• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.256-263
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• 2012

We studied the degradation phenomenon of Pt catalyst in PEMFC. We used the electron microscope analysis technique including the ultra-microtome pretreatment method, FEG-SEM and TEM analysis methods for analysis of Pt nanoparticles. The Pt catalyst degradation is observed not only in electrode site but also in membrane site. We investigated these various degradation phenomena. The cathode electrode layer thickness is reduced. The size of the catalyst is increased much larger than initial size in membrane site. The catalyst moved from electrode layer to the electrolyte membrane. The rounded shape of catalyst was changed to the polygon. As a result, we found that the catalyst degradation processes of migration and coarsening occurred by the followings mechanisms; (1) dissolution of Pt ; (2) diffusion of Pt ion ; (3) Pt ion chemical reduction in membrane; (4) Coarsening of Pt particles (Ostwald ripening) ; (5) polygon shape change of Pt by {111} plane growth.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.174-183
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• 2022

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells and water electrolysis are attracting attention in terms of high energy density and high purity hydrogen production. The catalyst layer for the polymer electrolyte fuel cell and water electrolysis is a porous electrode composed of a precious metal-based electrocatalyst and an ionomer binder. Among them, the ionomer binder plays an important role in the formation of a three-dimensional network for ion conduction in the catalyst layer and the formation of pores for the movement of materials required or generated for the electrode reaction. In terms of the use of commercial perfluorinated ionomers, the content of the ionomer, the physical properties of the ionomer, and the type of the dispersing solvent system greatly determine the performance and durability of the catalyst layer. Until now, many studies have been reported on the method of using an ionomer for the catalyst layer for polymer electrolyte fuel cells. This review summarizes the research results on the use of ionomer binders in the fuel cell aspect reported so far, and aims to provide useful information for the research on the ionomer binder for the catalyst layer, which is one of the key elements of polymer electrolyte water electrolysis to accelerate the hydrogen economy era.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.275-280
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• 2018

Methyl ester derived from coconut oil is very interesting to study since it contains free-fatty acid with chemical structure of medium carbon chain ($C_{12}-C_{14}$), so the methyl ester obtained from its part can be a biodiesel and another partially into biokerosene. The use of heterogeneous catalysts in the production of methyl ester requires severe conditions (high pressure and high temperature), while at low temperature and atmospheric conditions, yield of methyl ester is relatively very low. By using microwave irradiation trans-esterification reaction with heterogeneous catalysts, it is expected to be much faster and can give higher yields. Therefore, we studied the production of methyl ester from coconut oil using CaO catalyst assisted by microwave. Our aim was to find a kinetic model of methyl ester production through a transesterification process from coconut oil assisted by microwave using heterogeneous CaO catalyst. The experimental apparatus consisted of a batch reactor placed in a microwave oven equipped with a condenser, stirrer and temperature controllers. Batch process was conducted at atmospheric pressure with a variation of CaO catalyst concentration (0.5; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0, 2.5%) and microwave power (100, 264 and 400 W). In general, the production process of methyl esters by heterogeneous catalyst will obtain three layers, wherein the first layer is the product of methyl ester, the second layer is glycerol and the third layer is the catalyst. The experimental results show that the yield of methyl ester increases along with the increase of microwave power, catalyst concentration and reaction time. Kinetic model of methyl ester production can be represented by the following equation: $-r_{TG}=1.7{\cdot}10^6{_e}{\frac{-43.86}{RT}}C_{TG}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.264-264
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• 2010

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were grown on a Si wafer by using thermal chemical vapor deposition (t-CVD). We investigated the effect of the catalyst deposition rate on the types of CNTs grown on the substrate. In general, smaller islands of catalyst occur by agglomeration of a catalyst layer upon annealing as the catalyst layer becomes thinner, which results in the growth of CNTs with smaller diameters. For the same thickness of catalyst, a slower deposition rate will cause a more uniformly thin catalyst layer, which will be agglomerated during annealing, producing smaller catalyst islands. Thus, we can expect that the smaller-diameter CNTs will grow on the catalyst deposited with a lower rate even for the same thickness of catalyst. The 0.5-nm-thick Fe served as a catalyst, underneath which Al was coated as a catalyst support as well as a diffusion barrier on the Si substrate. The catalyst layers were. coated by using thermal evaporation. The deposition rates of the Al and Fe layers varied to be 90, 180 sec/nm and 70, 140 sec/nm, respectively. We prepared the four different combinations of the deposition rates of the AI and Fe layers. CNTs were synthesized for 10 min by flowing 60 sccm of Ar and 60 sccm of $H_2$ as a carrier gas and 20 sccm of $C_2H_2$ as a feedstock at 95 torr and $810^{\circ}C$. The substrates were subject to annealing for 20 sec for every case to form small catalyst islands prior to CNT growth. As-grown CNTs were characterized by using field emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis NIR spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The fast deposition of both the Al and Fe layers gave rise to the growth of thin multiwalled CNTs with the height of ${\sim}680\;{\mu}m$ for 10 min while the slow deposition caused the growth of ${\sim}800\;{\mu}m$ high SWCNTs. Several radial breathing mode (RBM) peaks in the Raman spectra were observed at the Raman shifts of $113.3{\sim}281.3\;cm^{-1}$, implying the presence of SWCNTs (or double-walled CNTs) with the tube diameters 2.07~0.83 nm. The Raman spectra of the as-grown SWCNTs showed very low G/D peak intensity ratios, indicating their low defect concentrations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.843-850
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• 2003

