• Membrane Journal
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.44-52
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• 2004

This paper concerns the development of a cationic polymeric membranes for direct methanol fuel cell. The crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes with poly(acrylic acid-co-maleic acid) (PAM) and hydroquinonesulfonic acid (HQSA) as the crosslinking agents were prepared according to the amount of crosslinking agents. The resulting membranes were characterized in terms of methanol permeability, proton conductivity, water content and ion exchange capacity. The methanol permeability and proton conductivity increased with increasing PAM content up to 9 wt% and then decreased. This trend is considered the effect of the cross linking rather than the introduction of hydrophilic groups. When the HQSA contents were varied, no interesting increases of proton conductivity, water content and ion exchange capacity were found.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.786-789
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• 2011

In order to estimate the possibility of applying electrolytes generally used in solid oxide fuel cells(SOFCs) to direct carbon fuel cells(DCFCs), properties of YSZ(yttria stabilized zirconia) electrolyte were evaluated. In this study, vacuum slurry coating method was adapted to coat thin layer on anode support substrate. After sintering the electrolyte at $1400^{\circ}C$ for 5hrs, microstructure was analyzed by using SEM image. Also, gas permeability and ionic conductivity were measured to find out the potential possibility of electrolyte for DCFCs. The YSZ electrolyte represented dense coating layer and low gas permeability value. The ionic conductivity of YSZ electrolyte was high over $800^{\circ}C$. After measurement of the electrolyte properties, direct carbon fuel cell was fabricated and its performance was measured at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.253-258
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• 2008

In this study polyamide 6,6 based thermoplastic composite with graphite and carbon black had been examined feasibility for separators of fuel cell which requires good mechanical and electrical properties with gas impermeability. The effects of molding pressure and filler content on the properties of the composite were investigated. Maximum flexural modulus was obtained about 80 wt% graphite, while electrical conductivity increased with graphite content. Flexural strength increased with molding pressure and tended to level-off from $400\;kgf/cm^2$. Molding pressure did not affect the electrical conductivity. The addition of carbon black enhanced the electrical conductivity of the composite. Mechanical properties were decreased under acidic condition.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.361-370
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• 2009

Ni-PTFE composite plated on graphite (C/Ni-PTFE) and PTFE (PTFE/Ni-PTFE) particles were prepared uniformly by electroless composite plating. The conductivity of C/Ni-PTFE particles was 280 S/m higher than 95 S/m of PTFE/Ni-PTFE particles at same composite plating condition (Ni:35~36 wt%, PTFE:8 wt%). The C/Ni-PTFE particles were formed into the C/Ni-PTFE plate using heat treatment at $350^{\circ}C$ under 10~$1000\;kg/cm^2$. The C/Ni-PTFE plate showed 1) high conductivity of $5.7\;{\times}\;10^4\;S/m$ due to the existence of graphite as conducting aid and the formation of 3-dimensional Ni network 2) good gas diffusion caused by various pore volumes (0.01~$100\;{\mu}m$) in the plate. The plate could be useful for an electrode in an alkaline fuel cell (AFC). The current density of C/Ni-PTFE electrode indicated $84\;mA/cm^2$ at 0.3V and it was 3.0 times higher than that of PTFE/Ni-PTFE electrode.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.264-269
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• 2012

In this study, highly loaded(50 wt%) and very stable Pt/MWCNT catalysts for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells(PEMFCs) are synthesized in short time scale by microwave assisted polyol method with different microwave irradiation time. The XRD and TEM results show that the Pt size becomes bigger as the microwave irradiation time increases. The mean Pt sizes of fabricated catalysts are 4.1, 4.9 and 8.5 nm when the microwave are irradiated for 10, 20 and 30 min, respectively. When compared with Pt catalyst made by conventional polyol method, it shows better long term durability due to the better Pt dispersion on the MWCNT surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.342-350
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• 2009

