• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2014

In this article, we report the fabrication and characterization of carbon sphere/$Fe_3O_4$ nanocomposite for Li/air batteries. $Fe_3O_4$ nanoparticles are dispersed homogeneously on the surface of carbon spheres in an attempt to enhance the low conductivity of oxide catalyst ($Fe_3O_4$). The carbon sphere/$Fe_3O_4$ nanocomposite could offer wide surface area of $Fe_3O_4$ and increased carbon/catalyst contact area, which lead to enhanced catalytic activity. The electrode employing carbon sphere/$Fe_3O_4$ nanocomposite presented relatively low overpotential and stable cyclic performance compared with the electrode employing carbon sphere.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.159-163
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• 2012

A TCO-less ruthenium (Ru) catalytic layer on glass substrate instead of conventional Ru/TCO/ glass substrate was assessed as counter electrode (CE) material in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by examining the effect of the Ru thickness on the DSSC performance. Ru films with different thicknesses (34, 46, 69, and 90 nm) were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on glass substrates to replace both existing catalyst and electrode layer. In order to make our comparison, we also prepared an Ru catalytic layer by a similar method on FTO/glass substrate. Finally, we prepared the $0.45cm^2$ DSSC device the properties of the DSSCs were examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV), impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and current-voltage (I-V) method. CV measurements revealed an increase in catalytic activity with increasing film thickness. The charge transfer resistance at the interface between the electrolyte and Rudecreased with increasing Ru thickness. I-V results showed that the energy conversion efficiency increased up to 1.96%. Our results imply that TCO-less Ru/glass might perform as both catalyst and electrode layer when it is used in counter electrodes in DSSCs.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.202-207
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• 2023

In the case of driving water electrolysis by receiving surplus electricity from solar and wind power generation, operation and stopping must be repeated according to weather fluctuations. When the PEMWE(Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis) is driven and stopped, the PEM fuel cell is in the same state as the PEM fuel cell due to the residual hydrogen and oxygen, and the high potential of the water electrolysis formed during operation is highly likely to cause degradation of the electrode and membrane even during stopping. In this study, in order to check how much degradation of the electrode and membrane progresses during the repeated driving/shutdown process of PEM water electrolysis, the performance decrease was measured by changing the number of driving/shutdown for 144 hours. Changes in electrode catalyst active area, hydrogen permeability and fluorine emision rate of membranes were analyzed to measure changes in the properties of electrodes and polymer membranes. Overall, the PEMWE performance decreased as the number of stops increased. When stopped 5 times in 144 hours, the IrO_x catalyst activity decreased by more than 30%, and the hydrogen permeability increased by 80%, confirming that both the electrode and the membrane were deteriorated.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.413-416
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• 2006

PtRu catalyst is most widely used as anode catalyst for a direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC). To promote the efficiency of the catalysts, it Is important to increase the triple phase boundary. In this study, we have tried to increase the triple phase boundaries in preparing electrocatalysts of the fuel cells, based on the process of grafting a proton-conducting agent onto the catalyst This grafted proton-conducting agent can act as an ionomer like Nafion, currently widely used ionomer. First, we have prepared the 80wt% PtRu/Ketjen Black electrocatalyst by an improved colloidal method. And, we have grafted methylsulfonate groups $(-CH_2SO_3H)$ into the catalyst as proton-conducting agents. As results of cyclic voltammety and single cell test of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), we can conclude that the activity of the grafted electrocatalysts is superior to that of conventional ones, in performance of DMFCs. For our further study, we will investigate the optimum ratio of catalyst/grafted proton conduct Ing agent with maximum performance of a DMFC.

