• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.228-236
• /
• 2009

ABA type triblock copolymer of poly(hydroxyl ethyl acrylate )-b-polystyrene-b-poly(hydroxyl ethyl acrylate), i.e. PHEA-b-PS-b-PHEA, was synthesized throughatom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). This block copolymer was thermally crosslinked with 4,5-imidazole dicarboxylic acid (IDA) via the esterification between the -OH groups of PHEA in block copolymer and the -COOH groups of IDA. Upon doping with ${H_3}{PO_4}$ to form imidazole-${H_3}{PO_4}$ complexes, the proton conductivity of membranes continuously increased with increasing ${H_3}{PO_4}$ content. The PHEA-b-PS-b-PHEA/IDA/${H_3}{PO_4}$ polymer membrane with [HEA]:[IDA]:[${H_3}{PO_4}$]=3:4:4 exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 0.01 S/cm at $100^{\circ}C$ under anhydrous conditions. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the PHEA-b-PS-b-PHEA/IDA/${H_3}{PO_4}$ complex membranes were thermally stable up to $350^{\circ}C$, indicating their applicability in fuel cells.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.302-309
• /
• 2009

A block copolymer of polystyrene-b-poly (hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate), PS-b-PHEMA, was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and crosslinked with 4,5-imidazole dicarboxylic acid (IDA) via esterification of the -OH groups of PHEMA in the block copolymer and the -COOH groups of IDA. Upon doping with $H_3PO_4$ to form imidazole-$H_3PO_4$ complexes, the proton conductivity of the membranes continuously increased as the content of $H_3PO_4$ increased. In addition, both the tensile strength and the elongation at break increased with IDA content. A proton conductivity of 0.01 S/cm at $100^{\circ}C$ was obtained for the PS-b-PHEMA/IDA/$H_3PO_4$ membrane with [HEMA]:[IDA]:[$H_3PO_4$] = 3:4:4 under anhydrous conditions. All of the PS-b-PHEMA/IDA/$H_3PO_4$ membranes were thermally stable up to $350^{\circ}C$, as revealed by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA).

• Journal of Energy Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.121-127
• /
• 2010

In present work, sulfonated poly(arylene biphenyklsulfone ether) copolymers containing hydroquinone moiety were successfully synthesized using 4,4'-bis[(4-chlorophenyl)sulfonyl]-1,1'-biphenyl(BCPSBP), hydroquinone sulfonic acid potassium salt(sHQ), 4,4'-sulfonyldiphenol and evaluated their characteristics. Three kinds of polymer electrolyte membranes, PBPSEH-HQ00, PBPSEH-HQ10 and PBPSEH-HQ30 were prepared by using mole fraction of sulfonated hydroquinone(sHQ). The structure of the fabricated polymers was analyzed using NMR, IR and GPC. The Mw(weight-average molecular weights) of the polymers were in the range of 62,000-213,000 g $mol^{-1}$, and the molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) varied from 1.66-4.04. The thermal analysis of the copolymers was carried out by TGA and DSC. The temperature of Td5% and Td10% was decreased with the mole fraction of sHQ but Tg was increased with the mole fraction. The water uptake, IEC and ion conductivity were increased with increasing the ionic cluster of the polymers. The proton conductivity equal to 9.4 mS $cm^{-1}$ was measured for the PBPSEH-HQ30 membrane at $90^{\circ}C$ and 100% relative humidity. From the observed results it is clear that the prepared hydrocarbon membrane can be considered as suitable polymer electrolyte membrane for the application of PEMFC.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.26-33
• /
• 2012

Phosphoric acid-doped poly (2,5-benzimidazole) (DABPBI) was prepared by condensation polymerization of 3,4-diaminobenzoic acid for high temperature proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The membranes were casted directly using a hot-press unit and characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, conductivity measurement, scanning electron microscopy and tensile test. The proton conductivities of DABPBI are observed to be 0.062 and 0.018 $S{\cdot}cm^{-1}$ under 30 and 1% relative humidity, respectively at a temperature of $120^{\circ}C$ which is appreciably higher than that of Nafion 115 under similar conditions. The DABPBI membrane has demonstrated excellent thermo- mechanical properties and proton conductivity suggesting its suitability as a high temperature membrane.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.125-132
• /
• 2011

A unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) as a next-generation fuel cell technology was considered in the study. URFC is a mandatory technology for the completion of the hybrid system with the fuel cell and the renewable energy sources, and it can be expected as a new technology for the realization of hydrogen economy society in the $21^{st}$ century. Specifically, the recent research data and results concerning the polymer electrolyte membrane for the URFC technology were summarized in the study. The prime requirements of polymer electrolyte membrane for the URFC applications are high proton conductivity, dimensional stability, mechanical strength, and interfacial stability with the electrode binder. Based on the performance of the polymer electrolyte membrane, the URFC technology combining the systems for the production, storage, utilization of hydrogen can be a new research area in the development of an advanced technology concerning with renewable energy such as fuel cell, solar cell, and wind power.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.283-291
• /
• 2022

