• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.612-618
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• 2023

Modern society spends more than 80% of its daily life indoors, emphasizing the need for attention to indoor air pollution due to the improvement in living standards. In this study, the performance and reaction characteristics of the Pt/TiO₂ catalysts prepared by liquid-phase reduction for the removal of formaldehyde (HCHO), one of the indoor air pollutants, at room temperature without the need for additional light or heat were investigated. As a result, it showed that catalysts prepared by the same method showed approximately 40~80% various activities depending on the type of TiO₂. XRD, BET, and XPS analyses were performed to investigate the particle size, crystal structure, specific surface area, and O/Ti molar ratio of the support material, and it revealed that the correlation between the properties and performance was insignificant. To explore the oxidation reaction pathway of formaldehyde (HCHO), in situ DRIFT analysis using carbon monoxide and H₂-TPR was perfomed. The results revealed that the performance was demonstrated by the oxidation state of the active metal and the adsorption-desorption characteristics of the adsorbate species.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 2003

In this work, the electrode far fuel cell was fabricated by mixing carbon blacks with activated carbon fibers (ACFs) in order to form the proper three phase distribution, and then the change of electrode in three phase distribution was investigated. Pt loading yield with ACF content and Pt particle size were determined by AAS and XRD measurements, respectively. And the pore structures, including specific surface area ($S_{BET}$), microporosity, and pore size distribution (PSD) for each electrode were systematically investigated by BET volumetric measurement. The morphology of electrode in three phase distribution was determined by SEM. As an experimental result, it was observed that Pt loading yield was not influenced on the content of ACF. While, the electrode in three phase distribution was largely improved in the case of 30% ACF addition on carbon blacks. These results were probably explained by the increase of the portion of micropores, resulting in increasing the active sites of catalyst.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.288-294
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• 2009

Various polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) startup procedures were tested to explore possible techniques for reducing performance decay and improving durability during repeated startup-shutdown cycles. The effects of applying a dummy load, which prevents cell reversal by consuming the air at the cathode, on the degradation of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) were investigated via single cell experiments. The electrochemical results showed that application of a dummy load during the startup procedure significantly reduced the performance decay, the decrease in the electrochemically active surface area (EAS), and the increase in the charge transfer resistance ($R_{ct}$), which resulted in a dramatic improvement in durability. After 1200 startup-shutdown cycles, post-mortem analyses were carried out to investigate the degradation mechanisms via various physicochemical methods including FESEM, an on-line $CO_2$ analysis, EPMA, XRD, FETEM, SAED, FTIR. After 1200 startup-shutdown cycles, severe Pt particle sintering/agglomeration/dissolution and carbon corrosion were observed at the cathode catalyst layer when starting up a PEMFC without a dummy load, which significantly contributed to a loss of Pt surface area, and thus to cell performance degradation. However, applying a dummy load during the startup procedure remarkably mitigated such severe degradations, and should be used to increase the durability of MEAs in PEMFCs. Our results suggest that starting up PEMFCs while applying a dummy load is an effective method for mitigating performance degradation caused by reverse current under a repetition of unprotected startup cycles.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2021

The PEM(Proton Exchange Membrane)water electrolysis uses the same PEM electrolyte membrane as the PEM fuel cell and proceeds by the same reaction but the opposite direction. The PEM fuel cell has many methods of degradation analysis since many studies have been conducted on the degradation and durability of the membrane and catalyst. We examined whether PEM fuel cell durability evaluation method can be applied to PEM electrolytic durability evaluation. During the PEM electrolytic degradation process, LSV(Linear sweep voltammetry), CV(Cyclic voltammetry), Impedance, SEM(Scanning Electron Microscope) and FT-IR(Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy) were analyzed and compared under the same conditions as the PEM fuel cell. As the PEM fuel cell, hydrogen passing through the membrane was oxidized at the Pt/C electrode, and the hydrogen permeation current density was measured to analyze the degree of degradation of the PEM membrane. Electrode degradation could be analyzed by measuring the electrode active area (ECSA) by CV under hydrogen/nitrogen flowing conditions. While supplying hydrogen and air to the Pt/C electrode and the IrO2 electrode, the impedance of each electrode was measured to evaluate the durability of the electrode and membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.540-544
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• 2013

During start up and shut down of a proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), the performance and lifetime of PEMFC were reduced. In this study, effect of startup and shutdown were investigated in dead-end type PEMFC using oxygen as a cathode gas with polarization curve, impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Dummy load which eliminates residual hydrogen and oxygen during startup and shutdown operation should be applied to mitigated the degradation of PEMFC performance. At 50% relative humidity (RH) under the repetitive on/off cycling, the cell performance decayed faster than at 100% RH because of corrosion of the cathode carbon support. Water suppling into cell reduced the degradation rate of dead-end type PEMFC during start up and shut down cycling at 50% RH.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.359-366
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• 2013

This work is investigated for the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen iodide (HI). Platinum was used as active material by loading on $ZrO_2-SiO_2$ mixed oxide in HI decomposition reaction. To obtain high and stable conversion of hydrogen iodide in severe condition, it was required to improve catalytic activity. For this reason, a method increasing dispersion of platinum was proposed in this study. In order to get high dispersion of platinum, zirconia was incorporated in silica by sol-gel synthesis. Incorporating zirconia influence increasing platinum dispersion and BET surface area as well as decreasing deactivation of catalysts. It should be able to stably product hydrogen for a long time because of inhibitive deactivation. HI decomposition reaction was carried out under the condition of $450^{\circ}C$ and 1 atm in a fixed bed reactor. Catalysts analysis methods such as $N_2$ adsorption/desorption analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, ICP-AES and CO gas chemisorption were used to measurement of their physico-chemical properties.