• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.473-477
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• 2017

The polymer membrane of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has a great influence on PEMFC performance and durability. In this study, hydrogen permeability, fluorine emission rate (FER), lifetime, and performance of Nafion membranes with different thicknesses were measured to investigate the effect of thickness of polymer membrane on performance and durability. The relationship between membrane thickness and lifetime was obtained from the relationships between hydrogen permeability and membrane thickness, hydrogen permeability and FER, FER and lifetime. As the membrane became thicker, the hydrogen permeability and FER decreased and the lifetime increased. On the other hand, the performance decreased with increasing membrane resistance. The membrane thickness range satisfying both performance and durability was 25 to $28{\mu}m$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.86.2-86.2
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• 2010

In order to improve polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) durability, the durability of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA), in which the electrochemical reactions actually occur, is one of the vital issues. Many articles have dealt with catalyst layer degradation of the durability-related factors on MEAs in relation to loss of catalyst surface area caused by agglomeration, dissolution, migration, formation of metal complexes and oxides, and/or instability of the carbon support. Degradation of catalyst layer during long-term operation includes cracking or delamination of the layer which result either from change in the catalyst microstructure or loss of electronic or ionic contact with the active surface, can result in apparent activity loss in the catalyst layer. Membrane degradation of the durability-related factors on MEAs can be caused by mechanical or thermal stress resulting in formation of pinholes and tears and/or by chemical attack of hydrogen peroxide radicals formed during the electrochemical reactions. All of these effects, the mechanical damage of membrane and degradation of catalyst layers are more facilitated by uneven stress or improper MEA fabrication process. In order to improve the PEMFC durability, therefore, it is most important to minimize the uneven stress or improper MEA fabrication process in the course of the fabrication of MEA. We analyzed the effects of the MEA fabrication condition on the PEMFC durability with MEA produced using CCM (catalyst coated membrane) method. This paper also investigated the effects of MEA fabrication condition on the PEMFC durability by adding additional treatment process, hot pressing and pressing, on the MEA produced using CCM method.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2023

In order to improve the durability of the PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) polymer membrane, a radical scavenger and a support are used. In this study, the durability of membranes containing fucoidan extracted from seaweeds and tannic acid serving as a crosslinking agent is evaluated to improve chemical and physical durability. Physical durability is evaluated by measuring tensile strength, and chemical durability is measured by Fenton experiment. Membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) is prepared and mechanical and chemical durability are measured through accelerated durability evaluation in the cell. The tensile strength measurement showed that fucoidan and tannic acid can improve the mechanical durability of the membrane by improving the strain rate and yield strength. It is shown in Fenton experiment that fucoidan acts as a radical scavenger. As a result of the accelerated durability test in the unit cell, fucoidan improved both chemical and mechanical durability, increasing the accelerated durability evaluation time by 38.1% compared to the additive-free membrane. When tannic acid is added, the durability of the polymer membrane is improved by 13.9% by improving the mechanical durability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.333-338
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• 2021

The durability of the PEMFC stack for large commercial vehicles should be more than 5 times that for passenger vehicles. If the Chemical Accelerated Stress Test (AST) of PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) membrane for passenger cars is applied as it is for large commercial vehicles, there is a problem that the AST time becomes more than 2,500 hours. In order to shorten the AST time of DOE (Department of Energy), the chemical durability of the polymer membrane was evaluated using oxygen instead of air as a cathode gas. In this study, Nafion XL was used as a polymer membrane to evaluate accelerated durability under OCV, 90?, RH 30%, H₂/(air or oxygen) conditions. Among the DOE membrane durability target criteria, the decrease rate of short resistance was the fastest. By using oxygen instead of air, the degradation rate of the polymer membrane was accelerated while being less affected by electrode deterioration, reducing the polymer membrane durability evaluation time to less than half.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.319-327
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• 2022

Ion exchange membranes have been developed from laboratory tools to industrial products with significant technical and trade impacts in the last 70 years. Today, ion exchange membranes are successfully applied for water and energy for different electro-membrane processes. Hydrogen could be produced by electrochemical water splitting using renewable energy, for example, solar, biomass, geothermal and wind energy. This review briefly summarizes the recent studies reporting the state-of-the-art anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis, especially focusing on the enhancement of the durability of anion-exchange membranes. Anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis could be used as inexpensive non-noble metal electrocatalysts that are capable of producing low cost of hydrogen. However, the main challenge of anion-exchange membrane water electrolysis is to increase the performance and durability. In this mini review, the limiting factors of the durability and the technology enhancing the durability will be discussed for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 2022