• Clean Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.293-299
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• 2007

Direct coating of catalyst layer on the $Nafion^{(R)}$ membrane has been optimized in the process of fabrication of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) to enhance the performance of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). In this method, the contact resistance at the interface of the catalyst layer and the membrane was found to be low. The effect of catalyst loading, thickness of membrane and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) with or without the presence of micro-porous layer (MPL) on the performance of the MEA was also investigated. The MEA fabricated by the above-mentioned method exhibited a performance of $147\;mW/cm^2$ and $100\;mW/cm^2$ at $80^{\circ}C$ and $60^{\circ}C$, respectively, with the catalysts loading of $4\;mg/cm^2$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 2007

The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is a promising power source for portable applications due to many advantages such as simple construction, compact design, high energy density, and relatively high energy-conversion efficiency. In this work, an electrochemical methanol sensor for monitoring the methanol concentration in direct methanol fuel cells was fabricated using a thin composite nafion membrane as the electrolyte. We have analyzed the I-V characteristic of the fabricated methanol sensor as a function of methanol concentration, catalyst electrode and platinum(Pt) thickness. The fabricated sensor was analyzed by I-V measurement with various methanol concentration. When we measured the sensor characteristics with 10nm Pt and at 1V, the current value was $1.30{\times}10^{-6}A,\;1.96{\times}10^{-6}A\;and\;2.80{\times}10^{-6} A$ for three methanol concentration of 1M, 2M and 3M, respectively. When the methanol concentration was fixed at 2M, the current value of the fabricated device with Pt layers of 5, 10 and 15 nm thickness was $3.06{\times}10^{-6}A,\;1.96{\times}10^{-6}A\;and\;1.00{\times}10^{-6}A$, respectively. These results lead us to the conclusion that when the methanol concentration increases, the output current increases and when the catalyst electrode become thinner, the current increase more. It showed that, the thinner the catalyst electrode, the more electrochemistry become activation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.416-423
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• 1996

Electrochemical reduction of thionyl chloride in 1.5 M $LiAlCl_4/SOCl_2$ electrolyte solution containing tetradentate Schiff base Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Mn(II) complexes has been investigated at the glassy carbon electrode. The catalyst molecules of transition metal(II) complexes were adsorbed on the electrode surface and reduced thionyl chloride resulting in a generation of oxidized catalyst molecules. There was an optimum concentration for each catalyst compound. The current density of $SOCl_2$ reduction was enhanced up to 150% at the catalyst contained electrolyte solution. The reduction currents of thionyl chloride were increased and the reduction potentials were shifted to the negative potential as scan rates became faster. The reduction of thionyl chloride was proceeded to diffusion controlled reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.179-186
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• 2014

Methanol electro oxidation on the surface of carbon paste modified by $NiCl_2/6H_2O$ was studied in 1M NaOH by potentiostatic and potentiodynamic methods. Ni/C catalyst by the concentration of 5% Ni showed about twice higher electro catalytic activity than Ni metal. The amount of monolayer's on the surface of electrode is almost one order higher for Ni/C than Ni electrode. The kinetic parameters and the diffusion coefficient of methanol were derived from chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.456-460
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• 1994

Catalytic effects of various cobalt phenylporphyrin compounds on the reduction of thionyl chloride at glassy carbon electrode have been evaluated by determining kinetic parameters with cyclic voltammetric techniques. The concentration of catalysts and the electrode immersion time have been found to affect the catalyst performance strongly, leading to a conclusion that the compounds are first adsorbed at the electrode surface and act as catalysts. Significant improvements in cell performance have been noted in terms of both exchange rate constants of up to 3 times and current densities of up to 150% at glassy carbon electrode.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.205-210
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• 1995

Catalytic effects of various Schiff base metal(II) complexes on the reduction of thionyl chloride at glassy carbon electrode are evaluated by determining the kinetic parameters from cyclic voltammetry technique. The charge transfer process is affected strongly by the concentration of catalysts during the reduction of thionyl chloride. The catalytic effects are shown by both a shift of the reduction potential for thionyl chloride toward more positive direction and an increase in peak current. The diffusion coefficient value, Do, of the 8.17 ${\times}$ 10-9 $cm^2/s$ was observed at the bare glassy carbon electrode, whereas larger values (0.9-1.09 ${\times}$ 10-8 $cm^2/s$) were observed at the catalyst supported glassy carbon electrode. Significant improvements in the cell performance have been noted in terms of both exchange rate constants and current densities at glassy carbon electrode.