• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.171-179
• /
• 2015

Perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomers (PFSAs) have been widely as solid electrolyte materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, since they exhibit excellent chemical durability under their harsh application conditions as well as good proton conductivity. Even PFSA materials, however, suffer from physical failures associated with repeated membrane swelling and deswelling, resulting in fairly reduced electrochemical lifetime. In this study, pore-filling membranes are prepared by impregnating a Nafion ionomer into the pore of a porous PTFE support film and their fundamental characteristics are evaluated. The developed pore-filling membranes exhibit extremely high proton conductivity of about $0.5S\;cm^{-1}@90^{\circ}C$ in liquid water.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.283-292
• /
• 2023

Currently, spray coating has attracted interest in the mass production of anode catalyst layers for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The solvent in the spray ink is a critical factor for the catalyst dispersion in ink, the microstructure of the catalyst layer, and the PEMWE performance. Herein, various pure organic solvents were examined as a substitute for conventional isopropanol-deionized water (IPA-DIW) mixture for ink solvent. Among the polar solvents that exhibited better IrO₂ dispersion over nonpolar solvents, 2-butanol (2-BuOH) was selected as a suitable candidate. The PEMWE single cells were fabricated using 2-BuOH at various ionomer contents, spray nozzle types, and drying temperatures, and their performance was compared to the cells fabricated using a conventional IPA-DIW mixture. The PEMWE single cells with 2-BuOH solvent showed good performances comparable to the conventional IPA-DIW mixture case and highly durable performances under accelerated degradation tests.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.39-44
• /
• 2011

Sub-micrometer $La_{0.8}Ca_{0.2}CrO_3$ powders for ceramic interconnects of solid oxide fuel cells were synthesized by the aqueous combustion process. The materials were prepared from the precursor solutions with different glycine (fuel)-to-nitrate (oxidant) ratios (${\phi}$). Single-phase $La_{0.8}Ca_{0.2}CrO_3$ powders with a perovskite structure were obtained after combustion when ${\phi}$ was equal to or larger than 0.480. Especially, the stoichiometric precursor with ${\phi}$ = 0.555 yielded the spherical $La_{0.8}Ca_{0.2}CrO_3$ particles with 150-250 nm diameters after calcination at $1000^{\circ}C$. When compared with the powders synthesized by the solid-state reaction, the combustion-derived, fine powders exhibited improved sinterability, leading to near-full densification at $1400^{\circ}C$ in oxidizing atmospheres. Moreover, a small quantity of glass additives was used to reduce the sintering temperature, and considerable densification was indeed achieved at temperatures as low as $1100^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1999.07d
• /
• pp.1876-1878
• /
• 1999

Developed was a 5kW-class polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) system comprised of fuel cell stack, fuel processing, thermal and water management subsystems and ancillary equipments. Several large single cells have been fabricated with different gas flow field patterns and paths, and the gas flow field pattern for the stack has been determined based on the single cell performance of thin film membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The PEMFC stack was consisted of 100 cells with an electrode area of $300cm^2$, having serpentine flow pattern. Fuel processing was developed including an autothermal methanol reformer and two preferential CO oxidation reactors. The fuel processing was combined to PEMFC operation system consisted of air compressor and thermal and water management subsystems. The PEMFC stack showed performance of 5kW under the supply of $H_2$ and air, but its performance was lowered to 3.5kW under the supply of reformed gas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.289-292
• /
• 2009

The fabrication method of glass bipolar plates for micro PEM fuel cell application has been established and performance evaluation has been carried out. The advantages of glass bipolar plates for micro PEM fuel cells are light weight, high chemical resistivity, and easy manufacture. The MEMS fabrication process of anisotropic wet etching, thermal & UV bonding along with metal layer deposition has been introduced. From performance evaluation, it was shown that the micro fuel cell with a metal layer deposited on the reactive area yielded higher power density than the one without it. But both power densities of the two cases showed out to be adequate with the current status of micro fuel cell technology.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.269-276
• /
• 2016

Carbon-supported ordered Pt-Ti alloy nanoparticles were prepared as a durable and efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) via wet chemical reduction of Pt and Ti precursors with heat treatment at $800^{\circ}C$. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the prepared electrocatalysts with Ti precursor molar compositions of 40% (PtTi40) and 25% (PtTi25) had ordered $Pt_3Ti$ and $Pt_8Ti$ structures, respectively. Comparison of the ORR polarization before and after 1500 electrochemical cycles between 0.6 and 1.1 V showed little change in the ORR polarization curve of the electrocatalysts, demonstrating the high stability of the PtTi40 and PtTi25 alloys. Under the same conditions, commercial carbon-supported Pt nanoparticle electrocatalysts exhibited a negative potential shift (10 mV) in the ORR polarization curve after electrochemical cycling, indicating degradation of the ORR activity.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.370-376
• /
• 2024

Load variations reduce the lifespan of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). To analyze the impact of load variations on durability of PEFCs, two stacks were built and operated continuously for 400 hours, one under load variations and the other under constant current condition with the same energy output. Using the example model provided by Mathworks, we obtained load variation data for the experiments. The performance curves were measured every 100 hours and analyzed by current interruption method and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The degradation comparison shows a much larger decrease in performance under the load variation. The activation resistance, electrical resistance, and mass transfer resistance are all found to increase more.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.1204-1208
• /
• 2011

Nanoscopic $Co_3O_4$ particles were prepared using avian egg membrane as a template at $800^{\circ}C$. The prepared materials were subjected to XRD, SEM, TEM and Raman spectroscopic studies. Cyclic voltammetry study shows a single step oxidation and reduction process. Electrochemical lithium insertion behavior of the materials was examined in coin cells of the 2032 configuration. The material showed a discharge capacity 600mAh/g even after 20 cycles.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.06a
• /
• pp.121-124
• /
• 2007

Stacks of solid oxide fuel cell under 1kW max power were designed on planar type employing anode supported cell and metallic interconnects. The stacks composed of 3-cells, 8-cells, and 16-cells were fabricated by using single cell purchased from Indec, sealant and interconnect prepared at RIST. In performance test of the final 16-cells stacks, OCV was recorded to be 16.7 V. Peak power and power density were 1 kW, 0.77 $W/cm^{2}$ at $820^{\circ}C$, respectively. In addition, the long term degradation rate of the power exhibited 2.25 % in 500 h at $750^{\circ}C$.

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