• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.683-684
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• 2011

연료전지시스템을 항공기 동력원으로 사용하기 위해서는 요구되는 출력에 필요한 스택성능과 한정된 부피 내 연료전지시스템을 탑재하기 위한 운전장치 구성, 그리고 무게를 최소화하기 위한 부품 및 재료 선정이 필요하다. 스택의 기본성능은 MEA(Membrane electrode assembly)와 기체확산층 구조, 분리판 디자인 및 운전조건 등에 의해 결정된다. 스택의 기본성능은 연료전지시스템을 구성하는 운전장치 구성 및 성능에 의해 달라지기 때문에 어떠한 운전장치를 어떠한 구성으로 설계하는가에 따라서 성능이 변한다고 볼 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 연료전지시스템을 항공기 동력원으로 사용하기 위해서 고려되어야할 스택과 운전장치의 구성이 성능에 미치는 영향과 운전환경(스택 경사, 고도)이 연료전지 스택성능에 미치는 영향에 대해 고찰하였다.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.179-184
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• 2001

The diffusion layer within MEA(membrane electrode assembly) has been evaluated important factor for improvement of cell performance in DMFC. The diffusion layer in MEA structure leads to the reduction of catalyst loss in active catalysts layer as well as prevention of water-flooding in cathode. Cell performance is directly affected by interior properties of diffusion layer materials. Acetylene Black and $RuO_2$ with large pore size and low porosity compared to Vulcan XC-72R gave better performance caused by vigorous methanol diffusion and water removal. And $RuO_2$ as diffusion layer materials showed different behavior in anode and cathode compartment, that is, diffusion layers in anode and cathode side make methanol diffusion and water removal facilitate, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.456-461
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• 2003

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device in which the energy of a chemical reaction is converted directly into electricity. By combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen from air, electricity is formed, without combustion of any form. Water and heat are the only by-products when hydrogen is used as the fuel source. Fuel cell stack consists of multi-layered unit cells. A unit cell consists of MEA and bipolar plates. The end plate of fuel cell stack should give a uniform distributed pressure to multi unit cell layers so as to reduce the contact resistance and to prevent the leakage of reactant gases and the damage of multi layer components. The current end plate is redundantly large and heavy. It makes the power per unit volume reduced. Topology optimization of end plate is conducted for mass reduction and enhancement of bending rigidity. The evaluation of the current design and the recommendation for the future design is remarked.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2008

DMFC(Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) is one of promising candidates for power sources of small mobile IT devices like notebook, cell phone, and so on. Efficient operation of fuel cell system is very important for long-sustained power supply because of limited fuel tank size. It is necessary to investigate operation characteristics of fuel cell stack for optimal control of DMFC system. The generated voltage was modeled according to various operating condition; methanol concentration, stack temperature, and load current. It is inevitable for methanol solution at anode to cross over to cathode through MEA(membrane electrode assembly), which reduces the system efficiency and increases fuel consumption. In this study, optimal operation conditions are proposed by analyzing stack performance model, cross-over phenomenon, and system efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.233-239
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• 2009

The electrocatalytic behavior of the PtCo catalyst supported on the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) has been evaluated and compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC). A PtCo/MWNTs electrocatalyst with a Pt:Co atomic ratio of 79:21 was synthesized and applied to a cathode of PEMFC. The structure and morphology of the synthesized PtCo/MWNTs electrocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. As a result of the X-ray studies, the crystal structure of a PtCo particle was determined to be a face-centered cubic(FCC) that was the same as the platinum structure. The particle size of PtCo in PtCo/MWNTs and Pt in Pt/C were 2.0 nm and 2.7 nm, respectively, which were calculated by Scherrer's formula from X-ray diffraction data. As a result we concluded that the specific surface activity of PtCo/MWNTs is superior to Pt/C's activity because of its smaller particle size. From the electrochemical impedance measurement, the membrane electrode assembly(MEA) fabricated with PtCo/MWNTs showed smaller anodic and cathodic activation losses than the MEA with Pt/C, although ohmic loss was the same as Pt/C. Finally, from the evaluation of cyclic voltammetry(CV), the unit cell using PtCo/MWNTs as the cathode electrocatalyst showed slightly higher fuel cell performance than the cell with a commercial Pt/C electrocatalyst.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.178-186
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• 2023

