• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.414-420
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• 2011

Thermal stress analysis of a planar anode-supported SOFC considering electrochemical reactions has been performed under operating conditions where average current density varies from 0 to 2000 $A/m^2$. For the case of the 2000 $A/m^2$ operating condition, Structural stress analysis based on the temperature distributions obtained from the CFD analysis of the unit cell has also been done. From this one way Fluid-Structure Interaction(FSI) analysis, Maximum Von-Mises stress under negligible temperature gradient fields occurs when cell components are perfectly bonded. The maximum stress of the electrolyte, cathode and anode in a unit cell SOFC is 262.58MPa, 28.55MPa and 15.1MPa respectively. The maximum thermal stress is critically dependent on static friction coefficient.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.373-373
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• 2009

Relative humidity, membrane conductivity and water activity are critical parameters of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for high performance and reliability. These parameters are closely related with temperature. Moreover, the ideal values of these parameters are not always identical along the channels. Therefore, the cooling channel design and its operating condition should be well optimized along the all location of the channels. In the present study, we have performed a numerical investigation on the effects of cooling channels on performance of a PEMFC. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved with the energy equation including heat generated by the electrochemical reactions in the fuel cell. The present numerical model includes the gas diffusion layers (GDL) and serpentine channels for both anode and cathode gas flows, as well as cooling channels. To accurately predict the water transport across the membrane, the distribution of water content in the membrane is calculated by solving a nonlinear differential equation with a nonlinear coefficient, i.e., the water diffusivity which is a function of water content as well as temperature. Main emphasis is placed on the heat transfer between the solid bipolar plate and coolant flow. The present results show that local current density is affected by cooling channels due to the change of the oxygen concentration and the membrane conductivity as well as the water content. It is also found that the relative humidity is influenced by the generated water and the gas temperature and thus it affects the distribution of fuel concentration and the conductivity of the membrane, ultimately fuel cell performance. Unit-cell experiments are also carried out to validate the numerical models. The performance curves between the models and experiments show reasonable results.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.99-99
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• 2011

Fuel cell systems are a completely different form of electricity source that has been used so far and is an aggregation of multiple technologies with multidisciplinary features that can be operated safely only when gas and electrical safety are being considered. Since fuel cells generate through electrochemical reactions there are difficulties in ensuring electricity safety, power quality assessment, effective control and reliability standards for system faults using conventional inspection techniques and even though they are necessary as a primary means for reduction of CO2 owing to the Climate Convention, electrical safety assessment and measures are required for the prevention of faults in residential facilities. Although small-scaled distributed power supplies can be utilized as important means of peak control and energy management measures, research is required for observing the effects on the system and the development of inspection technology to ensure stable operation, and the electrical safety of residential fuel cell systems need to be assessed and the problems derived for establishing electrical safety standards. From the year 2002, Japan has established laws on technical safety standards and development and rules on the product specifications and standards for the industrialization of hydrogen fuel cells. Also, a lot of effort have been made for the commercialization of fuel cells by building one-stop certification services. Internationally, the IEC TC 105 has established international standards based on fuel cells. In order to protect the national interest, the country should be able to respond accordingly meet global standards. In fact, in Korea, to comply with the international trend, Korea Energy Management Corporation is establishing a certified agenda for fuel cells and Korean Agency for Technology and Standards is enacting technical standards for fuel cells. The current terms of fuel cells are that research has been focused more on the quality and performance of manufactured products rather than stable power operation and maintenance over time. In this paper, by considering the household fuel cell as a power device, the safety standards of the fuel cell system for a reliable operation with the existing power system is being proposed.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.62-72
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• 2010

Solid oxide fuel cells(SOFCs) directly convert the fuel gases to electric energy through electrochemical reactions. The advantage of SOFCs is that they easily operate with diversified fuels such as natural gases owing to their high temperature operation. However, high temperature operation also incurs the challenge in enhancing long term reliability and durability of SOFCs. The most commonly used anode material is Ni/YSZ. This has, however, some drawbacks in terms of long-term reliability at high temperatures, hydrocarbon fuel usages, and so on, therefore the need to develop the new anode materials increases. This article summarizes the trend of the novel anode materials development of SOFCs.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1032-1038
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• 2009

A polypyrrole (PPy)/alumina composite filler prepared via in-situ polymerization of pyrrole on alumina particles was incorporated into $Nafion^{(R)}$ to improve the performance of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators. The IPMCs with the pristine PPy without alumina support did not show bending displacements superior to that of the bare Nafion-based IPMC, except at a high PPy content of 4 wt%. This result was attributed to the low redox efficiency of the PPy alone in the IPMC and may have also been related to the modulus of the IPMC. However, at the optimized filler contents, the cyclic displacement of the IPMCs bearing the PPy/alumina filler was 2.2 times larger than that of the bare Nafion-based IPMC under an applied AC potential of 3 Vat 1 Hz. Even under a low AC potential of 1.5 V at 1 Hz, the displacement of the PPy/alumina-based IPMCs was a viable level of performance for actuator applications and was 2.7 times higher than that of the conventional Nafion-based IPMC. The generated blocking force was also improved with the PPy/aiumina composite filler. The greatly enhanced performance and the low-voltage-operational characteristic of the IPMCs bearing the PPy/alumina filler were attributed to the synergic effects of the neighboring alumina moiety near the PPy moiety involving electrochemical redox reactions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.452-455
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• 2004

