• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2017

When designing a redox flow battery system, compression of battery stack is required to prevent leakage of electrolyte and to reduce contact resistance between cell components. In addition, stack compression leads to deformation of the porous carbon electrode, which results in lower porosity and smaller cross-sectional area for electrolyte flow. In this paper, we investigate the effects of electrode compression on the cell performance by applying multi-dimensional, transient model of all-vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). Simulation result reveals that large compression leads to greater pressure drop throughout the electrodes, which requires large pumping power to circulate electrolyte while lowered ohmic resistance results in better power capability of the battery. Also, cell compression results in imbalance between anolyte and catholyte and convective crossover of vanadium ions through the separator due to large pressure difference between negative and positive electrodes. Although it is predicted that the battery power is quickly improved due to the reduced ohmic resistance, the capacity decay of the battery is accelerated in the long term operation when the battery cell is compressed. Therefore, it is important to optimize the battery performance by taking trade-off between power and capacity when designing VRFB system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.338-338
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• 2015

VRFB(Vanadium Redox Flow Battery)는 바나듐계 이온을 전해질로 사용하는 레독스 흐름 전지로, 전해질의 양이 전지의 용량을 결정하기 때문에 주로 대용량의 전력이 필요한 플랜트 등에서 주로 사용하는 전지이다. 이 VRFB내에는 Current collector의 부식 방지용으로 두꺼운 Graphite판을 BP(Bipolar plate)로 사용한다. 플랜트에서는 대용량 전지를 필요로 하여 Single stack으로는 사용되기 어렵고, Multi stack으로 주로 사용한다. Multi stack의 경우, 수 백장의 BP가 들어가 전지의 부피가 매우 커지게 되고, 이에 본 연구에서는 BP의 두꺼운 Graphite를 얇은 $TiO_2$ 기판으로 교체하여 성능을 비교하는 연구를 진행하였다. Ti 금속기판을 양극산화법으로 $TiO_2$ 나노튜브 구조를 만든 후, $TiO_2$의 전도도 향상을 목적으로 $IrO_2$를 코팅하였다. 결과적으로 기존의 Graphite에 비해 전기화학적 특성이 향상되었음을 확인하였으며, Cell test를 통해 VRFB의 성능을 평가하였다.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2015.07a
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• pp.301-302
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• 2015

본 논문은 레독스 흐름 전지(Redox Flow Battery : RFB)용 양극성을 갖는 DC-DC 컨버터의 기본 동작 원리 및 최적 스위칭 기법에 관한 것이다. 양극성을 갖는 DC-DC 컨버터는 매우 낮은 배터리 전압에서도 완전 방전을 위해 고승압이 필요하고, 완전 방전 후 극성 반전이 되어 매우 낮은 전압에서도 충전이 가능하여야 한다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 동작이 요구되는 RFB용 DC-DC 컨버터의 스위칭 손실을 최소화하기 위한 스위칭 방법을 제안한다. 최종 발표 시 실험 결과를 제시하고자 한다.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.56-56
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• 2002

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.34-34
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• 2000

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2018

In this study, boron - doped carbon was prepared by reducing carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) at high temperature by using sodium borohydride ($NaBH_4$). The boron - doped carbon was coated on carbon felt and applied as an electrode for a vanadium redox battery cell. As a result of electrochemical performance evaluation, reversibility of carbon felt coated with boron doped carbon compared to pure carbon felt was improved by about 20% and charge transfer resistance was reduced by 60%. In the charge / discharge results, energy density and energy efficiency were improved by 21% and 12.4%, respectively. These results show that carbon produced by reduction of $CO_2$ can be used as electrode material for redox flow battery.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.406-414
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• 2017

In this study, we have developed pore-filled ion-exchange membranes (PFIEMs) filled with ionomer in a thin polyethylene porous film (thickness = $25{\mu}m$) and investigated the charge-discharge characteristics of the all vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) employing them. Especially, the degree of crosslinking and free volume of the PFIEMs were appropriately controlled to produce ion-exchange membranes exhibiting both the low membrane resistance and low vanadium permeability by mixing crosslinking agents having different molecular size. As a result, the prepared PFIEMs exhibited excellent electrochemical properties which are comparable to those of the commercial membranes. Also, it was confirmed through the experiments of vanadium ion permeability and VRFB performance evaluation that the PFIEMs showed low vanadium ion permeability and high charge-discharge efficiency in comparison with the commercial membrane despite their thin film thickness.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.671-676
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• 2013

Recently, there are many efforts focused on development of Redox Flow Battery (RFB) for large energy storage system. Economical hydrocarbon membranes alternative to fluorinated membranes for RFB membrane are receiving attention. In this study, characteristics of poly(arylene ether sulfone) (PAES) were compared with expensive fluorinated membrane at VRB (Vanadium Redox Flow Battery) operation condition. Permeability of vanadium ion through membrane, ion exchange capacity (IEC), change of OCV, swelling, charge-discharge curves and energy efficiency were measured. PAES membrane showed lower permeability of vanadium ion, higher IEC and then higher energy efficiency compared with Nafion 117 membranes.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.408-412
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• 2019

In this study, nitrogen doped carbon felt was prepared by pyrolysis of urea at high temperature and applied as an electrode for vanadium redox flow cell. Urea is easier to handle than ammonia and forms $NH_2$ radicals at higher temperatures, creating a nitrogen functional group on the carbon surface and acting as an active site in the vanadium redox reaction. Therefore, the discharge capacity of activated carbon felt electrodes using urea was 14.9 Ah/L at a current density of $150mA/cm^2$, which is 23% and 187% higher than OGF and GF, respectively. These results show the possibility that activated carbon felt electrode using urea can be used as electrode material for redox flow battery.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 2021

Carbon/epoxy composite bipolar plate (BP) is a BP that is likely to replace existing graphite bipolar plate of vanadium redox flow cell (VRFB) due to its high mechanical properties and productivity. Multi-functional carbon/epoxy composite BP requires graphite coating or additional surface treatment to reduce interfacial contact resistance (ICR). However, the expanded graphite coating has the disadvantage of having low durability under VRFB operating conditions, and the surface treatments incur additional costs. In this work, an excessive resin absorption method is developed, which uniformly removes the resin rich area on the surface of the BP to expose carbon fibers by applying polyester fabric. This method not only reduces ICR by exposing carbon fibers to BP surfaces, but also forms a unique ditch pattern that can effectively hold carbon felt electrodes in place. The acidic environmental durability, mechanical properties, and gas permeability of the developed carbon/epoxy composite BP are experimentally verified.