• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.161-170
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• 2012

There are many factors to consider when attempting to improve the efficiency of fuel cell operation, such as the operation temperature, humidity, stoichiometry, operation pressure, geometric features, etc. In this paper, the effects of the operation pressure were investigated to find the current density and water saturation behavior on a cross section designated by the design geometry. A two-dimensional geometric model was established with a gas channel that can provide $H_2$ to the anode and $O_2$ and water vapor to the cathode gas diffusion layer (GDL). The results from this numerical modeling revealed that higher operation pressures would produce a higher current density than lower ones, and the water saturation behavior was different at operation pressures of 2 atm and 3 atm in the cathode GDL. In particular, the water saturation ratios are higher directly below the collector than in other areas. In addition, this paper presents the dependence of the velocity behavior in the cathode on pressure changes, and the velocity fluctuations through the GDL are higher in the output area than in inlet area. This conclusion will be utilized to design more efficient fuel cell modeling of real fuel cell operation.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.284-290
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• 1995

다공성 실리콘의 기공은 n형 실리콘의 경우 기판에 수직으로 성장하여 이는 큰 곡률을 가지는 기공 끝 부분에서의높은 전기장에 의한 tunneling 기구로 설명된다. 본연구에서는 불산 수용액에서 전기화학적인 방법으로 다공성 실리콘을 제조할 때 n형 단결정 실리콘 기판과 전해질 용액의 계면에서의 전압 분포를 Poisson식에 의하여 수치적으로 계산하였다. 이 전압 분포로 기공 벽에서의 전기장 세기 및 전류 세기를 구하여 기공이 기판에 수직으로 성장하는 것을 설명하였다. 기공 사이의 거리는 고갈층의 두께에 의하여 결정되며, 고갈층의 두깨를 계산하여 그 원인에 대해서도 고찰하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.1013-1014
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• 2013

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.252.1-252.1
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• 2015

최근 화석연료 고갈 문제를 해결하기 위해 대체에너지 개발과 다양한 형태의 에너지 개발에 관한 연구가 활발히 이루어지고 있다. 특히, supercapacitor는 high energy density, high power density, longer life-time과 같은 특성으로 인해 에너지 저장 소자로 각광 받고 있다. Supercapacitor는 석유를 대체할 수 있으며 이산화탄소 배출이 없는 친환경 에너지인 태양광, 풍력, 수소연료전지 등의 신재생에너지 저장장치로써 큰 비중을 차지한다. Supercapacitor의 종류인 electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) 는 전극과 전해질 사이에 발생하는 전기 이중층에 축적되는 전하를 이용하여 에너지를 저장하는 반응 메커니즘을 가지며 전극 재료로는 탄소 소재를 사용한다. 탄소 소재는 환경 오염이 적고 가격이 저렴하며 넓은 표면적이라는 장점이 있다. 하지만 기존 탄소 소재는 이러한 장점을 가지지만 supercapacitor로써의 효율이 좋지 않게 나온다. 이런 문제를 개선하기 위하여 그래핀 나노플레이트(Graphene nanoplate, GNP) 위에 직접 탄소나노튜브(Carbon nanotube, CNT)를 성장 시킴으로써 GNP-CNT 하이브리드 탄소 소재를 제조하여 전극으로 사용하였다. 이 GNP-CNT 하이브리드 탄소 소재는 다차원 구조를 가짐으로써 기존 탄소 소재들보다 분산이 잘되고 전해질과의 작용하는 비표면적이 넓다. 전극을 제작하여 Cyclic voltammetry(CV)와 galvano를 측정한 결과는 기존 탄소나노튜브보다 5배 정도의 정전용량(Capacitance)를 가졌다. 이 전극의 구조적 특성을 관찰하기 위해 SEM, TEM 등을 측정하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.274-279
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• 2001

