• 멤브레인
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.40-46
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• 2010

본 연구에서는 내열성 고분자인 폴리에테르술폰을 이용하여 전기방사의 방법으로 섬유 형태의 다공성 막을 제조하였다. 여기에 Nafion 용액을 함침 시켜 고분자 전해질 연료전지용 막을 제조하였다. 열중량 분석을 통해, 현재 고분자 전해질 막으로 상용화되어 널리 쓰이고 있는 Nafion 212보다 더 높은 열적 안정성을 갖는 것을 확인하였다. 주사전자현미경 측정을 통하여, 다공성의 폴리에테르술폰 막에 Nafion 용액이 수소이온 전도체로서 잘 함침 되어 있음을 확인할 수 있었다. AC impedance 측정 결과, $100^{\circ}C$ 이하의 온도범위에는 수소 이온 전도도가 $10^{-2}$ S/cm로 나왔으며, $100^{\circ}C$ 이상의 범위에서는 $10^{-3}$ S/cm의 값을 나타냈다. 0.6 V, $90^{\circ}C$의 조건에서 389 mA/$cm^2$의 전류밀도를 나타내었다. Nafion 212 상용 막이 $75^{\circ}C$에서 최대 성능을 나타내는데 반해, Nafion 용액을 함침시킨 폴리에테르술폰 막은 $90^{\circ}C$에서 최대 성능을 갖는 것으로 나타났다.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제28권11호
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• pp.646-652
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• 2018

During a long-term operation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs), the fuel cell performance may degrade due to severe agglomeration and dissolution of metal nanoparticles in the cathode. To enhance the electrochemical durability of metal catalysts and to prevent the particle agglomeration in PEMFC operation, this paper proposes a hybrid catalyst structure composed of PtCo alloy nanoparticles encapsulated by porous carbon layers. In the hybrid catalyst structure, the dissolution and migration of PtCo nanoparticles can be effectively prevented by protective carbon shells. In addition, $O_2$ can properly penetrate the porous carbon layers and react on the active Pt surface, which ensures high catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction. Although the hybrid catalyst has a much smaller active surface area due to the carbon encapsulation compared to a commercial Pt catalyst without a carbon layer, it has a much higher specific activity and significantly improved durability than the Pt catalyst. Therefore, it is expected that the designed hybrid catalyst concept will provide an interesting strategy for development of high-performance fuel cell catalysts.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.293-299
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• 2012

The serpentine flow channel is widely used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) to prevent flooding phenomena because it effectively removes liquid water in the flow channel. The pressure drop between inlet and outlet increases as compared with straight channels due to minor losses associated with the corners of the turning configurations. This results in a strong pressure gradient between adjacent channels in specific regions, where some amount of reactant gas can be delivered to catalyst layers by convection through a gas diffusion layer (GDL). The enhancement of the convective flow in the GDL, so-called bypass flow, affects fuel cell performance since the bypass flow influences the reactant transport and thus its concentration over the active area. In the present paper, for the bipolar plate design, a simple analytic model has been proposed to predict the bypass flow in the serpentine type flow channels and validated with three-dimensional numerical simulation results.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.20-25
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• 2008

Proton conducting composite membranes were prepared by solution blending of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene)-graft-poly(sulfopropyl methacrylate) (P(VDF-CTFE)-g-PSPMA) graft copolymer and heteropolyacid (HPA). The P(VDF-CTFE)-g-PSPMA graft copolymer was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of P(VDF-CTFE). FT-IR spectroscopy revealed that HPA nanoparticles were incorporated into the graft copolymer via hydrogen bonding interactions. The water uptake of membranes continuously decreased with increasing HP A concentration up to 45wt%, after which it slightly increased. It is presumably due to the decrease in number of water absorption sites due to hydrogen bonding interaction between the HP A particles and the polymer matrix. The proton conductivity of membranes increased with increasing HPA concentration up to 45wt%, resulting from both the intrinsic conductivity of HP A particles and the enhanced acidity of the sulfonic acid of the graft copolymer.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제61권4호
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• pp.517-522
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• 2023

고분자전해질 연료전지 (PEMFC)에 공기와 수소를 공급하고 개회로전압 (OCV) 상태에서 가습/건조를 반복하는 고분자막의 화학적/기계적 내구성 평가법이 사용되고 있다. 이 프로토콜에서 가습/건조가 반복되면 전압 상승/감소가 반복되어 전극 열화도 발생한다. 막 내구성이 우수한 경우 전압 변화 횟수가 증가해, 전극 열화에 의해 평가가 종료되어 원래 목적인 막 내구성 평가를 할 수 없는 문제가 발생하기도 한다. 본 연구에서는 미국 에너지부 (DOE)와 동일한 프로토콜을 사용하되 cathode 가스로 공기대신 산소를 사용하고 가습/건조시간과 유량도 증가시켜 막의 화학적/기계적 열화 속도를 증가시켜서 고분자막 내구 평가 시간을 단축시킴으로서 이와 같은 문제를 개선하고자 하였다. Nafion 211 막전극접합체(MEA) 내구성 평가를 공기 대신 산소를 사용해서 가속화도를 2.6배 증가시켜 2,300 사이클만에 평가 종료하였다. 본 프로토콜에 의해 고분자막도 가속 열화되고, 전극 촉매도 가속 열화되어 고분자막과 전극의 내구성을 동시에 평가할 수 있는 이점도 있었다.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.403-409
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• 2008

