• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.39-46
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• 2006

The fuel cell is one of promising environment-friendly energy sources for the next generation. The bipolar plate is a major component of the PEM fuel cell stack, which takes a large portion of stack cost. In this study, as alternative materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells, graphite composites were fabricated by compression molding. Graphite particles mixed with epoxy resin were used as the main substance to provide electric conductivity To achieve desired electrical properties, specimens made with different mixing ratio, processing pressure and temperature were tested. To increase mechanical strength, one or two layers of woven carbon fabric were added to the graphite and resin composite. Thus, the composite material was consisted of three phases: graphite particles, carbon fabric, and epoxy resin. By increasing mixing ratio of graphite, fabricated pressure and process temperature, the electric conductivity of the composite was improved. The results of tensile test showed that the tensile strength of the two-phase graphite composite was about 4MPa, and that of three-phase composite was increased to 57MPa. As surface properties, contact an91e and surface roughness were tested. Graphite composites showed contact angles higher than $90^{\circ}$, which mean low surface energy. The average surface roughness of the composite specimens was $0.96{\mu}m$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.130.1-130.1
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• 2010

분리판(Bipolar plate)은 MEA 및 GDL의 구조적지지, 연료와 산화제를 공급해 주는 통로역할, 발생한 전류의 수집 및 전달, 그리고 반응 생성물의 수송 및 제거 등의 다양한 역할을 한다. PEMFC 및 DMFC의 분리판에 주로 사용되고 있는 재질은 Graphite 및 금속 물질이다. Graphite는 내부식성이 좋고 가벼워 현재 가장 많이 사용되고 있지만, 가공이 어렵고 깨질 위험이 있으며 두껍고 비교적 값이 비싸다. 금속은 가공성이 좋고 높은 전기 전도도를 가지며 가격이 저렴한 반면, 내부식성이 좋지 않은 단점이 있다. 연료전지를 실용화하는데 있어 중요한 문제 중 하나는 전지 성능의 수명과 경제성이며, 위와 같은 Graphite와 금속의 특성으로 인하여, Graphite 분리판을 금속 분리판으로 대체하기 위한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 원가절감을 위한 대량생산공정 중 하나인 염욕질화공정의 도입 및 적용을 위한 목적으로, 다양한 처리조건에 의해서 금속 표면을 처리하였으며, 표면처리된 금속은 부식특성, 접촉저항, 및 내구성 등을 평가하고 이를 통하여 금속계 분리판 적용성에 대해 알아보고자 한다.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.317-321
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• 2019

We investigated the characteristics of nano crystalline silicon(nc-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite substrates. Amorphous silicon(a-Si) thin-film solar cells on graphite plates show low conversion efficiency due to high surface roughness, and many recombination by dangling bonds. In previous studies, we deposited barrier films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) on graphite plate to reduce surface roughness and achieved ~7.8 % cell efficiency. In this study, we fabricated nc-Si thin film solar cell on graphite in order to increase the efficiency of solar cells. We achieved 8.45 % efficiency on graphite plate and applied this to nc-Si on graphite sheet for flexible solar cell applications. The characterization of the cell is performed with external quantum efficiency(EQE) and current density-voltage measurements(J-V). As a result, we obtain ~8.42 % cell efficiency in a flexible solar cell fabricated on a graphite sheet, which performance is similar to that of cells fabricated on graphite plates.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2006년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.105-108
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• 2006

The fuel cell is one of the promising environment-friendly energy sources for the next generation. The fuel cell provides good energy efficiency above 40% without pollution or noise. Different fuel cell types are usually distinguished by the kind of electrolyte. Among these, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has advantages of high power density. low operating temperature, relatively quick start-up, and rapid response to varying loads. The bipolar plate is a major component of the PEM fuel cell stack, and it takes a large portion of stack volume, weight and cost. In this study, as alternative materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells, graphite composites were fabricated by compression molding and by machining. Graphite particles mixed with epoxy resin were used as the main substance to provide electric conductivity. Flow channels were fabricated by compression molding with design of experiments (DOE) to evaluate moldability. The cost for compression molding of graphite-composite bipolar plate was compared with machining cost to make the same bipolar plate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2009년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.180-183
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• 2009

