• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.403-407
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• 2007

The anodic degradation of benzoquinone(BQ), a model compound for wastewater treatment was carried out using a home-made flow-through electrochemical cell with carbon fibers. To optimize the controlled current electrolysis condition of an aqueous BQ solution, the experimental variables affecting the degradation of BQ, such as the applying current, pH, reaction time, and flow rate of the BQ solution were examined. The degradation products of the oxidation reaction were identified by High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer. Low molecular weight aliphatic acids, and CO2 were the major products in this experiment. The removal efficiency of BQ from the solution increased with the applying current and time. 99.23% of 1.0 × 10-2 M BQ was degraded to aliphatic acids and CO2 when the applying current is 175 mA in a 12 hr electrolysis.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.170-177
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• 2006

Optimum design of flow channel in the separation plate of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell is very prerequisite to reduce concentration over potential at high current region and remove the water generated in cathode effectively. In this paper, fully 3 dimensional computational model which solves anode and cathode flow fields simultaneously is developed in order to compare the performance of fuel cell with parallel and interdigitated flow channels. Oxygen and water concentration and pressure drop are calculated and i-V performance characteristics are compared between flows with two flow channels. Results show that performance of fuel cell with interdigitated flow channel is hi민or than that with parallel flow channel at high current region because hydrogen and oxygen in interdigitated flow channel are transported to catalyst layer effectively due to strong convective transport through gas diffusion layer but pressure drop is larger than that in parallel flow channel. Therefore Trade-off between power gain and pressure loss should be considered in design of fuel cell with interdigitated flow channel.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.74-82
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• 2012

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance is changed by the complicated physical phenomenon. In this study, water discharge performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell were performed numerically to compare serpentine channel flow fields of 5-pass 4-turn serpentine and 25 $cm^2$ reaction surface between with and without sub-channel at the rib. Through the supplement of sub channel flow field, it is shown from the results that water removal characteristic inside channel improves because the flow direction of under-rib convection is changed into the sub channel. Reacting gases supplied from entrance disperse into sub channel flow field and electrochemical reaction occurs uniformly over the reaction surface. The results obtained that total current density distributions become uniform because residence time of reacting gases traveling to sub-channel flow field is longer than to main channel.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3440-3445
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• 2007

For proton exchange membrane fuel cell, it is very important to design the flow channel on separation plate optimally to maximize the current density at same electrochemical reaction surface and reduce the concentration polarization occurred at high current density. In this paper, three dimensional computation model including anode and cathode domain together was developed to examine effects of flow patterns and operation conditions such as humidity and operating temperature on performance of fuel cell. Results show that voltage at counter flow condition is higher than that at coflow condition in parallel and interdigitated flow pattern. And fuel cell with interdigitated flow pattern which has better mass transport by convection flow through gas diffusion layer has higher performance than with parallel flow pattern but its pressure drop is increased such that the trade off between performance and pressure drop should be considered for selection of flow pattern of fuel cell.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.330-338
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• 2021

An integral electrode-bipolar plate assembly, which is composed of electrode, conductive adhesive film (CAF) and bipolar plate, has been developed and evaluated for application with a vanadium redox flow battery (VRB) to decrease contact resistance between electrode and bipolar plate. The CAF, made of EVA (ethylene-vinyl-acetate) material with carbon black or CNT (Carbon Nano Tube), is applied between the electrode and the bipolar plate to enable an integral assembly by adhesion. In order to evaluate the integral assembly of VRB by adhesive film, the resistivity of integral assembly and the performance of single cell were investigated. Thus, it was verified that the integral assembly is applicable to redox flow battery. Through resistance and contact resistance of bare EVA and CAF films on bipolar plate were changed. Among the adhesive films, CAF film coated with carbon black showed the lowest value in through resistance, and CAF film coated with CNT showed the lowest value in contact resistance, respectively. The efficiency of VRB single cell was improved by applying CAF films coated with carbon black and CNT, resulting in the reduced overvoltage in charging process. Therefore, the energy efficiency of both CAF films, about 84%, were improved than that of blank cell, about 79.5 % under current density at 40 mA cm^-2. The energy efficiency of the two cells were similar, but carbon black coated CAF improved the coulomb efficiency and CNT coated CAF improved the voltage efficiency, respectively.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2017

