• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2023

In order to improve the durability of the PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) polymer membrane, a radical scavenger and a support are used. In this study, the durability of membranes containing fucoidan extracted from seaweeds and tannic acid serving as a crosslinking agent is evaluated to improve chemical and physical durability. Physical durability is evaluated by measuring tensile strength, and chemical durability is measured by Fenton experiment. Membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) is prepared and mechanical and chemical durability are measured through accelerated durability evaluation in the cell. The tensile strength measurement showed that fucoidan and tannic acid can improve the mechanical durability of the membrane by improving the strain rate and yield strength. It is shown in Fenton experiment that fucoidan acts as a radical scavenger. As a result of the accelerated durability test in the unit cell, fucoidan improved both chemical and mechanical durability, increasing the accelerated durability evaluation time by 38.1% compared to the additive-free membrane. When tannic acid is added, the durability of the polymer membrane is improved by 13.9% by improving the mechanical durability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.333-338
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• 2021

The durability of the PEMFC stack for large commercial vehicles should be more than 5 times that for passenger vehicles. If the Chemical Accelerated Stress Test (AST) of PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) membrane for passenger cars is applied as it is for large commercial vehicles, there is a problem that the AST time becomes more than 2,500 hours. In order to shorten the AST time of DOE (Department of Energy), the chemical durability of the polymer membrane was evaluated using oxygen instead of air as a cathode gas. In this study, Nafion XL was used as a polymer membrane to evaluate accelerated durability under OCV, 90?, RH 30%, H₂/(air or oxygen) conditions. Among the DOE membrane durability target criteria, the decrease rate of short resistance was the fastest. By using oxygen instead of air, the degradation rate of the polymer membrane was accelerated while being less affected by electrode deterioration, reducing the polymer membrane durability evaluation time to less than half.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.321-326
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• 2022

As the thickness of the polymer membrane of PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) is getting thinner for PEMFC performance and price reduction, research on improving durability has become more important. In the durability evaluation of membranes, the mechanical durability evaluation time is more than twice that of the chemical durability evaluation time, so it is necessary to select the durability evaluation conditions well. In this study, we tried to check how much the mechanical durability evaluation time changes when there is a difference in the inflow gas type and flow rate in the mechanical durability evaluation protocol (Wet/Dry). When nitrogen was used at a flow rate of 2,000 mL/min, the evaluation time increased by 1.25 times compared to when air was used. An increase in the degradation rate of the electrode Pt was the main factor when air was used. When the flow rate was reduced to 800 mL/min, the air and nitrogen evaluation times increased by 1.5 times and 1.2 times, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.517-522
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• 2023

A chemical/mechanical durability test of polymer membrane evaluation method is used in which air and hydrogen are supplied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and wet/dry is repeated in the open circuit voltage (OCV) state. In this protocol, when wet/dry is repeated, voltage increase/decrease is repeated, resulting in electrode degradation. When the membrane durability is excellent, the number of voltage changes increases and the evaluation is terminated due to electrode degradation, which may cause a problem that the original purpose of membrane durability evaluation cannot be performed. In this study, the same protocol as the department of energy (DOE) was used, but oxygen was used instead of air as the cathode gas, and the wet/dry time and flow rate were also increased to increase the chemical/mechanical degradation rate of the membrane, thereby shortening the durability evaluation time of the membrane to improve these problems. The durability test of the Nafion 211 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was completed after 2,300 cycles by increasing the acceleration by 2.6 times using oxygen instead of air. This protocol also accelerated degradation of the membrane and accelerated degradation of the electrode catalyst, which also had the advantage of simultaneously evaluating the durability of the membrane and the electrode.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2023

As a PEMFC (Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) cathode catalyst, Pt-Co/C has recently been widely used because of its improved durability. In a fuel cell, electrodes and electrolytes have a close influence on each other in terms of performance and durability. The effect on the electrochemical durability of the electrolyte membrane when Pt-Co/C was replaced in the Pt/C electrode catalyst was studied. The durability of Pt-Co/C MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) was higher than that of Pt/C MEA in the electrochemical accelerated degradation process of PEMFC membrane. As a result of analyzing the FER (Fluorine Emission Rate) and hydrogen permeability, it was shown that the degradation rate of the membrane of Pt-Co/C MEA was lower than that of Pt/C MEA. In the OCV (Open Circuit Voltage) holding process, the rate of decrease of the active area of the Pt-Co/C electrode was lower than that of the Pt/C electrode, and the amount of Pt deposited on the membrane was smaller in Pt-Co/C MEA than in Pt/C MEA. Pt inside the polymer membrane deteriorates the membrane by generating radicals, so the degradation rate of the membrane of Pt/C MEA with a high Pt deposition rate was higher than Pt-Co/C MEA. When the Pt-Co/C catalyst was used, the electrode durability was improved, and the amount of Pt deposited on the membrane was also reduced, thereby improving the electrochemical durability of the membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2021

