• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2017

For an investigation on the effect of the shape of electrodes in alkaline water electrolysis, two kinds of stack with circular and square electrode array are used to visualize both for behaviors of hydrogen bubble around the electrodes and for measurements of hydrogen production from these two stacks. The electrolytes for the hydrogen production experiment were applied for 20 wt%, 25 wt%, 30 wt% and 35 wt% of KOH alkaline aqueous solutions. As a result, the adhesion length of bubbles attached around the square electrode in the visualization experiment was found to be 1.7 times longer compared with the attached around the circular electrode. In the hydrogen production experiments, the volume of hydrogen production of the stack by using circular electrode array was approximately 3% more than that of the stack with square electrode array. These observations may be caused by the effect of the bubbles attached to the around the electrodes obstructing mass transfer such as hydrogen exhaust and electrolyte supply.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.541-548
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• 2019

Zirconia (ZrO₂) materials are widely used in a variety of energy systems and devices. When nanorod-shaped ZrO₂ is used as energy materials, ionic conductivity and mechanical strength can be improved compared to the characteristics of conventional spherical-shaped nanomaterials. In this study, we synthesized ZrO₂ nanorods and investigated the shape change of them depending on various synthesis conditions such as precursor concentration, synthesis temperature, synthesis period, and aging period. The obtained nanorods were casted into a membrane for alkaline water electrolysis system and subjected to basic performance evaluation for use as a separator. The structure and the shape of the nanorods were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the like.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.34-39
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• 2015

This study confirmed the characteristics of hydrogen production according to electrode materials by producing non-diaphragm alkaline water electroanalyzer that can be controlled at medium temperature to produce hydrogen. As a result of the electrochemical characteristics by electrode material ($IrO_2/Ti$, $RuO_2/Ti$, Ti), the highest efficiency was found in $RuO_2/Ti$, as a result of hydrogen production experiment by electrolyte concentration, electrolyte concentration has a tendency to be proportional to hydrogen production and the condition of 30% KOH showed the highest hydrogen production as $118.9m^3/m^3/day$. In the experiment that confirmed hydrogen production according to electrode materials, in case of combination of anode ($IrO^2/Ti$) and cathode ($RuO^2/Ti$), it was $157.55m^3/m^3/day$ that showed a higher hydrogen production by around 6.97% than that of $IrO^2/Ti$ and cathode. It is presumed that the improvement of electrochemical activation of DSA electrode increases hydrogen production and influences the improvement of durability compared to the former electrode so that it enables stable alkaline water electrolysis.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.265-273
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• 2017

Solid-state alkaline water electrolysis is a promising method for producing hydrogen using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Despite active investigations of component development for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), understanding of the device performance remains insufficient for the commercialization of AEMWE. The study of assembled AEMWE devices is essential to validate the activity and stability of developed catalysts and electrolyte membranes, as well as the dependence of the performance on the device operating conditions. Herein, we review the development of catalysts and membranes reported by different AEMWE companies such as ACTA S.p.A. and Proton OnSite and device operating conditions that significantly affect the AEMWE performance. For example, $CuCoO_x$ and $LiCoO_2$ have been studied as oxygen evolution catalysts by Acta S.p.A and Proton OnSite, respectively. Anion exchange membranes based on polyethylene and polysulfone are also investigated for use as electrolyte membranes in AEMWE devices. In addition, operation factors, including temperature, electrolyte concentration and acidity, and solution feed methods, are reviewed in terms of their influence on the AEMWE performance. The reaction rate of water splitting generally increases with increase in operating temperature because of the facilitated kinetics and higher ion conductivity. The effect of solution feeding configuration on the AEMWE performance is explained, with a brief discussion on current AEMWE performance and device durability.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.185-190
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• 2021

Cement has been used as a main material in the modern construction industry. However, it has been pointed out as a main cause of global warming due to carbon dioxide generated during manufactured. Recently, research that replacing cement substitute to industrial by-products such as Blast Furnace Slag which is by-producted in steelworks. When Blast Furnace Slag is used as a cement substitute, it shows a problem of lower initial strength, which is caused by glassy membrane on the particle surface. In this study, we used Electrolysis Alkaline Aqueous to improve the usability and problem of lower initial strength. As a result of the experiment, cement matrix using Blast Furnace Slag and Alkaline Aqueous showed initial strength and hydrate product were developed than that using general mixing water. Also, as a result of porosity analysis, It was confirmed that cement matrix using Alkaline Aqueous and Blast Furnace Slag has a tighter structure in internal porosity and porosity distribution than using general mixing water.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.715-722
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• 2022