Hydrogen energy has received much attention as a solution to the supply of renewable energy and to respond to climate change. Hydrogen is the most suitable candidate of storing unused electric power in a large-capacity long cycle. Among the technologies for producing hydrogen, water electrolysis is known as an eco-friendly hydrogen production technology that produces hydrogen without carbon dioxide generation by water splitting reaction. Membranes in water electrolysis system physically separate the anode and the cathode, but also prevent mixing of generated hydrogen and oxygen gases and facilitate ion transfer to complete circuit. In particular, the key to next-generation anion exchange membrane that can compensate for the shortcomings of conventional water electrolysis technologies is to develop high performance anion exchange membrane. Many studies are conducted to have high ion conductivity and excellent durability in an alkaline environment simultaneously, and various materials are being searched. In this review, we will discuss the research trends and points to move forward by looking at the research on anion exchange membranes based on commercial polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-polystyrene (SEBS) block copolymers.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.42-46
• /
• 2008

Even though fuel cell have high efficiency when pure hydrogen from gas tank is used as a fuel source, it is more beneficial to generate hydrogen from city gas (mainly methane) in residential application such as domestic or office environments. Thus hydrogen is generated by reforming process using hydrocarbon. Unfortunately, the reforming process for hydrogen production is accompanied with unavoidable impurities. Impurities such as CO, $CO_2$, $H_2S$, $NH_3$, $CH_4$, and $CH_4$ in hydrogen could cause negative effects on fuel cell performance. Those effects are kinetic losses due to poisoning of the electrode catalysts, ohmic losses due to proton conductivity reduction including membrane and catalyst ionomer layers, and mass transport losses due to degrading catalyst layer structure and hydrophobic property. Hydrogen produced from reformer eventually contains around 73% of $H_2$, 20% or less of $CO_2$, 5.8% of less of $N_2$, or 2% less of $CH_4$, and 10ppm or less of CO. This study is aimed at investigating the effect of carbon dioxide on fuel cell performance. The performance of PEM fuel cell was investigated using current vs. potential experiment, long run(10 hr) test, and electrochemical impedance measurement when the concentrations of carbon dioxide were 10%, 20% and 30%. Also, the concentration of impurity supplied to the fuel cell was verified by gas chromatography(GC).

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.11a
• /
• pp.80.2-80.2
• /
• 2010

The development of high temperature-proton exchange fuel cell (HT-PEFC) is a key in solving the problem of carbon monoxide poisoning of the platinum at anode as well as water management in PEFCs operated below $90^{\circ}C$. In order to overcome these main issues, PEFCs must be operated at high temperature above $120^{\circ}C$. Ionic liquids are available for HT-PEFC due to exhibiting non-volatility and thermal stability. Ionic liquids are however leached out from polymeric matrix resulting in the increase of gas permeability. In this study, we have prepared and characterized the composite membranes with the ionic liquids consisting of 1-(4-vinylbenzyl)-3-butyl imidazolium chloride immobilized by the cross-linkers in pore-filling membrane to prevent to be leached out from the membrane. We confirmed that cross-linked ionic liquids were not leached out from the composite membranes through the various characteristic analyses. It was also verified that the prepared membranes are thermally stable from the result of TG analysis. The pore-filling membranes with the immobilized ionic liquids have a high proton conductivity over $10^{-2}$ S/cm at high temperature (> $120^{\circ}C$).

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.103-110
• /
• 2005

Proton conducting solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) membranes have been used in many energy technological applications such as water electolysis, fuel cells, redox-flow battery, and other electrochemical devices. The availability of stable membranes with good electrochemical characteristics as proton conductivity at high temperatures above 80 $^{\circ}C$ and low cost are very important for its applications. However, the presently available perfluorinated ionomers are not applicable because of high manufacturing cost and high temperature use to the decrease in the proton conductivity and mechanical strength. In order to make up for the weak points, the block copolymer (BPSf) of polysulfone and poly (phenylene sulfide sulfone) were synthesized and sulfonated. The electrolyte membranes were prepared with phosphotungstic acid (HPA)/sulfonated BPSf via solution blending. This study would be desirable to investigate the interaction between the HPA and sulfonated polysulfone. The results showed that the characteristics of SPSf/HPA blend membrane was a better than Nafion at high temperature, 100 $^{\circ}C$. These membranes proved to have a high proton conductivity, $6.29{\times}10-2$ S/cm, a water content, 23.9%, and a ion exchange capacity, 1.97 meq./g dry membrane. Moreover, some of the membranes kept their high thermal and mechanical stability.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.458-462
• /
• 2016

Saline water electrolysis, known as chlor-alkali (CA) membrane process, is an electrochemical process to generate valued chemicals such as chlorine, hydrogen and sodium hydroxide with high purities higher than 99%, using an electrolytic cell composed of cation exchange membrane, anode and cathode. It is necessary to reduce energy consumption per a unit chemical production. This issue can be solved by decreasing intrinsic resistance of the membrane and the electrodes and/or by reducing their interfacial resistance. In this study, the electron radiation grafting of a $Na^+$ ion-selective polymer was conducted onto a hydrocarbon sulfonated ionomer membrane with high chemical resistance. This approach was effective in improving electrochemical efficiency via the synergistic effect of relatively fast $Na^+$ ion conduction and reduced interfacial resistance.