Three activation methods (constant voltage, current cycling, and hydrogen pumping) were applied to investigate the effects on the performance of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) loaded with PtCo/C catalyst. The current cycling protocol took the shortest time to activate the MEA, while the performance after activation was the worst among the all activation methods. The constant voltage method took a moderate activation time and exhibited the best performance after activation. The hydrogen pumping protocol took the longest time to activate the MEA with moderate performance after activation. According to the distribution of relaxation time analysis, the improved performance after the activation mainly comes from the decrease of charge transfer resistance rather than the ionic resistance in the cathode catalyst layer, which suggests that the existence of water on the electrode is the key factor for activation.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.265-273
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• 2017

Solid-state alkaline water electrolysis is a promising method for producing hydrogen using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Despite active investigations of component development for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), understanding of the device performance remains insufficient for the commercialization of AEMWE. The study of assembled AEMWE devices is essential to validate the activity and stability of developed catalysts and electrolyte membranes, as well as the dependence of the performance on the device operating conditions. Herein, we review the development of catalysts and membranes reported by different AEMWE companies such as ACTA S.p.A. and Proton OnSite and device operating conditions that significantly affect the AEMWE performance. For example, $CuCoO_x$ and $LiCoO_2$ have been studied as oxygen evolution catalysts by Acta S.p.A and Proton OnSite, respectively. Anion exchange membranes based on polyethylene and polysulfone are also investigated for use as electrolyte membranes in AEMWE devices. In addition, operation factors, including temperature, electrolyte concentration and acidity, and solution feed methods, are reviewed in terms of their influence on the AEMWE performance. The reaction rate of water splitting generally increases with increase in operating temperature because of the facilitated kinetics and higher ion conductivity. The effect of solution feeding configuration on the AEMWE performance is explained, with a brief discussion on current AEMWE performance and device durability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.469-473
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• 2018

When pure hydrogen was supplied to the stationary PEMFC generally using the reforming gas, its characteristics were compared with the vehicle PEMFC. The effect of varying the amount of hydrogen supply to the anode on the overall performance was compared. The variation of hydrogen supply in the range of 1.0~1.7 excess (stoi.) had little effect on the OCV of stationary and vehicle MEA (Membrane and Electrode Assembly). At 0.7 V, the current density of the stationary MEA was about 16% higher than that of the vehicle MEA. I-V performance, impedance, and LSV were measured with varying relative humidity. Both OCV and electrolyte membrane resistances decreased with increasing relative humidity. The hydrogen permeability of the stationary MEA was lower than that of the vehicle MEA, showing that the durability of the stationary membrane could be higher than that of the vehicle membrane.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.226-231
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• 2002

Power densities produced by the permeation of methanol through membranes were directly measured by inserting the membrane in front of anode in a membrane-electrode-assembly of a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The power density was closely related to the loss of power in the DMFC and was strongly affected by temperature. As the cell temperature was increased, the power density resulting from methanol crossover was increased. The increase in methanol crossover had be attributed to diffusion caused or affected by temperature. Methanol crossover a major effect on the performance of a DMFC at a relatively low temperature with $26\%\;loss\;at\;30^{\circ}C$. In order to reduce methanol crossover, a conventional Nafion membrane was modified by the incorporation of Pt or Pd. The reduction in methanol crossover was investigated in these modified membranes by our cell performance measurement. Pt and Pd particles incorporated in the Nafion membranes block methanol pathway and prevent methanol transport through the membranes, which was proved by combining with liquid chromatography.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.187-190
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• 2012

Contamination of ion from cathode air on the membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) is the serious degradation source in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). In this study, concentration of ions in air at industry region, street and seaside were measured. There were comparably high concentration of $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ in this regions. This paper shows the effects of MEA contamination by these ions generated from humidification water. After 170 hours of fuel cell operation using city water as humidification water, the performance of unit cell decrease to 11% of initial performance. The electrolyte membrane easily absorbed foreign contaminant cations due to the stronger affinity of foreign cations with the sulfonic acid group compared to $H^+$. The contaminant ions existing in the interface between the platinum catalyst and ionomer layer turn out to be the most serious factor to decrease cell performance.