Since the durability evaluation for improving the durability of PEMFC polymer membranes is very important for the development of PEMFC, research and development of the polymer membrane durability evaluation protocol (AST) continues. Recently, DOE's polymer membrane chemical/mechanical durability evaluation AST was developed and applied to Nafion XL for review. In order to shorten the evaluation time, oxygen was used as a cathode gas instead of air, and it was finished in 144 hours. Since DOE AST has a large number of voltage changes with 45 seconds of humidification and 30 seconds of drying, the degradation of the electrode has more influence on the MEA durability. Therefore, one cycle time was lengthened with 60sec of wet/300sec of dry, and the drying time was made longer than the humidification time to further deteriorate the polymer membrane, and it was finished in 240 hours. It was confirmed that the DOE AST for evaluation of the durability of the polymer membrane was accompanied by electrode degradation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2024

As the demand for hydrogen electric vehicles for commercial vehicles increases, the durability of PEMFCs must increase more than five times that of passenger cars, so research and development to improve durability is urgent. When the PEMFC membrane electrode assembly (MEA) undergoes chemical degradation, the MEA thickness decreases and pinholes occur. In this study, changes in the performance and durability of the MEA were measured while increasing the clamping pressure of the unit cell after open circuit voltage (OCV) holding, an accelerated chemical degradation experiment. As the clamping pressure increased, the resistance of the polymer membrane and the membrane/electrode contact resistance decreased, improving the I-V performance and reducing the hydrogen permeability. As the hydrogen permeability decreased, the OCV increased. When the pinhole area was removed and the MEA clamping pressure was increased, the hydrogen permeability decreased sharply, confirming that the local degradation has a large effect on the performance and durability of the entire cell. When the pinhole was removed and re-clamping and OCV holding was evaluated, it was confirmed that the durability improved according to the decrease in membrane resistance and hydrogen permeability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.362-367
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• 2023

Recently, research and development of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) membranes are progressing in the direction of thinning to reduce prices and improve performance. Demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles for commercial vehicles is also increasing, and their durability should be five times greater than those for passenger vehicles. Despite the thinning of the membranes, the durability of the membranes must be increased five times, so the improvement of the durability of the membranes has become more important. Since the acceleration durability evaluation time also needs to be shortened, the protocol using oxygen instead of air in the existing protocol was applied to a 10 ㎛ thin membrane to evaluate durability. The accelerated durability test (Open circuit voltage holding) was terminated at 720 hours. If the air-based department of energy (DOE) protocol was used, a lifespan of 450,000 km of driving hours would be expected, with a durability of about 1,500 hours. During the chemical durability evaluation, the active area of the electrode decreased by 51%, suggesting that catalyst degradation had an effect on membrane durability. Reducing the catalyst degradation rate is expected to increase membrane durability.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.29.2-29.2
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• 2011

수용액 상에서 유기물이나 무기물의 전해산화에는 높은 산소과전압과 그 화학종에 대한 화학적, 물리적 안정성이 요구되며, 이러한 요구 조건을 만족하는 소재로써 백금족의 원소가 통상 사용되고 있으나, 가격이 매우 비싸다는 단점을 가지고 있다. 특히 고전류밀도 폐수처리 불용성 전극은 수용액을 전기분해할 때 높은 전류밀도를 낼 수 있으며, 폐수에 혼합되어 있는 각종 화학적 성분에 대한 화학적, 물리적 내구성이 있는 전극으로서, 현재 기존의 수처리용 전극은 금속 Ti을 기판으로 하여 그 위에 불용성 촉매로써 전도성 금속염을 도포, 열처리를 반복하여 산화물의 형태로 수 ${\mu}m$의 두께로 코팅하는 이른바, DSA (Dimensionally Stable Anodes) 전극을 사용하고 있는데, 이는 제조 단가의 상승과 금속 Ti 기판 상에 코팅된 전도성 금속산화물의 미약한 접착력으로 인한 탈리로 전극 전체의 성능 저하 및 수명 단축을 초래하는 문제점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 상기의 문제점을 개선하고자 대표적 불용성 촉매 물질인 백금을 RF magnetron 스퍼터링방식으로 100~300 nm 두께로 성막하여 Ti 기판에 대한 불용성 촉매 물질의 부착력과 내구성 및 모의 해수에 대한 해수전해 특성 등을 평가하였다.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2022

Cathode open-type PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) stacks, which are widely used in small transport-type PEMFC, have a problem with poor durability. Through the accelerated durability test of the 13-cell PEMFC stack, we tried to find the cause of the degradation of the stack and to contribute to the improvement of the durability of the cathode open stack. A hydrogen/air boundary is formed during start-up/shut-down (SU/SD) due to the structural problem of the cathode open stack in which the cathode is open to the atmosphere and it is difficult to maintain airtightness, thereby deteriorating the cathode. In this study, it was possible to evaluate the durability in a relatively short time by reducing the 54% of the initial performance by repeating SU/SD 1,800 times on the cathode open stack. After dismantling the stack, each cell was divided into two and the performance was analyzed. Overall, the anode outlet MEA, which facilitates air inflow, showed more severe electrode deterioration than the inlet MEA, confirming that the hydrogen/air boundary formation during SU/SD is the main cause of degradation.