Composite bipolar plates offer several advantages of low cost, light weight, and ease of manufacturing compared to traditional graphite plate. However, it is difficult to achieve both high electrical conductivity and high flexural strength. In this study, the hybrid carbons filled epoxy composite bipolar plates were fabricated to test electrical conductivity and flexural properties. Graphite powders were used as the main conducting filler and continuous carbon fiber fabrics were inserted to improve the mechanical properties of the composite. This hybrid composite showed improved in-plane electrical conductivity and flexural property. The moldability of the hybrid composite was also improved comparing to the continuous prepreg composite. This study suggested that the continuous carbon fiber inserted graphite/epoxy composites can be a potential candidate material to overcome the disadvantages of conventional graphite composite or continuous prepreg composite bipolar plates.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.238-242
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• 2020

Sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) illustrated great potential for powering environmental sensors and bioremediation of sediments. In the present study, array anodes for SMFCs were fabricated with graphite rods as anode material and stainless steel plate as electric current collector to make it inconvenient to in situ settle down and not feasible for large-scale application. The results demonstrated that maximum power of 89.4 ㎼ was obtained from three graphite rods, twice of 43.3 ㎼ for two graphite rods. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that three graphite rods resulted in anodic resistance of 61.2 Ω, relative to 76.0 Ω of two graphite rods. It was probably caused by the parallel connection of the graphite rods, as well as more biomass which could reduce the charge transfer resistance of the biofilm anode. The presently designed array configuration possesses the advantages of easy to enlarge the surface area, decrease in anodic resistance because of the parallel connection of each graphite rod, and convenience to berry into sediment by gravity. Therefore, the as prepared array node would be an effective method to fabricate large-scale SMFC and make it easy to in situ applicate in natural sediments.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2012년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.583-584
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• 2012

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.131-138
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• 2014

Highly conductive bipolar plate for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was prepared using phenol novolac-type epoxy/graphite powder (GP)/carbon fiber filament (CFF) composite, and a rubber-modified epoxy resin was introduced in order to give elasticity to the bipolar plate graphite fiber (GF) was incorporated in order to improve electrical conductivity. To find out the cure condition of the mixture of novolac-type and rubber-modified epoxies, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was carried out and their data were introduced to Kissinger equation. And tensile and flexural tests were carried out using universal testing machine (UTM) and the surface morphology of the fractured specimen and the interfacial bonding between epoxy matrix and CFF or GF were observed by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

• 신재생에너지
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.75-82
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• 2007

Aluminum was used as metallic bipolar plate material to reduce a stack weight. The functional materials such as conductive material, Au and nonconductive material, PTFE [polytetrafluoroethylene] were coated on the bipolar plate to enhance electrical contact and corrosion prevention in PEMFC. The active area of bipolar plate is divided into the top layer part that electric current mainly passes, and the bottom layer part that gas and water pass. The bottom layer part in the flow channel needs not to have electrical conductivity because it doesn't pass electric current directly. In this reason, Au on the top layer and PTFE on the bottom layer were coated to apply high electrical conductivity and/or good corrosion resistance. Although the single cell performance using Au-PTFE/Al bipolar plate was shown 78% in comparison with that of graphite, specific power of Au-PTFE/Al bipolar plate(0.4 W/g) was twice as much as graphite bipolar plate.

• 한국표면공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국표면공학회 2015년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.338-338
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• 2015

VRFB(Vanadium Redox Flow Battery)는 바나듐계 이온을 전해질로 사용하는 레독스 흐름 전지로, 전해질의 양이 전지의 용량을 결정하기 때문에 주로 대용량의 전력이 필요한 플랜트 등에서 주로 사용하는 전지이다. 이 VRFB내에는 Current collector의 부식 방지용으로 두꺼운 Graphite판을 BP(Bipolar plate)로 사용한다. 플랜트에서는 대용량 전지를 필요로 하여 Single stack으로는 사용되기 어렵고, Multi stack으로 주로 사용한다. Multi stack의 경우, 수 백장의 BP가 들어가 전지의 부피가 매우 커지게 되고, 이에 본 연구에서는 BP의 두꺼운 Graphite를 얇은 $TiO_2$ 기판으로 교체하여 성능을 비교하는 연구를 진행하였다. Ti 금속기판을 양극산화법으로 $TiO_2$ 나노튜브 구조를 만든 후, $TiO_2$의 전도도 향상을 목적으로 $IrO_2$를 코팅하였다. 결과적으로 기존의 Graphite에 비해 전기화학적 특성이 향상되었음을 확인하였으며, Cell test를 통해 VRFB의 성능을 평가하였다.