A simple strategy is proposed herein for attaining uniform current distribution in direct methanol fuel cells by varying the catalyst loading over the electrode. In order to use the same total catalyst amount for a serpentine flow field, three spatial variation types of catalyst loading were selected: enhancing the cathode catalyst loading (i) near the cathode outlet, (ii) near the cathode inlet, and (iii) near the lateral areas. These variations in catalyst loading are shown to improve the homogeneity of the current distribution, particularly at lower currents and lower air-flow rates. Among these three variations, increased loading near the lateral areas was shown to contribute most to achieving a homogenous current distribution. The mechanism underlying each catalyst loading variation method is different; very high catalyst-loading is shown to decrease the homogeneity of the distribution, which may be caused by water management in the thick catalyst layer thereof.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2011

This work focuses on the behavior of the overpotential increase due to a utilization rise in a molten carbonate fuel cell. The behavior is generally explained by Nernst loss, which is a kind of voltage loss due to the thermodynamic potential gradients in a polarization state due to the concentration distribution of reactant species through the gas flow direction. The evaluation of Nernst loss is carried out with a traditional experimental method of constant gas utilization (CU). On the other hand, overpotential due to the gas-phase mass-transport resistance at the anode and cathode shows dependence on the utilization, which can be measured using the inert gas step addition (ISA) method. Since the Nernst loss is assumed to be due to the thermodynamic reasons, the voltage loss can be calculated by the Nernst equation, referred to as a simple calculation (SC) in this work. The three values of voltage loss due to CU, ISA, and SC are compared, showing that these values rise with increases in the utilization within acceptable deviations. When we consider that the anode and cathode reactions are significantly affected by the gas-phase mass transfer, the behavior strongly implies that the voltage loss is attributable not to thermodynamic reasons, namely Nernst loss, but to the kinetic reason of mass-transfer resistance in the gas phase.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.2274-2278
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• 2012

To test the efficiency of the BDD electrode for complete mineralization of organic wastewater, phenol and 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) were treated electrochemically with both an active Pt/Ti electrode and a nonactive boron doped diamond (BDD) electrode, respectively, in neutral aqueous medium. Aqueous solutions of both phenol and 2-chlorophenol were treated electrochemically using an in-house fabricated flow through electrochemical cell (FTEC). The experimental variables included current input, treatment time, and the flow rate of the solutions. Depending on the magnitude of the applied current and reaction time, the compounds were either completely degraded or partially oxidized to other intermediates. Removal efficiencies reached as high as 93.2% and 94.8% both at the Pt/Ti electrode and BDD electrode, respectively, at an applied current of 200 mA for a 3.0 hr reaction and a flow rate of 4 mL/min. The BDD electrode was much more efficient for the complete mineralization of phenol and 2-chlorophenol than the Pt/Ti electrode.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.212-216
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• 2003

The humidification measurement system designed in laboratory was used to measure relative humidity and temperature of reaction gases passing through internal or external humidifier which was used in proton exchange membrane fuel cell test station. The relative humidity of gases was stabilized after $10\~20$ minutes and thus credibility of data could be assured. The effect of relative humidity on fuel cell performance could be analyzed by humidity measurement system. Extreme caution was needed to avoid humidity sensor mal-function or failure which is probable in experiment of high humidity condition near $100\%$. The amount of water carried by gas through humidifier was increased along the flow rate of gas. However, the extent of increase was lowered at high gas flow rate. These phenomena could be analyzed as residence time effect of gas in humidifier.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.316-318
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• 1997

A general and universal detection method, which can be used in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and flow injection analysis (FIA) system for the determination of any metal ions complexing with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), is demonstrated. Pulsed amperometric detection scheme is applied in a flow-through thin layer electrochemical cell at an Au working electrode. Fluctuation of peak current level at the same flow rate of carrier solution is minimized at this solid working electrode, whereas not at a dropping mercury electrode. Removal of dissolved oxygen can be omitted with this detection method, which is a required step for cathodic detection methods. Also, a group of metal ions can be determined selectively and indirectly with this detection scheme.