterized by measuring their ion conductivity and methanol permeability. The performance was evaluated with composite membranes as electrolytes in fuel cell conditions. The methanol cross-over of composite membranes containing PPO-PWA barrier films in the DMFC reduced by 66％.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.753-757
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• 2012

This paper presents the performance of a porous glass electroosmotic pump using an iodide/triiodide aqueous solution. The porous glass electroosmotic pump is characterized in terms of the flow rate and voltage. The flow rate and voltage increases linearly with current. A point where the voltage significantly increases is observed owing to an excess in redox capacity. The transition time monotonously decreases with current. The normalized flow rate (flow rate per membrane surface area) is used to compare previous results with results obtained in this study. The normalized flow rate of porous glass frits is three times higher than that of Nafion 117.