Pt/Ti/Si 기판 위에 성장시킨 박막 전지용 비정질 산화 바나듐 박막에 고상 전해질 박막 LiPON을 이용하여 전고상형 박막전지를 제작하여 충-방전 시험을 시행하였다. 이렇게 제작된 전고상형 박막전지는 500 사이클 이상까지 평균 15$\mu$Ah의 방전용량을 나타내었으나 초기 사이클 영역부터 방전 용량의 감소가 일어나기 시작했다. 박막 전지의 방전 용량 감소에 따른 비정질 산화 바나듐 박막의 구조적 특성 변화를 관찰하기 위하여 고분해능 현미경 분석을 시행하였다. 충-방전을 하지 않은 초기의 산화 바나듐 박막은 입계를 갖지 않고 다결정 특성을 보이지 않는 완전한 비정질 특성을 보였고 이는 TED 결과와 일치하였다. 그러나 450번의 반복적인 충-방전을 시행한 후의 비정질 산화 바나듐 박막 내에는 microcrystalline 형태의 산화 바나듐의 형성됨을 고분해능 전자 현미경 분석을 통해 발견할 수 있었다. 비정질 산화바나듐 박막의 방전 용량 감소의 원인인 Li의 비가역적 탈-삽입은 비정질 내에 형성된 microcrystalline에 의해 유발된다고 사료된다. 또한 LiPON 전해질 박막과 산화 바나듐 박막사이의 계면에 Li 이온과 산화바나듐과의 반응에 의해 형성된 계면 층에 발견할 수 있었는데 이러한 계면 층 역시 Li 확산과 계면 저항에 영향을 주어 방전 용량 감소에 원인으로 작용한다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1022-1030
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• 2009

Numerical analysis was carried out to investigate the effect of GDL (Gas diffusion layer) porosity on the performance of PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell). A complete three-dimensional model was chosen for single straight channel geometry including cooling channel. Main emphasis is placed on the heat and mass transfer through the GDL with different porosity. The present numerical results show that at high current densities, the cell voltage is influenced by the GDL porosity while the cell performance is nearly the same at low current densities. At high current densities, low value of GDL porosity results in decrease of the fuel cell performance since the diffusion of reactant gas through GDL becomes slow with decreasing porosity. On the other hand, for high GDL porosity, the effective thermal conductivity becomes low and the heat generated in the cell is not removed rapidly. This causes the temperature of fuel cell to increase and gives rise to dehydration of the membrane, and ultimately increase of the ohmic loss.

• 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.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.65-69
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• 2004

Screen printing it one of the most popular methods for the fabrication of catalytic layer in electrode of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) due to its convenience and adaptability. This paper suggests an improved screen-printing method, which is rather simple suppressing the swelling trouble without additive process and competitive with very low Pt loading in comparison with the previous methods. Particularly, the gasket unified MEA made better performances than the other especially at high current area due to blocking effect on the gas leakage during the operation. These methods give us more simplified and faster fabrication chances.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2024

The key components of a Phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) are an electrode catalyst, an electrolyte matrix and a gas diffusion layer (GDL). In this study, we introduced a microporous layer on the GDL of PAFC to enhance liquid electrolyte management and overall electrochemical performance of PAFC. MPL is primarily used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells to serve as an intermediate buffer layer, effectively managing water within the electrode and reducing contact resistance. In this study, electrodes were fabricated using GDLs with and without MPL to examine the influence of MPL on the performance of PAFC. Internal resistance and polarization curves of the unit cell were measured and compared to each other to assess the impact of MPL on PAFC electrode performance. As the results, the application of MPL improved power density from 170.2 to 192.1 mW/cm². MPL effectively managed electrolyte and water within the matrix and electrode, enhancing stability. Furthermore, the application of MPL reduced internal resistance in the electrode, resulting in sustained and stable performance even during long-term operation.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2008

Stainless steels have been widely considered as metallic bipolar plates, due to their passive surface film, which is good for corrosion resistance. However, the high resistivity of the passive film increases interfacial contact resistance between the bipolar plates and the electrodes. Stainless steels thermal spray coated with a mixture of tungsten carbide and stainless steel powders showed that the coated layer safely combined with the matrix but they suffered many internal defects including voids and cracks. Many cracks were formed in the coated layer and the interface of the matrix and the coated layer during the rolling process. The coated and rolled stainless steels showed lower interfacial contact resistance and corrosion resistance than bare stainless steel because of low resistivity of tungsten carbide and numerous defects, which caused crevice corrosion, in the coated layer.