• 전기화학회지
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.173-180
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• 2009

DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell)용의 새로운 고분자 전해질 멤브레인을 개발하기 위하여 스티렌 단량체를 poly(tetrafluoroethylene perfluoropropyl vinyl ether) (PFA) 필름에 그라프트 중합 반응시킨 후에 술폰화 반응을 진행하였다. $\Upsilon$-ray를 이용하여 방사선 그라프트 중합 반응시킨 방사선 그라프트 필름의 술폰화 반응은 chlorosulfonic acid/dichloroethane (5 v/v%) 혼합 용액에서 진행하였다. PFA 그라프트 폴리스티렌 멤브레인 (PFA-g-PSSA)의 화학적, 물리적, 전기화학적 및 형태의 특성은 푸리에 변환 적외선 분광기 (FTIR), 이온전도도 측정기 및 주사전자현미경 (SEM)으로 분석하고 함수율과 메탄올 투과도도 측정하였다. PFA-g-PSSA 멤브레인으로 제작한 MEA의 단위전지 성능을 평가하였고, 전지의 셀 저항은 임피던스 분석 장치를 이용하여 측정하였다. PFA-g-PSSA 멤브레인으로 제조한 MEA는 Nafion 112로 제조한 MEA보다 우수한 DMFC 성능을 나타내었다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2007년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.184-187
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• 2007

Hydrogen could be produced from any substance containing hydrogen atoms, such as water, hydrocarbon (HC) fuels, acids or bases. Hydrocarbon fuels couold be converted to hydrogen-rich gas through reforming process for hydrogen production. Even though fuel cell have high efficiency with pure hydrogen from gas tank, it is more beneficial to generate hydrogen from city gas (mainly methane) in residential application such as domestic or office environments. Thus hydrogen is generated by reforming process using hydrocarbon. Unfortunately, the reforming process for hydrogen production is accompanied with unavoidable impurities. Impurities such as CO, $CO_2$, $H_2S$, $NH_3$, and $CH_4$ in hydrogen could cause negative effects on fuel cell performance. Those effects are kinetic losses due to poisoning of electrode catalysts, ohmic losses due to proton conductivity reduction including membrane and catalyst ionomer layers, and mass transport losses due to degrading catalyst layer structure and hydrophobic property. Hydrogen produced from reformer eventually contains around 73% of $H_2$, 20% or less of $CO_2$, 5.8% of less of $N_2$, or 2% less of $CH_4$, and 10ppm or less of CO. Most impurities are removed using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process to get high purity hydrogen. However, high purity hydrogen production requires high operation cost of reforming process. The effect of carbon dioxide on fuel cell performance was investigated in this experiment. The performance of PEM fuel cell was investigated using current vs. potential experiment, long run (10 hr) test, and electrochemical impedance measurement when the concentrations of carbon dioxide were 10%, 20% and 30%. Also, the concentration of impurity supplied to the fuel cell was verified by gas chromatography (GC).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제57권3호
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• pp.413-419
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• 2019

최근 화석연료기반에서 친환경 수소 기반의 청정에너지원으로 전환되는 세계적 흐름에 따라, 수소연료전지의 고성능 저가격 핵심 소재 기술 개발에 많은 관심이 이루어지고 있다. 그 가운데 연료전지의 전해질로 사용되는 강화복합막의 기술 도입은 과불소계 술폰산 이오노머(Perfluorosulfonic acid, PFSA) 양의 감소 및 막 두께 감소를 통한 가격 저감 및 셀 저항 감소, 치수 안정성 개선 그리고 계면 안정성에 대한 확보가 가능하여 최종적으로 연료전지 성능 향상과 가격절감이 동시에 가능하다. 본 연구에서는 연료전지용 불소계 전해질 강화복합막 코팅 공정에서 이오노머 분산용매에 따라 막 형성 및 물성 변화와 연료전지 성능에 미치는 영향에 대해 연구하였다.

• 전기화학회지
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.190-196
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• 2008

The multilayered membrane for lithium rechargeable batteries based on poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF) is prepared with the coated layer containing nano-sized filler. The prepared membranes were subjected to studies of mechanical strength, morphology, interfacial stability, impedance spectroscopy, ionic conductivity, and cycle performance. The localized inorganic filler in the PVdF composite membrane rendered mechanical strength much reduced because of its low stretching ratio and it results in around half value of the mechanical strength of highly stretched PVdF membrane. In order to achieve high ionic conductivity and interfacial stability without sacrificing high mechanical strength, coating layer with nano-filler was newly introduced to PVdF membrane. The ionic conductivity of the coated membrane was 1.03 mS/cm, and the interface between the coating layer and PVdF membrane was stable when the membrane was immersed into liquid electrolyte. The discharge capacity of the cell based on nano-filler coated PVdF membrane was around 91% of the initial discharge capacity after 250 cycles, which is an improvement in cycle performance compared to the case for the non-coated PVdF membrane.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.93-96
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• 2007

Recently, much attentions have been paid on the commercialization of PEMFC, especially for the applications of residential and portable. In order to achieve the early commercialization of PEMFC, thee are two hurdles to overcome. One is cost down and the other is improvement of durability of the system components. Numerous companies have tried to reduce the production cost and the main research topics have been changed from performance to durability improvement. In this work, acceleration test were performed to find and evaluate the main reason of degradation of the MEA(membrane-electrode assembly) which is one of the core component of the PEMFC system. Based upon the test results, a way to make durable MEA was suggested. Acceleration tests were made by applying high voltage of 1.2V to the several kinds of single cells to increase the growth of catalyst particles. Cell performance, ac-impedance and electrochemically active area measurements were made atfter every 8 hours of acceleration test. Degradations of catalyst and membrane were examined by SEM, TEM and XRD. Obtained results were discussed in terms of structural stability and loss of catalyt and ionomers in the electrode layer. In addition, the way to make highly durable MEA was suggested.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.131-135
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• 2011

