• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2016

The experiments related on structure and water electrolysis performance of HALE UAV stack were conducted in this study. Anode catalyst $IrRuO_2$ was prepared by Adam's fusion methods as 2~3 nm nano sized particles, and the cathode catalyst was used as commercial product of Premetek. The MEA (membrane electrode assembly) was manufactured by decal methods, anode and anode catalytic layers were prepared by electro-spray. HALE stack was composed of 5 multi-cells as $0.2Nm^3/hr$ hydrogen production rate with hydrogen pressure as 10 bar. The water electrolysis performance was investigated at atmospheric pressure and temperature of $55^{\circ}C$. Best performance of HALE UAV stack was recorded as cell voltage efficiency as 86%.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.102-110
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• 2014

The effect of a bonding layer on the performance of a quarter-wave (${\lambda}/4$) mode PVDF ultrasound transducer having not only a piezoelectric layer but also a non-piezoelectric layer between two electrodes was analyzed. The equivalent circuit of a transmission line model by Kikuchi et al.[Sound of IEICE, 55-A, 331-338 (1981)] was introduced for the analysis. The validity of the model was confirmed by comparison with a KLM model for three postulated adhesion cases of a $80{\mu}m$ thick piezoelectric PVDF film to a copper (Cu) backer. The pulse-echo responses of five PVDF transducers, each fabricated with a different thickness ($5{\mu}m{\sim}20{\mu}m$) of the bonding layer, were measured and the results were compared with those by simulation. The two results were in good agreement with each other and it was noted that the effect of the bonding layer on the performance of the transducer could be analyzed by the Kikuchi model. In detail, the $20{\mu}m$ bonding layer decreased the center frequency and the bandwidth by about 19.7 % and 25.0 %, respectively, and increased the insertion loss by 57.2 %.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2009

With respect to the durability of large scale ($150cm^2$) membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), degradation phenomena at cathode is monitored and analyzed according to the position on the cathode surface. After constant current mode operation of large scale MEA for 500 hr, the MEA is divided into three parts along the cathode channel; (close to) inlet, middle, and (close to) outlet. The performance of each MEA is tested and it is revealed that the MEA from the cathode outlet of large MEA shows the worst performance. This is due to the catalyst degradation and GDL delamination caused by flooding at cathode outlet of large MEA during the 500 hr operation. Particularly on the catalyst degradation, the loss of electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) of catalyst gets worse along the cathode channel from inlet to outlet, of which the reason is believed to be loss of catalysts by dissolution and migration rather than their agglomeration. The extent of loss in the performance and catalyst degradation has strong relation to the cathode flooding and it is required to develop proper water management techniques and separator channel design to control the flooding.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.445-449
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• 2012

The activation process of the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) is important for the mass production of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. The conventional activation process for the MEA requires excessive time and hydrogen gas and it might become the barrier for the commercialization of the fuel cell. The conventional activation process is based on hydrolysis of ion conducting membrane. In the study, we suggest the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique as an on-line activation process and the CV activation process consists of two steps : 1) the humidification of the polymer electrolyte membrane and the electrode with 100% RH humidified nitrogen ($N_{2}$) gas, and 2) the removal step of the oxide layer on the surface of the Pt catalyst with CV cycling. The cycling reduces the activation time of the MEA by 2.5 h and use of hydrogen gas by 1/4.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.558-563
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• 2014

To study the effects of fabrication methods on the performance and durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) were fabricated using a Dr blade method, a spray method, screen print method and screen print + spray method. The performance of single cells assembled with the prepared MEAs were initially measured and compared. Electrode accelerated stress testing (AST) involving a potentiostatic step-wave with 10 s at 0.6 V followed by 30 s at 0.9 V was applied to test durability of MEAs. Before and after 6,000cycles of the AST, I-V curves, impedance spectra, cyclic voltammograms, linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were measured. Under the operating conditions, the Dr Blde MEA exhibited the highest initial performance. After electrode accelerated stress testing, screen print + spray MEA showed lowest degradation rate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.125.2-125.2
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• 2010

