• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.1075-1082
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• 1999

Composite air electrodes of 50/50 vol% LSM- YSZ where LSM =$\textrm{La}_{1-x}\textrm{Sr}_{x}\textrm{MnO}_{3}$(0$\leq$x$\leq$0.5) were prepared by colloidal deposition technique. The electrodes were then examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and studied by ac impedance spectroscopy in order to improve the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Reproducible impedance spectra were confirmed by using the improved cell, consisting of LSM- YSZ/YSZ/LSM-YSZ. These spectra were a strong function of operating temperature and the stable conditions for the cells were typically reached at $900^{\circ}C$. The typical spectra measured for an air//air cell at $900^{\circ}C$ were composed of two arcs. Addition of YSZ to the LSM electrode led to a pronounced decrease in cathodic resistivity of LSM-YSZ composite electrodes. Polishing the electrolyte surface to eliminate the influences of surface impurities could further reduce cathode resistivity. The cathodic resistivity of the LSM-YSZ electrodes with catalytic interlayer (Ni or Sr) was much smaller than that of LSM-YSZ electrodes without catalytic interlayer. In addition, the cathodic resistivity of the LSM-YSZ electrodes was a strong function of composition of electrode materials, the electrolyte geometry, and applied current.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.493-498
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• 2019

In polymer exchange membrane fuel cells, it is crucial to fabricate a highly active and thin Pt catalyst layer for the smooth mass transport of dissolved oxygen and water. Although a highly loaded platinum (Pt) catalyst based on the hydrothermal synthesis has been reported in several studies, its growing behaviors and kinetics were yet to be understood. In this study, we investigated the growth of Pt crystal in suspension after the reduction step depending on a stirring time and evaluated the electrochemical activity. For only a couple of hours in the early stage, Pt colloids were adsorbed on the Pt-carbon catalyst and the Pt crystal was grown. After that, the small Pt colloid was formed by another nucleation step, which did not involve the growth of Pt crystal. We reveal that the Pt-Carbon catalyst with stirring for 6 h showed a high activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.523-530
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• 2019

For the low-Pt electrodes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs), the optimization of ionomer content for anode catalyst layers was carried out. A commercial catalyst of 20 wt.% Pt/C was used instead of 50 wt.% Pt/C which is commonly used for PEMFCs. The ionomer content varies from 0.6 to 1.2 based on ionomer to carbon ratio (I/C) and the catalyst layer is formed over the electrolyte by the ultrasonic spray process. Evaluation of the prepared MEA in the unit cell showed that the optimal ionomer content of the air electrode was 0.8 on the I/C basis, while the hydrogen electrode was optimal at the relatively high ionomer content of 1.0. In addition, a large difference in cell performance was observed when the ionomer content of the hydrogen electrode was changed. Increasing the ionomer content from 0.6 to 1.0 by I/C in a hydrogen electrode with 0.05 mg/㎠ platinum loading resulted in more than double cell performance improvements on a 0.6 V. Through the analysis of various electrochemical properties in the single cell, it was assumed that the change in ionomer content of the hydrogen electrode affects the water flow between the hydrogen and air electrodes bounded by the membrane in the cell, which affects the overall performance of the cell. A more specific study will be carried out to understand the water flow mechanism in the future, and this study will show that the optimization process of hydrogen electrode can also be a very important cell design variable for the low-Pt and high-performance MEA.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2019

In this study, an anthracene cross-linker is introduced to enhance the catalytic activity of glucose oxidase (GOx) based catalysts and to increase the amount of enzyme loading. The crosslinked GOx is bonded with the CNT/PEI support using the electrostatic interaction (AC[CNT/PEI/GOx]). Electrochemical evaluations are done to evaluate the performance of this catalyst and the performance of CNT/PEI/GOx catalyst is also measured as a control. According to the measurements, it is confirmed that the amount of loaded GOx increases, while $K_m$ value calculated by Lineweaver-Burk plot shows that AC[CNT/PEI/GOx] ($K_m$ : 0.73 mM) is superior to CNT/PEI/GOx ($K_m$ : 1.71 mM) without cross-linking reaction. Based on these effects, it is demonstrated that the maximum power density of the enzymatic biofuel cell using AC[CNT/PEI/GOx] increases from $21.2{\mu}W/cm^2$ to $57.4{\mu}W/cm^2$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.999-1005
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• 1996

