• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.316-326
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• 2016

Development and discovery of efficient, cost-effective, and robust electrocatalysts are imperative for practical and widespread implementation of water electrolysis and fuel cell techniques in the anticipated hydrogen economy. The electrochemical reactions involved in water electrolysis, i.e., hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, are complex inner-sphere reactions with slow multi-electron transfer kinetics. To develop active electrocatalysts for water electrolysis, the physicochemical properties of the electrode surfaces in electrolyte solutions should be investigated and understood in detail. When electrocatalysis is conducted using nanoparticles with large surface areas and active surface states, analytical techniques with sub-nanometer resolution are required, along with material development. Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is an electrochemical technique for studying the surface reactions and properties of various types of electrodes using a very small tip electrode. Recently, the morphological and chemical characteristics of single nanoparticles and bio-enzymes for catalytic reactions were studied with nanometer resolution by combining SECM with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Herein, SECM techniques are briefly reviewed, including the AFM-SECM technique, to facilitate further development and discovery of highly active, cost-effective, and robust electrode materials for efficient electrolysis and photolysis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.502-507
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• 2016

The transition from a carbon economy based on fossil fuels to a hydrogen economy is necessary to ensure energy security and to combat climate change. In order to pursue the transition to a hydrogen economy while achieving sustainable economic growth, a preliminary study into the establishment of the necessary infrastructure for the future hydrogen economy needs to be carried out. This study addresses the economic and environmental interactions in a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model focusing on the economic effects of the introduction of renewable energy into the Korean energy system. Firstly, the introduction of hydrogen results in an increase in the investment in hydrogen production and the reduction of the production cost, ultimately leading to GDP growth. Secondly, the mandatory introduction of renewable energy and associated government subsidies bring about a reduction in total demand. Additionally, the mandatory introduction of hydrogen energy into the power sector helps to reduce CO2 emissions through the transition from a carbon economy-based on fossil energy to a hydrogen economy. This means that hydrogen energy needs to come from non-fossil fuel sources in order for greenhouse gases to be effectively reduced. Therefore, it seems necessary for policy support to be strengthened substantially and for additional studies to be conducted into the production of hydrogen energy from renewable sources.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.39-44
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• 2015

The VHTR (Very High Temperature gas-cooled nuclear Reactor) has been considered as a major heat source and the most safe generation IV type reactor for mass hydrogen production to prepare for the hydrogen economy era. The VHTR satisfies goals for the GIF (Generation IV International Forum) policy such as sustainablility, economics, reliability and proliferation resistance and physical protection, and safety. As a part of a VHTR economic analysis, we have studied the VHTR construction cost and operation and maintenance cost. However, it is somewhat difficult to expect the ripple effect on the whole industry due to the lack of information about Inter-industries relationship. In many case, the ripple effect are based on experts' knowledge or uncertain qualitative assumptions. As a result, we propose quantitative analysis techniques for ripple effects such as the production inducement effect, added value inducement effect, and employment inducement effect for VHTR 600MWt${\times}$4 modules construction and operation ripple effect based on NOAK (Nth Of A Kind). Because inducement effect values have been published annually, we predict inducement effect's relation function and estimated values including production inducement effect value, added value inducement effect value, and employment inducement effect value using time series and estimated values are verified with published inducement effects' value. This paper presents a new method for the ripple effect and preliminary ripple effect consequence using a time series analysis and inter-industry table. This ripple effect analysis techniques can be applied to effect expectation analysis as well as other type reactor's ripple effect analysis including VHTR for process heat.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.175-188
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• 2023

Global interest in hydrogen energy is increasing as an eco-friendly future energy that can replace fossil fuels. Accordingly, a next-generation hydrogen production technology using microorganisms, nuclear power, etc. is being developed, while a lot of time and effort are still required to overcome the cost of hydrogen production based on fossil fuels. As a way to minimize greenhouse gas emissions in the hydrocarbon-based hydrogen production process, methane direct decomposition technology has recently attracted attention. In order to improve the economic feasibility of the process, the simultaneous production of value-added carbon materials with hydrogen can be one of the most essential aspects. For that purpose, various studies on catalysis related to the quality and yield of high-value carbon materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In terms of process technology, a number of the research and development of fluidized-bed reactors capable of continuous production and improved gas-solid contact efficiency has been attempted. Recently, methane direct decomposition technology using a fluidized bed has been developed to the extent that it can produce 270 kg/day of hydrogen and 1000 kg/day of carbon. Plus, with the development of catalyst regeneration, separation and recirculation technologies, the process efficiency can be further improved. This review paper investigates the recent development of catalysts and fluidized bed reactor for methane direct pyrolysis to identify the key challenges and opportunities.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.116-125
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• 2018