Cu/PET film composites were prepared by electroless copper plating method. In order to improve adhesion between electroless plated Cu layer and polyester (PET) film, the effect of pretreatment conditions such as etching method, mixed catalyst composition were investigated. Chemical etching and plasma treatment increased surface roughness in decreasing order of Ar＞HCl＞O$_2$＞NH$_3$. However, adhesion of Cu layer on PET film increased in the following order: $O_2$＜Ar＜HCl＜NH$_3$. It indicated that appropriate surface roughness and introduction of affinitive functional group with Pd were key factors of improving adhesion of Cu layer. PET film was more finely etched by HCI tolution, resulting in an improvement in adhesion between Cu layer and PET film. Plasma treatment with NH$_3$produced nitrogen atoms on PET film, which enhances chemisorption of Pd$^{2+}$ on PET film, resulting in improved adhesion and shielding effectiveness of Cu layer deposited on the Pd catalyzed surface. Surface morphology of Cu plated PET film revealed that Pd/Sn colloidal particles became more evenly distributed in the smaller size by increasing the molar ratio of PdCl$_2$; SnCl$_2$from 1 : 4 to 1 : 16. With increasing the molar ratio of mixed catalyst, adhesion and shielding effectiveness of Cu plated PET film were increased.d.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.500-506
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• 2010

The metal monolith catalyst coated with 15wt% Ni/$MgAl_2O_4$ is applied to the natural gas steam reforming for hydrogen production. To address the improvement of adherence between metal monolith and catalyst coating layer, the pre-calcination temperature as well as the coating conditions of $Al_2O_3$ sol are optimized. When the Fe-Cr alloy monolith is pre-calcined at $900^{\circ}C$ for 6 h, $Al_2O_3$ layer was formed uniformly on the entire surface of the metal substrate. It is seen that the formation of $Al_2O_3$ layer on the monolith surface is essential for the uniform coating of $Al_2O_3$ sol onto the monolith substrate. The monolith catalyst coated with 10wt% $Al_2O_3$ sol shows high $CH_4$ conversion and good thermal stability as compared with the monolith catalyst without $Al_2O_3$ sol coating under severe reaction conditions with high GHSV of 30,000 $h^{-1}$ at $700^{\circ}C$. In addition, the metal monolith catalyst shows higher catalytic activity and better thermal conductivity than 15wt% Ni/$MgAl_2O_4$ pellet catalyst.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2008

The key component of a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which comprises a polymer electrolyte membrane and catalyst layers (anode and cathode electrode). Generally the catalyst layer is coated on the porous electrode supporter (e.g. carbon paper or cloth) using various coating methods such as brushing, decal transfer, spray coating and screen printing methods. However, these methods were disadvantageous in terms of the uniformity of catalyst layer thickness, catalyst loss, and coating time. In this work, we used bar-coating method which can prepare the catalyst layer with uniform thickness for MEA of DMFC. The surface and cross-section morphologies of the catalyst layers were observed by SEM. The performances and resistance of the MEAs were investigated through a single cell evaluation and impedance analyzer.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.661-661
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• 2005

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2020

It is necessary to fabricate uniformly dispersed nanoscale catalyst materials with high activity and long-term stability for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent electrochemical characteristics of the oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen oxidation reaction. Platinum is known as the best noble metal catalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells because of its excellent catalytic activity. However, given that Pt is expensive, considerable efforts have been made to reduce the amount of Pt loading for both anode and cathode catalysts. Meanwhile, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method shows excellent uniformity and precise particle size controllability over the three-dimensional structure. The research progress on noble metal ALD, such as Pt, Ru, Pd, and various metal alloys, is presented in this review. ALD technology enables the development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent reactivity and durability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.286-286
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• 2010

The lack of homogeneously sized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) hinders their many applications because properties of SWNTs, in particular electrical conduction, are highly dependent on the diameter and chirality. Therefore, the preferential growth of SWNTs with predetermined diameters is an ultimate objective for applications of SWNTs-based nanoelectronics. It has been previously emphasized that a catalyst size is the one crucial factor to determine the CNTs diameter in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, giving rise to several attempts to obtain size-controllable catalyst by diverse methods, such as solid supported catalyst, metal-containing molecular nanoclusters, and nanostructured catalytic layer. In this work, diameter-controlled CNTs were synthesized using a nanostructured catalytic layer consisting of Fe/Al2O3/Si substrate. The CNTs diameter was controlled by structural modification of Al2O3 supporting layer, because Al2O3 supporting layer can affect agglomeration phenomenon induced by heat-driven surface diffusion of Fe catalytic nanoparticles at growth temperature.