In this paper, both theoretical and experimental investigations have been performed to examine the effects of key operating parameters on the cell performance of a DMFCs (i.e., methanol feed concentration and operating temperature). For experiment, the membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) were prepared using a conventional MEA fabrication method based on a catalyst coated electrode (CCE) and tested under various cell temperatures and methanol feed concentrations. The polarization curve measurements were conducted using in-house-made $25cm^2$ MEAs. The voltage-current density data were collected under three different cell temperatures ($50^{\circ}C$, $60^{\circ}C$, and $70^{\circ}C$) and four different methanol feed concentrations (1 M, 2 M, 3 M, and 4 M). The experimental data indicate that the measured I-V curves are significantly altered, depending on these conditions. On the other hand, previously developed one-dimensional, two-phase DMFC model is simulated under the same operating conditions used in the experiments. The model predictions compare well with the experimental data over a wide range of these operating conditions, which demonstrates the validity and accuracy of the present DMFC model. Furthermore, both simulation and experimental results exhibit the strong influences of methanol and water crossover rates through the membrane on DMFC performance and I-V curve characteristics.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.415-417
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• 2009

A low temperature decal (LTD) transfer method is tried to fabricated hydrocarbon (HC) membrane based MEA. Sandwiched structures of outer ionomer/catalyst/carbon coating/substrate, which had been developed for Nafion membrane, are used for transfer of catalyst to the HC membrane. Performances of the HC MEA before and after 500hr continuous operation are compared and it is found that a severe delamination occurs at the interface between the HC membrane and the catalyst layer, which is the main reason of the low performance and its degradation. The delamination is due probably to the different nature of HC membrane to the Nafion ionomer. A substitutional method, therefore, is suggested to overcome this. In such a way, the outer ionomer process is removed and the low transfer rate of catalyst by skipping the ionomer process is compensated with optimization of other process variables such as transfer time or temperature. The resulting performance is superior to the original LTD method, which can be explained in terms of low resistive components both in ohmic and kinetic.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.1 s.9
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• pp.60-67
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• 2007

Catalyst coated membrane [CCM] type and catalyst coated substrate [CCS] type of membrane electrode assembly [MEA] were manufactured and evaluated their performance. Degradation test were conducted to find the difference of long term stability in two types of MEA and the factor for performance degradation problem occurred. Performance degradation test of single cell in two different types of MEA were carried out when current density was $200mA/cm^{2}$. The degradation test had proceeded for 230 hours and performance degradation was checked by I-V curve and impedance measurement at regular intervals. Also, MEA before/after operation and changes of catalyst layer were characterized by SEM, TEM, and XRD. Maximum power density of CCM type was higher than that of CCS type. Meanwhile, an increase of particle size of catalyst and an increase of impedance resistance after long term operation were observed. In the case of using CCM type MEA, the performance was deteriorated 38% of initial performance. In the case of using CCS type MEA, the performance was deteriorated 43% of initial performance. In consideration of difference of initial performance, performance of CCM type is higher than that of CCS type but both types had similar problems during degradation test.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.95.2-95.2
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• 2011

In order to achieve high performance and low cost for commercial applications, the development of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA), in which the electrochemical reactions actually occur, must be optimized. Expensive platinum is currently used as an electrochemical catalyst due to its high activity. Although various platinum alloys and non-platinum catalysts are under development, their stabilities and catalytic activities, especially in terms of the oxygen reduction (ORR), render them currently unsuitable for practical use. Therefore, it is important to decrease platinum loading by optimizing the catalysts and electrode microstructure. In this study, we prepared several different MEAs (non-uniform Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer loading electrode) which have dual catalyst layers to find the optimal Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer distribution in the electrodes. We changed Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer content in the layers to find the ideal composition of the binder and Pt/C in the electrode. For MEAs with various ionomer contents in the anodes and cathodes, the electrochemical activity (activation overpotential) and the mass transport properties (concentration overpotential) were analyzed and correlated with the single cell performance. The dual catalyst layers MEA showed higher cell performance than uniformly fabricated MEA, especially at the high current density region.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.410-415
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• 2009

A hydrogen cooling method is used in a power generator for removing the unnecessary heat due to the windage loss of a rotor and the joule heat of a stator. A MEA (Membrane Electrolyte Assembly) hydrogen generator has been developed and applied as a hydrogen supplying system for the cooling of a 350MW power generator. As a field application result, the average potential of eleven cells and the voltage efficiency were measured 2.26V/cell and 65.4% (Higher Heating Value) respectively at the hydrogen pressure of 6 Bar, the hydrogen flow rate of 9.1L/min, and the current of 150A.