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a commonly used material for the front contact layer of chalcopyrite $CuInGaSe_2$ (CIGS) based thin film solar cells since it satisfies the requisite optical and electrical properties with low cost and abundant elemental availability. Low-resistivity and high-transmission front contacts have been developed for high-performance CIGS solar cells, and nearly meet the required performance. However, the durability of the cell especially for the corrosion resistance of AZO films has not been studied intensively. In this work, AZO films were prepared on Corning glass 7059 substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering depending on the hydrogen content. The electrical and optical properties and electrochemical corrosion resistance of the AZO films were evaluated as a function of the hydrogen content. With increasing hydrogen content to 6 wt%, the crystallinity, crystal size, and surface roughness of the films increased, and the resistivity decreased with increased carrier concentration, Hall mobility, oxygen vacancies, and $Zn(OH)_2$ binding on the AZO surface. At a hydrogen content of 6 wt%, the corrosion resistance was also relatively high with less columnar morphology, shallow pore channels, and lower grain boundary angles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.7-14
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• 2019

The type III vessel, which is used to store high-pressure hydrogen gas, is made by wrapping the vessel's liner with carbon fiber composite materials for strength performance and lightening. The liner seals the internal gas and the composite resists the internal pressure. The properties of the fiber composite material depends on the angle and thickness of the fiber. Thus, engineers should consider these various design variables. However, it significantly increases the design cost due to the trial and error under designing based on experience or experiments. And, for aluminum liners, fatigue loads due to using and charging could give a huge impact on the performance of the structure. However, fatigue failure does not necessarily occur in the position under the highest load in use. Therefore, for hydrogen storage vessel, fatigue evaluation according to design patterns is essential because stress distribution varies depend on composite layer patterns. This study performed an optimization analysis and evaluated a high-pressure hydrogen storage vessel to minimize these trial and error and improve the reliability of the structure, while simultaneously conducting fatigue assessment of all patterns derived from the optimization analysis process. The results of this study are thought to be useful in the strength improvement and life design of composite reinforced high-pressure storage vessels.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.553-557
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• 2020

It is possible that hydrogen could replace coal and petroleum as the predominant energy source in the near future, but several challenges including cost, efficiency, and stability. Mg and Mg alloys are attractive hydrogen storage materials because of their lightweight and high absorption capacity. Their range of applications could be further extended if their hydrogenation properties could be improved. The main emphasis of this study was to investigate their hydrogenation properties for Synthesis of 10wt.% CaF2 in Mg2NiHx systems. The effect of BCR (66:1) and MA time (96 hours) on the hydrogenation properties of the composite was investigated. also, Mg2NiHx-10wt% CaF2 composites prepared by Mechanical Alloying are used in this work to illustrate the effect of catalysts on activation energy and kinetics of Magnesium hydride.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2014

Mg hydride has a high hydrogen capacity (7.6%), at high temperature, and is a lightweight and low cost material, thus it a promising hydrogen storage material. However, its high operation temperature and very slow reaction kinetics are obstacles to practical application. In order to overcome these disadvantages of Mg hydride, graphene powder was added to it. The addition of graphene has been shown to reduce the operating temperature of dehydrogenation. Moreover, in this report the environmental aspects of $MgH_x$-Graphene composites are investigated by means of the environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) method. $MgH_x$-Graphene mixture was prepared by hydrogen induced mechanical alloy (HIMA). The synthesized powder was characterized by XRD(X-ray Diffraction). The hydrogenation behaviors were evaluated by using a Sievert's type automatic PCT apparatus. Such evaluation of Materials also conducted in the LCA. From the result of P-C-T(Pressure-Composition-Temperature) curves, the $MgH_x$-3wt.% graphene composite was evaluated as having a 5.86wt.% maximum hydrogen storage capacity, at 523K. From absorption kinetic testing, the $MgH_x$-7wt.% graphene composite was evaluated as having a maximum 6.94wt.%/ms hydrogen absorption rate, at 573K. Environment evaluation results for the $MgH_x$-graphene composites and other materials indicated environmental impact from the electric power used and from the materials themselves.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.173-182
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• 2014

Dimethyl ether (DME) is a new clean fuel as an environmentally-being energy resources. DME has similar characteristics to those of LPG and can be substituted Diesel fuel. KOGAS has investigated and developed new innovative DME synthesis process from synthesis gas with KOGAS's own technologies. KOGAS had finished the construction of 10ton/day DME demonstration plant in 2008, we have established the basic design of commercial plant which can produce 3,000ton/day DME. Specifically, an economic model for a commercial DME project will be presented. It accounts for all the major cost factors that are considered in a commercial scale project as the model input for performing cash flow analysis, after which key economic indicators are produced including the internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV). Sensitivity analysis is performed to identify dominant cost factors to the project economics and quantify their impact. The inputs to the economic analysis will be based on representative cost factors from the commercial-scale design of KOGAS' direct DME process supplemented by literature data. Case study results will be presented based on recent commercialization projects.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.82-91
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• 2005

Polymer membrane needs to maintain appropriate moisture. Insufficient moisture causes low conduction of hydrogen ion because of increased contact resistance between electrode and membrane by shrinking membrane, and abundant moisture decreases fuel cell performance as difficulty of diffusion reacting gas. Therefore, water controlling system is very consequential for the polymer membrane fuel cell. If hollow fiber membrane humidification is used between fuel and air lines, it is possible to supply heat to fuel and air by using thermal exchanger. It can supply appropriate humidity depending on operating temperature, and can recover heat from exhaust gas which contains water vapor and air. Because of simple structure of humidification system, this system can be easily applied in the PEMFC and cut down cost.