In this paper, investigations of the SAMs(self-assembled monolayers) of a thiol-fuctionalized viologen derivatives, $V_8SH$ and $SH_8V_8SH$, where, V is N,N'-dialkylbipyridinium (i.e. a viologen group), have been carried out by elucidate voltammetry date. The redox reactions are highly reversible and can be cycled many times without significant side reaction, which has been known as a nano-gram order mass detector through resonant frequency change self-assembly process of the viologen has been investigated with $QCM({\Delta}F)$. The assembling process of the $V_8SH$ and $SH_8V_8SH$ monolayers can be finished completely in about 1 hour. The measured frequency shift for $V_8SH$ and $SH_8V_8SH$ were about 351 and 172 Hz, respectively. From these values, we calculated that the mass adsorbed $V_8SH$ and $SH_8V_8SH$ were about 375 and 183 ng. We believe that this mass loss is caused by the simultaneous loss of the anions present within the monolayer for charge compensation of the viologen dications and some solvent.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.659-666
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• 2019

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) generate electricity by electrochemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen. PEMFCs are expected to alternate electric power generator using fossil fuels with various advantages of high power density, low operating temperature, and environmental-friendly products. PEMFCs have widely been used in a number of applications such as fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) and stationary fuel cell systems. However, there are remaining technical issues, particularly the long-term durability of each part of fuel cells. Degradation of a carbon supported-platinum catalyst in the anode and cathode follows various mechanistic origins in different fuel cell operating conditions, and thus accelerated stress test (AST) is suggested to evaluate the durability of electrocatalyst. In this article, comparable protocols of the AST durability test are intensively explained.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2011

Corrosion of steel bars embedded in concrete admixed with 0%, 2% and 4% calcium nitrite (CN), having compressive strengths of 20 and 46 MPa was investigated. Reinforced concrete specimens were immersed in 3% NaCl solutions for 1, 7 and 15 days where 0.4A external current was applied to accelerate the chemical reactions. Corrosion rate was measured by retrieving electrochemical data via potentiodynamic polarization technique. Pull-out tests of reinforced concrete specimens were then conducted to assess the corroded steel-concrete bond characteristics. Experimental results showed that corrosion rate of steel bars and steel-concrete bond strength were dependent on concrete strength, amount of CN added and accelerated corrosion period. As concrete strength increased from 20 to 46 MPa, corrosion rate of embedded steel decreased. The addition of 2% CN to concrete of 20 MPa was not effective in retarding corrosion of steel at long time of exposure. However, the combination of higher strength concrete and 2% or 4% CN appear to be a desirable approach to reduce the effect of chloride-induced corrosion of steel reinforcement. After 1 day of corrosion acceleration, specimens without CN showed higher bond strength in both concrete mixes than those with CN. After 7 and 15 days of exposure, the higher concentration of CN, the higher bond strength in both concrete mixes achieved, except for the concrete specimen of 20 MPa compressive strength with 2% CN that recorded the highest deterioration in bond strength at 15 days of exposure.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.65-71
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• 2014

As an important component of a fuel cell, the bipolar plate comprises a large proportion in the fuel cell's volume, weight and price. The bipolar plate is the most widely used; however, graphite bipolar plate is large in volume, brittle and therefore easily broken during assembling. In addition, due to its poor machinability, production costs a lot, unless mass production. Compared with the graphite bipolar plate, the metal bipolar plate has good machinability, high electric conductivity and strong mechanical strength; however, it corrodes easily and has a high contact resistance, so in order to prevent corrosion and reduce the contact resistance, the basic metal needs to be processed by use of electro polishing and coating. The water which is produced by electrochemical reactions in the fuel cell must be discharged smoothly. In this study, in order to prevent corrosion the processes of electro polishing and CrN coating were used. According to the presence or absence of these processes, the contact angles can be measured and different metal bipolar plates can be made, these plates can be used for comparing and analyzing the performance of the fuel cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.208-209
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• 2011

In this work, we developed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiols on gold that can release amine groups, when an electrical potential was applied to the gold. The strategy was based on the introduction of the electroactive carbamate group, which underwent the two-electron oxidation with simultaneous release of the amine molecules, to alkanethiols. The synthesis of the designed thiol compounds was achieved by coupling isocyanate-containing compound with hydroquinone. The electroactive thiols were mixed with hydroxyl-containing alkanethiol [$HS(CH_2)_{11}OH$] to form mixed monolayers, and cyclic votammetry was used for the characterization of the release. The mixed SAMs showed a first oxidation peak at +540 mV (versus Ag/AgCl reference electrode), demonstrating irreversible conversion from carbamate to hydroqinone with simultaneous release of the amine groups. The second and third cycles showed typical reversible redox reaction of hydroquinone and quione: the oxidation and reduction occurred at +290 mV and -110 mV, respectively. The measurement of ToF-SIMS further indicates that electrochemical-assisted chemical reaction successfully released amine groups. This new SAM-based electrochemistry would be applicable for direct release of biologically active molecules that contain amine groups.