Fuel cells convert a fuel together with oxygen in a highly efficient electrochemical reaction to electricity and water. Since the electrochemical reaction in the fuel cell stack dose not generate any noise, Fuel cell systems are expected to operated much quieter than combustion engines. However, the tonal noise and the broad band noise caused by a centrifugal compressor and an electric motor cause which is required to feed the ambient air to the cathode of the fuel cell stack with high pressure. In this study, the multi-camber perforated muffler is used to reduce noise. We propose optimized muffler model using an axiomatic design method that optimizes the parameters of perforated muffler while keeping the volume of muffler minimized.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.44-52
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• 2012

Fuel cell electric vehicles have some noise problems due to its air processing unit which is required to feed the ambient air into the fuel cell stack. Discrete-frequency noises are radiated from a centrifugal blower due to rotor-stator interaction. Their fundamental frequency is the blade passing frequency, which is determined by the number of rotor blades and their rotating speed. To reduce such noises, multi-chamber perforated muffler has been designed. In this paper, in order to improve the transmission loss of a perforated muffler, the relationship between the impedance model of a perforated hole and its noise reduction performance is studied, and the applicability of a short-length perforated muffler to air processing unit of fuel cell system is described using acoustic simulation results and experimental data. The acoustic velocity vector across the neck of a perforated hole is very important design factor to optimize the transmission of an intake muffler. The suggested short-length perforated muffler is effective on discrete-frequency noises while keeping the volume of intake muffler minimized.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.3114-3119
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• 2008

Relatively high convective flow exists in the under-rib regions of a gas diffusion layer (GDL) when serpentine flow fields are employed in a PEMFC. This under-rib convection is believed to be favorable for the performance of PEMFCs, by enabling more effective use of catalysts in the under-rib regions. From the fact that the under-rib convection in a GDL is directly proportional to the permeability of the GDL, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to discover the relationship between the GDL permeability and the PEMFC performance. Single-, triple-, and quintuple-path parallel serpentine flow fields for $9\;cm^2$ active cell area were considered while changing the GDL permeability from $1{\times}10^{-12}$ to $5{\times}10^{-11}m^2$. The results showed that higher GDL permeability generally resulted in better performance of PEMFCs, but the degree of performance enhancement became smaller as the parallel path number increased. The effects of the permeability on the local variables were also discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2016

It is important to uniformly supply the fuel gas into the reaction activity area in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Recent studies have shown that the cell performance can be significantly improved by employing metal foam gas distributor as compared with the conventional bipolar plate types. The metal foam gas distributor has been reported to be more efficient to fuel transport. In this study, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have been performed to examine the effects of metal foam flow field design on the fuel supply to the reaction site. Darcy's law is used for the flow in the porous media. By solving additional advection equation for fluid particle trajectory, the gas transport has been visualized and examined for various geometrical configuration of metal foam gas distributor.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 2004

For the application of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), sulfonated polystyrene/teflon (PS/PTFE) composite membranes were developed by changing monomer ratio of styrene and DVB. The composite membranes were prepared as follows: first, the monomer mixtures consisting of styrene, divinyl benzene and AIBN were impregnated in porous PTFE film and then, polymerized under 8$0^{\circ}C$ to give PS/PTFE membranes. Finally, the membranes were reacted with chlorosulfonic acid in 1,2-dichloroethane to give the sulfonated composite membranes. The measurements of ATR-FTIR, SEM, solvent uptake test and ion exchange capacity (IEC) were done for the resulting membranes before or after sulfonation, respectively, which showed the composite membranes with proper crosslinking degree and sulfonic acid content were prepared well as a function of styrene/DVB ratio. ion conductivity and methanol permeability were studied for the sulfonated membranes. It was found that with decreasing the ratio of styrene/DVB, methanol permeability decreased from $6.6{\times}10^{-7}∼1.3{\timas}10^{-7}$ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s, which are much lower values than that of Nafion$^{(R)}$117($1.02{\times}10^{-6}$ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s). Under the same monomer condition, ion conductivity decreased from 0.11 S/cm ($25^{\circ}C$) to 0.08 S/cm ($25^{\circ}C$), which are similar or a little higher values compared with $Nafion^{(R)}117 (1.02{\times}10^{-6}$ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s, 0.0824 S/cm). These two results confirmed the composite membranes prepared could be applied successfully to DMFC.C.