Pt-Fe/carbon black nanocatalysts were prepared by spontaneous reduction reaction of Platinum(II) acetylacetonate and Iron(II) acetylacetonate in a nucleophilic solvent and they were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDS), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area analysis and anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolysis test station. The distribution of the Pt and Fe nanoparticles on carbon black was observed by TEM, and the loading weight of Pt-Fe nanocatalysts on the carbon black was measured by TGA. Elemental ratio of Fe:Pt was estimated by EDS and it was found that elemental ratio of Pt and Fe was changed in the range of 1:0 to 0:1, and the loading weight of Pt-Fe nanoparticles on the carbon black was 5.95-6.78 wt%. Specific surface area was greatly reduced because Pt-Fe nanocatalysts blocked the pores. I-V characteristics were estimated.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.204-210
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• 2022

Cement is pointed out as the main cause of carbon dioxide emission in the construction industry. Many researchs are underway to use blast furnace slag, an industrial by-product, as a substitute for cement to reduce carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacturing the cement. When blast furnace slag is used as a substitute for cement, it has advantages such as long-term strength and chemical resistance improvement. However, blast furnace slag has a problem that makes initial strength low. This is due to the impermeable film on the surface created during the production of blast furnace slag. The created film is known to be destroyed in an alkaline environment, and based on this, previous studies have suggested a solution using various alkali activators. But, alkali activator is dangerous product since it is a strong alkaline material. And it has the disadvantage in price competitiveness. In this study, an experiment was conducted to improve the initial hydration reactivity of the blast furnace slag to secure the initial strength of the mortar substituted with the blast furnace slag and to check whether the carbonation resistance was increased. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the mortar using alkaline water showed higher strength than the mortar using tap water, and there were more hydration products generated inside. In addition, it was confirmed that the mortar using alkaline water as a compounding water had high carbonation resistance.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.443-455
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• 2021

In this study, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) was used as a support and a separator was manufactured using polysulfone and inorganic additives to manufacture a separator with low membrane resistance for application of an alkali water electrolysis system, and then the effect on the thickness and porosity of the support was analyzed. The PPS felt used as a support was compressed with variables of temperature (100℃, 150℃, 200℃) and pressure (1 ton, 2 tons, 3 tons, 5 tons) to adjust the thickness. A porous separator could be manufactured by preparing a slurry with polysulfone using BaTiO₃ and ZrO₂ which have high hydrophilicity and excellent alkali resistance as inorganic particles and casting the slurry on a compressed PPS felt. Changes in morphology of the separator according to compression conditions were confirmed through an electron scanning microscope (SEM). After that, the porosity was calculated, and the thickness and porosity tended to decrease as the compression conditions increased. Various characteristics were evaluated to confirm whether it could be used as a separator for water electrolysis. As a result of measuring the mechanical strength, it was confirmed that the tensile strength gradually increased as the compression conditions (temperature and pressure) increased. Finally, it was confirmed that the porous separator manufactured through the alkali resistance test has excellent alkali resistance, and through the IV test, it was confirmed that the membranes compressed at 100℃ and 150℃ had a lower voltage and improved performance than the existing uncompressed membrane.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2018

In this paper, the reliability of the numerical analysis using the two phase flow on the behavior of the hydrogen bubbles in the alkali electrolysis stacks was investigated by comparing the results obtained from numerical analysis and flow visualization experiments. As the results, through comparison with results gotten to visualization experiments, it is possible to approximate analysis for the flow of hydrogen bubbles in the stacks by numerical analysis using the two-phase flow. Also, the flow of hydrogen bubbles around the electrodes could be similarly analyzed by numerical analysis using the two-phase flow.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 1996

Alkaline water electrolysis has been commercialized as the only large-scale method for a long time to produce hydrogen and the technology is superior to other methods such as photochemical, thermochemical water splitting, and thermal decomposition method in view of efficiency and related technical problem. However, such conventional electrolyzer do not have high electric efficiency and productivity to apply to large scale hydrogen production for energy or chemical feedstocks. Solid polymer electrolyte water electrolysis using a perfluorocation exchange membrane as an $H^+$ ion conductor is considered to be a promising method, because of capability for operating at high current densities and low cell voltages. So, this is a good technology for the storage of electricity generated by photovoltaic power plants, wind generators and other energy conversion systems. One of the most important R&D topics in electrolyser is how to minimize cell voltage and maximize current density in order to increase the productivity of the electrolyzer. A commercialized technology is the hot press method which the film type electrocatalyst is hot-pressed to soild polymer membrane in order to eliminate the contact resistance. Various technologies, electrocatalyst formed over Nafion membrane surface by means of nonelectrolytic plating process, porous sintered metal(titanium powder) or titanium mesh coated with electrocatalyst, have been studied for preparation of membrane-electrocatalyst composites. In this study some experiments have been conducted at a solid polymer electrolyte water electrolyzer, which consisted of single cell stack with an electrode area of $25cm^2$ in a unipolar arrangement using titanium mesh coated with electrocatalyst.