Pt catalyst on carbon black was prepared by colloidal method, ion exchanging method and methanol reducing method. The colloidal method has been used generally. At ion exchanging method, $H^+$ of functional group on carbon surface made by oxidation treatment was exchanged with Pt ion. At methanol reducing method, Pt was impregnated on carbon to reduce by methanol contained with surfactants. With TEM and XRD, Pt particle size impregnated on carbon by various methods was $30{\sim}50{\AA}$. Loading yield was about 100%, loading yield of ion exchanging method was 99.92% by DCP analysis and 99.87% by combustion method. Within 60 hour, current density of oxygen reduction was $460mA/cm^2$ at 0.7V(vs. RHE) at colloidal method. It was the better performance than catalyst prepared by ion exchanging, methanol reducing method. But, it was shown some decrease of performance for long operation time(after 100hour), catalyst prepared by methanol reducing method was shown stable performance.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.329-334
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• 2009

This study is to develop a fuel cell system applicable to an in situ NMR (Nuclear magnetic resonance) diagnosis. The in situ NMR can be used in real time monitoring of various reactions occurring in the fuel cell, such as oxidation of fuel, reduction of oxygen, transport phenomena, and component degradation. The fuel cell for this purpose is, however, to be operated in a specifically designed tubular shape toroid cavity detector (TCD), which constrains the fuel cell to have a tubular shape. This may cause difficulties in effective mass transport of reactants/products and uniform distribution of assembly pressure. Therefore, a new flow field designed in a particular way is necessary to enhance the mass transport in the tubular fuel cell. In this study, a tubular-shaped close-type flow field made of non-magnetic material is developed. With this flow field, oxygen is effectively delivered to the cathode surface and the produced water is readily removed from the membrane-electrode assembly to prevent flooding. The resulting DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) outperforms the open-type flow field and exhibits $36\;mW/cm^2$ even at room temperature.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.588-593
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• 2022

Terephthalaldehyde (TPA) is introduced as a cross liker to enhance electron transfer of hemin-based cathodic catalyst consisting of polyethyleneimine (PEI), carbon nanotube (CNT) for hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction (HPRR). In the cyclic voltammetry (CV) test with 10 mM H₂O₂ in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4), the current density for HPRR of the suggested catalyst (CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA) shows 0.2813 mA cm^-2 (at 0.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl), which is 2.43 and 1.87 times of non-cross-linked (CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI) and conventional cross liker (glutaraldehyde, GA) used catalyst (CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA), respectively. In the case of onset potential for HPRR, that of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA is observed at 0.544 V, while those of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI and CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA are 0.511 and 0.471 V, respectively. These results indicate that TPA plays a role in facilitating electron transfer between the electrodes and substrates due to the π-conjugated cross-linking bonds, whereas conventional GA cross-linker increases the overpotential by interrupting electron and mass transfer. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results also display the same tendency. The charge transfer resistance (R_ct) of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA decreases about 6.2% from that of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI, while CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA shows the highest R_ct. The polarization curve using each catalyst also supports the superiority of TPA cross liker. The maximum power density of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/TPA (36.34±1.41 μWcm^-2) is significantly higher than those of CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI (27.87±0.95 μWcm^-2) and CNT/PEI/hemin/PEI/GA (25.57±1.32 μWcm^-2), demonstrating again that the cathode using TPA has the best performance in HPRR.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.25-38
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• 2020

Photoelectrochemical water splitting has been considered as the most promising technology for generating hydrogen energy. Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) compounds have currently attracted tremendous attention due to their outstanding ability towards the catalytic water-splitting hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we report the synthesis method of various transition metal dichalcogenide including MoS₂, MoSe₂, WS₂, and WSe₂ nanosheets as excellent catalysts for solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen evolution. Photocathodes were fabricated by growing the nanosheets directly onto Si nanowire (NW) arrays, with a thickness of 20 nm. The metal ion layers were formed by soaking the metal chloride ethanol solution and subsequent sulfurization or selenization produced the transition metal chalcogenide. They all exhibit excellent PEC performance in 0.5 M H₂SO₄; the photocurrent reaches to 20 mA cm^-2 (at 0 V vs. RHE) and the onset potential is 0.2 V under AM1.5 condition. The quantum efficiency of hydrogen generation is avg. 90%. The stability of MoS₂ and MoSe₂ is 90% for 3h, which is higher than that (80%) of WS₂ and WSe₂. Detailed structure analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for before/after HER reveals that the Si-WS₂ and Si-WSe₂ experience more oxidation of Si NWs than Si-MoS₂ and Si-MoSe₂. This can be explained by the less protection of Si NW surface by their flake shape morphology. The high catalytic activity of TMDs should be the main cause of this enhanced PEC performance, promising efficient water-splitting Si-based PEC cells.