It is, in general, believed that during the activation process, the proton conductivity increases due to wetting effect and the electrochemical resistance reduction, resulting in an increase in the fuel cell performance with time. However, until now, very scant information is available on the understanding of activation processes. In this study, dominant variables that effect on the performance increase of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) during the activation process were investigated. Wetting, pore restructuring and active metal utilization were analyzed systematically. Unexpectedly, the changes for both ohmic and reaction resistance characterized by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) after initial wetting process were much smaller when considering the degree of cell performance increases. However, the EIS spectra represents that the pore opening of electrode turns into gas transportable structure more easily. The increase in the performance with activation cycles was also investigated in a view of active metals. Though the particle size was grown, the number of effective active sites might be exposed more. The impurity removal and catalytic activity enhancement measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV) could be a strong evident. The results and analysis revealed that, not merely wetting of membrane but also restructuring of electrodeand catalytic activity increase are important factors for the fast and efficient activation of the polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제22권7호
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• pp.76-83
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• 2014

During PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) operation monitoring and diagnosis are important issues for reliability and durability. Stack defect can be followed by a critical cell voltage drop in the stack. One method for monitoring the cell voltage is CVM(Cell Voltage Monitoring), where all cells in the stack are electrically connected to a voltage measuring system and monitored these voltages. The other methods are based on the EIS(Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy) and on nonlinear frequency response. In this paper, intermodulation(IM) method for diagnosis PEMFC stack is introduced. To detect one or more critical PEMFC cell voltage PEMFC stack is excited by two or more test sinusoid current, and the frequency response of the stack voltage is analyzed. If one or more critical cell voltage exists, higher harmonics on the voltage frequency spectrum will appear. For the proposed IM method, stack simulation and experiments are conducted.

• 전기화학회지
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.16-21
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• 2008

직접메탄올 연료전지 (DMFC)의 핵심 구성 요소 중에서 하나는 고분자 전해질막과 촉매층 (연료극과 공기극)으로 구성된 전해질/전극 접합체 (MEA)이다. 그중에서 촉매층은 브러싱법, 전시법, 스프레이 코팅법, 스크린 프린팅법과 같은 다양한 방법을 사용하여 carbon paper나 carbon cloth등과 같은 전극 지지체 위에 코팅한다. 그러나 이러한 촉매 코팅방법들은 전극 지지체 위에 촉매를 균일한 두께로 코팅하기 어렵고, 촉매의 손실이 많으며, 또한 코팅 시간이 많이 필요하다는 단점들이 있다. 본 연구에서는 DMFC용 MEA의 전극층을 바코팅 방법 (bar-coating method)을 사용하여 한 번에 원하는 양의 촉매가 코팅되도록 제조하였다. 이렇게 제조한 전극 촉매층 표면과 단면의 형태를 SEM을 사용하여 관찰하였다. 제조한 MEA의 성능과 저항은 단위전지와 임피던스 분석기를 사용하여 측정하였다.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.302-306
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• 2017

고분자전해질 연료전지에서 습도는 성능과 내구성에 많은 영향을 준다. 습도가 높아지면 일반적으로 성능이 향상되는데 높은 습도는 플러딩을 발생시킬 위험성도 있다. 미세 유로셀에서 상대습도를 변화시키며 I-V곡선, LSV, 사이클로 볼타메트리(CV), 임피던스을 측정했다. 70%이상에서 플러딩 현상이 발생함을 확인했다. 고분자막의 이온전도도는 상대습도 80%에서 최고값에 도달했고, 전극의 활성은 플러딩 후에도 상대습도 증가에 따라 상승했다. 상대습도 80%에서 최고 성능 $1,700mA/cm^2$(@0.6 V)을 얻었다. 상대습도 80%에서 플러딩에 의해 물질전달이 방해 받는 것에 비해 막의 이온전도도 향상이 성능에 더 큰 영향을 줌을 보였다.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.22-28
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• 2019

To maximize the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the electrolysis of water, nano-grade $IrO_2$ powder with a low specific surface was prepared as a catalyst for a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) system, and a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was prepared with a catalyst loading as low as $2mg\;cm^{-2}$ or less. The $IrO_2$ catalyst was composed of heterogeneous particles with particle sizes ranging from 20 to 70 nm, having a specific surface area of $3.8m^2g^{-1}$. The anode catalyst layer of about $5{\mu}m$ thickness was coated on the membrane (Nafion 117) for the MEA by the decal method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) confirmed strong adhesion at the interface between the membrane and the catalyst electrode. Although the loading of the $IrO_2$ catalyst was as low as $1.1-1.7mg\;cm^{-2}$, the SPE cell delivered a voltage of 1.88-1.93 V at a current density of $1A\;cm^{-2}$ and operating temperature of $80^{\circ}C$. That is, it was observed that the over-potential of the cell for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) decreased with increasing $IrO_2$ catalyst loading. The electrochemical stability of the MEA was investigated in the electrolysis of water at a current density of $1A\;cm^{-2}$ for a short time. A voltage of ~2.0 V was maintained without any remarkable deterioration of the MEA characteristics.