In the membrane forming process of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), drying and annealing heat treatment processes are required for performance and durability. In this study, the optimal annealing temperature for improving the durability of the polymer membrane was studied. It was annealed in the temperature range of 125~175 ℃, and thermal stability and hydrogen permeability were measured as basic data of durability at each annealing temperature. The electrochemical durability was analyzed by Fenton reaction and open circuit voltage (OCV) holding. The annealing temperature of 165 ℃ was the optimal temperature in terms of thermal stability and hydrogen permeability. In the Fenton reaction, the fluorine emission rate of the membrane annealed at 165 ℃ was the lowest, and the lifespan of the membrane annealed at 165 ℃ was the longest in the OCV holding experiment, confirming that 165 ℃ was the optimal temperature for the durability of the polymer membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2011

The cation exchange membrane using TPA (tungstophosphoric acid) and the block co-polymer of polysulfone and polyphenylenesulfidesulfone was prepared for a separator of all-vanadium redox flow battery. The membrane resistance of the prepared cation exchange membrane in 1mol/L $H_2SO_4$ aqueous solution was measured. The membrane resistance of the prepared Psf-PPSS and Psf-TPA-PPSS cation exchange membrane was about $0.94{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$. Electrochemical property of all-vanadium redox flow battery using the prepared cation exchange membrane was measured. The measured charge-discharge cell resistance of V-RFB at 4 A decreased in the order; Nafion117 < Psf-TPA-PPSS < Psf-PPSS. The durability of membrane was earried out by soaking it in $VO_2{^+}$ solution and evaluated by measuring the charge-discharge cell resistance of V-RFB with an increase of soaking time. The prepared Psf-PPSS cation exchange membrane had high durability and Psf-TPA-PPSS cation exchange membrane had almost same durability compared with Nafion117.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.362-367
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• 2023

Recently, research and development of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) membranes are progressing in the direction of thinning to reduce prices and improve performance. Demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles for commercial vehicles is also increasing, and their durability should be five times greater than those for passenger vehicles. Despite the thinning of the membranes, the durability of the membranes must be increased five times, so the improvement of the durability of the membranes has become more important. Since the acceleration durability evaluation time also needs to be shortened, the protocol using oxygen instead of air in the existing protocol was applied to a 10 ㎛ thin membrane to evaluate durability. The accelerated durability test (Open circuit voltage holding) was terminated at 720 hours. If the air-based department of energy (DOE) protocol was used, a lifespan of 450,000 km of driving hours would be expected, with a durability of about 1,500 hours. During the chemical durability evaluation, the active area of the electrode decreased by 51%, suggesting that catalyst degradation had an effect on membrane durability. Reducing the catalyst degradation rate is expected to increase membrane durability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2021

Since the durability evaluation for improving the durability of PEMFC polymer membranes is very important for the development of PEMFC, research and development of the polymer membrane durability evaluation protocol (AST) continues. Recently, DOE's polymer membrane chemical/mechanical durability evaluation AST was developed and applied to Nafion XL for review. In order to shorten the evaluation time, oxygen was used as a cathode gas instead of air, and it was finished in 144 hours. Since DOE AST has a large number of voltage changes with 45 seconds of humidification and 30 seconds of drying, the degradation of the electrode has more influence on the MEA durability. Therefore, one cycle time was lengthened with 60sec of wet/300sec of dry, and the drying time was made longer than the humidification time to further deteriorate the polymer membrane, and it was finished in 240 hours. It was confirmed that the DOE AST for evaluation of the durability of the polymer membrane was accompanied by electrode degradation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.517-522
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• 2023

A chemical/mechanical durability test of polymer membrane evaluation method is used in which air and hydrogen are supplied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and wet/dry is repeated in the open circuit voltage (OCV) state. In this protocol, when wet/dry is repeated, voltage increase/decrease is repeated, resulting in electrode degradation. When the membrane durability is excellent, the number of voltage changes increases and the evaluation is terminated due to electrode degradation, which may cause a problem that the original purpose of membrane durability evaluation cannot be performed. In this study, the same protocol as the department of energy (DOE) was used, but oxygen was used instead of air as the cathode gas, and the wet/dry time and flow rate were also increased to increase the chemical/mechanical degradation rate of the membrane, thereby shortening the durability evaluation time of the membrane to improve these problems. The durability test of the Nafion 211 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was completed after 2,300 cycles by increasing the acceleration by 2.6 times using oxygen instead of air. This protocol also accelerated degradation of the membrane and accelerated degradation of the electrode catalyst, which also had the advantage of simultaneously evaluating the durability of the membrane and the electrode.