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is very interesting power source due to high power density, simple construction and operation at low temperature. But it has problems such as high cost, improvement of performance, effect of temperature and initial start at low temperature. These problems can be approached to be solved by using experiment and mathematical method which are general principles for analysis and optimization of control system for heat and hydrogen detecting management. In this paper, insulation vessel and control system for stable operation of fuel cell at low temperature were developed for experiment. The constant temperature capability and the heating time at sub-zero temperatures with insulation control system were studied by using a heating bar of 60W class. PEMFC stack which was made by 4 cells with $50\;mc^2$ active area in each cell is a thermal source. Times which take to reach constant temperature by the state of insulation vacuum were measured at variable environment temperatures. The test was performed at two conditions: heating mode and cooling mode. Constant temperature capability was better at lower environment temperature and vacuum pressure. The results of this experiment could be used as basis data about stable operation of fuel cell stack in low temperature zone.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제52권5호
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• pp.558-563
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• 2014

고분자 전해질 연료전지의 성능과 내구성에 미치는 막 전극 접합체(MEA) 제조방법의 영향에 대해 연구하기 위해 닥터 블레이드 방법, 스프레이 방법, 스크린 프린트 방법 그리고 스크린 프린트+스프레이 방법에 의해 MEA를 제조하였다. 제조된 MEA를 체결한 단위전지의 성능을 측정해 각 MEA의 초기 성능을 비교하였다. 10초간 0.6V 일정전압 유지 후 0.9 V에서 10초간 유지하는 전극 열화 가속 시험(AST)을 각 MEA 적용해 내구성을 시험하였다. 전극 열화 가속 시험 6,000 사이클 전 후 I-V 곡선, 임피던스, 순환 전압측정법(CV), 선형쓸음 전기량측정법(LSV), 투과전자현미경(TEM) 등을 측정하였다. 닥터 블레이드 방법에 의해 제조한 MEA의 초기 성능이 제일 높았고, 스크린 프린트+스프레이 방법에 의해 제조한 MEA가 제일 낮은 열화 속도를 보였다.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제31권10호
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• pp.955-965
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• 2014

Transport phenomena of reactant and product are directly linked to intrinsic inhomogeneous random configurations of catalyst layer (CL) that consist of ionomer, carbon-supported catalyst (Pt/C), and pores. Hence, electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) of Pt/C is dominated by geometrical morphology of mass transport path. Undoubtedly these ECSAs are key factor of total fuel cell efficiency. In this study, non-deterministic micro-scale CLs were randomly generated by Monte Carlo method and implemented with the percolation process. To ensure valid inference about Pt/C catalyst utilization, 600 samples were chosen as the number of necessary samples with 95% confidence level. Statistic results of 600 samples generated under particular condition (20vol% Pt/C, 30vol% ionomer, 50vol% pore, and 20nm particle diameter) reveal only 18.2%~81.0% of Pt/C can construct ECSAs with mean value of 53.8%. This study indicates that the catalyst utilization in fuel cell CLs cannot be identical notwithstanding the same design condition.

• Carbon letters
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.38-40
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• 2010

Carbon supported electrocatalysts are commonly used as electrode materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs). These kinds of electrocatalysts provide large surface area and sufficient electrical conductivity. The support of typical PEM fuel cell catalysts has been a traditional conductive type of carbon black. However, even though the carbon particles conduct electrons, there is still significant portion of Pt that is isolated from the external circuit and the PEM, resulting in a low Pt utilization. Herein, new types of carbon materials to effectively utilize the Pt catalyst are being evaluated. Carbon nanofiber/activated carbon fiber (CNF/ACF) composite with multifunctional surfaces were prepared through catalytic growth of CNFs on ACFs. Nickel nitrate was used as a precursor of the catalyst to synthesize carbon nanofibers(CNFs). CNFs were synthesized by pyrolysising $CH_4$ using catalysts dispersed in acetone and ACF(activated carbon fiber). The as-prepared samples were characterized with transmission electron microscopy(TEM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM). In TEM image, carbon nanofibers were synthesized on the ACF to form a three-dimensional network. Pt/CNF/ACF was employed as a catalyst for PEMFC. As the ratio of prepared catalyst to commercial catalyst was changed from 0 to 50%, the performance of the mixture of 30 wt% of Pt/CNF/ACF and 70wt% of Pt/C commercial catalyst showed better perfromance than that of 100% commercial catalyst. The unique structure of CNF can supply the significant site for the stabilization of Pt particles. CNF/ACF is expected to be promising support to improve the performance in PEMFC.

• 전기화학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.32-39
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• 2024

인산형 연료전지(PAFC)의 전기화학적 성능에 영향을 미치는 핵심 부품은 전극 촉매, 전해질 매트릭스 및 기체확산층(GDL) 등이 있다. 또한 전극의 성능 향상을 위해 GDL 위에 미세다공층(MPL)을 적용하는 방법도 있다. MPL은 주로 고분자 전해질 연료전지(PEMFC)에서 전극 내부의 수분 관리와 접촉 저항 저감을 위한 중간 완화층 역할을 한다. 본 연구에서는 MPL이 PAFC 전극의 성능에 미치는 영향을 확인하기 위해 MPL이 없는 GDL과 MPL을 적용한 GDL로 전극을 제작하여 단위전지의 내부 저항과 분극 곡선을 서로 비교하였다. 본 실험 결과에서 MPL을 적용하였을 때 전극의 출력 밀도가 170.2 mW/cm²에서 192.1 mW/cm²으로 향상되었다. MPL은 PEMFC에서와 같이 PAFC 전극에서도 매트릭스와 전극에서 액체 전해질과 물 관리에 효과적으로 작용하고 전극 내부의 물질 전달이 향상되어 전극 성능이 향상된 것으로 판단된다. 또한, MPL의 적용으로 PAFC 전극의 내부 저항이 감소하였고 장기 운전시에도 안정적인 성능을 지속적으로 유지하는 결과로부터 PAFC 전극에도 MPL을 적용하면 전극 성능을 향상시킬 수 있음을 확인할 수 있었다.