• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.201-208
• /
• 2014

A Pt catalyst ($Pt/G_xC_y$) supported on the hybrid supporting materials composed of graphene oxide (GO) and carbon black (C) was fabricated using polyol method to improve the durability of electrocatalysts. The electrochemical performances measured by cyclic voltammograms using three-electrode system revealed that the properly designed $Pt/G_xC_y$ catalyst exhibited higher durability than that of Pt/C catalyst without sacrificing an electrocatalytic acivity. In the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performed in acid solution with the rotating disk electrode, the $Pt/G_xC_y$ catalyst showed greater mass and area-specific activity than those of Pt/C catalyst.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.91-97
• /
• 2014

This paper proposes a modeling of fuel cell which replaces dc source during simulation. Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert chemical energy in fuels into electrical energy. This system has high efficiency and heat, no environmental chemical pollutions and noise. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are commonly used as a residential generator. These fuel cells have different electrical characteristics such as a low voltage and high current compared with solar cells. And there are different behaviors in the V-I curve in the temperature and pressure. Therefore, the modeling of fuel cell should consider wide voltage range and slow current response and the resulting electrical model is applied to boost converter with fuel cell as an input source.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.133-140
• /
• 2006

The performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell was decreased by reverse voltage using fuel starvation. Performance decrease in local area could be affected by duration and extent of reverse voltage. Hydrogen and air stoichiometic ratio was used to find the experimental condition of abrupt voltage decrease. LabVIEW was used to make control logic of automatic load off system in preset voltage. Reverse voltage experiment was done down to -1.2 V at constant current condition. When fuel cell voltage was reached to preset voltage, electronic load was disconnected to make open circuit voltage for 1 minute. Fuel cell performance was checked every 5 cycle and the degree of performance decrease and/or recovery was estimated. Ohmic resistance and charge transfer resistance were increased and platinum surface area was reduced 41% after reverse voltage experiment.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.155-162
• /
• 2016

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) produces only water at cathode by an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The generated water is transported across the membrane from the cathode to the anode. The transported water collected in water-trap and drained to the cathode within the humidifier outlet. If the condensate water is not being drained at the appropriate time, condensate water in the anode can cause the performance degradation or fuel efficiency degradation of fuel cell by the anode flooding or unnecessary hydrogen discharge. In this study, we proposed an optimization method of condensate water drain logic for the water drain performance and the water drain algorithm as considered the condensate water generating speed prep emergency case. In conclusion, we developed the water management strategy of fuel processing system (FPS) as securing fuel efficiency and operating stability.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.111-116
• /
• 2010

In this study, the structural analysis was performed to optimize the membrane humidifier with hollow fiber membrane for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system. The main design factors were considered by evaluating the humidifying performance according to various structural parameters such as packing density and length. The effects of operation conditions of membrane humidifier were also elucidated experimentally. Results imply that there are optimum points for the packing density and length of humidifier. It was also found that among operation conditions, relative humidity of wet exhaust gas and temperature of dry inlet gas have major effects on the humidifying performance.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.75-80
• /
• 2012

A sputter-sublimation source was tested for high rate deposition of protective coating of PEMFC(polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell) with high electrical conductivity and anti-corrosion capability by DC biasing of a metal rod immersed in inductively coupled plasma. A SUS(stainless steel) tube, rod were tested for low thermal conductivity materials and copper for high thermal conductivity ones. At 10 mTorr of Ar ICP(inductively coupled plasma) with 2.4 MHz, 300 W, the surface temperature of a SUS rod reached to $1,289^{\circ}C$ with a dc bias of 150 W (-706 V, 0.21 A) in 2 mins. For 10 min of sputter-sublimation, 0.1 gr of SUS rod was sputter-sublimated which is a good evidence of a high rate deposition source. ICP is used for sputter-sublimation of a target material, for substrate pre-treatment, film quality improvement by high energy particle bombardment and reactive deposition.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.164-169
• /
• 2023

Nano Pt particles were dispersed on carbon-based supports by a polyol process for a catalyst application in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell. We tried to optimize the effect of pH on the electrostatic forces between the support and the Pt colloids. We investigated the relationship among the surface charges on the carbon support, the solution pH, and the concentration of a glycolate, and the Pt particle size. The produced catalyst with nano Pt particles on the support was evaluated by the long-term cyclic voltammetry (CV) performance test and compared with the results from a commercial catalyst. Our experimental results reveal that the pH-control can modify the particle size distribution and the dispersion of the nano Pt particles. This resulted in a cost-effective method for the synthesis of highly Pt loaded Pt/C catalysts for fuel cells better than a commercial catalyst system.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.235-245
• /
• 2024

DLC coatings have been widely applied in industrial fields that require high corrosion resistance due to their excellent mechanical characteristics and chemical stability. In this research, effects of DLC coating thickness and defects on corrosion resistance were investigated for application of metallic bipolar plates in polymer membrane electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs). Results revealed that a DLC coating thickness of 0.7 ㎛ could lead to a defect size reduction of about 75.9% compared to that of 0.3 ㎛.As a result of potentiodynamic polarization experiments, the current density under a potential of 0.6 V was measured to be less than 1 ㎂/cm²,which was an excellent value. Inparticular, the delamination ratio and the decrease rate of maximum pitting depth were up to 84.8% and 63.3%, respectively, with an increase in the DLC coating thickness. These results demonstrate that DLC coating thickness and defects are factors that can affect corrosion resistance of DLC coating and its substrate.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.23-31
• /
• 2004

For the fabrication of high efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst of oxygen electrode for PEM URFC (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell), which is a promising energy storage and conversion system using hydrogen as the energy medium, several bifunctional electrocatalysts were prepared and tested in a single cell URFC system. The catalysts for oxygen electrode revealed fuel cell performance in the order of Pt black > PtIr > PtRuOx > PtRu ~ PtRuIr > PtIrOx, whereas water electrolysis performance in the order of PtIr ~ PtIrOx > PtRu > PtRuIr > PtRuOx ~ Pt black. Considering both reaction modes PtIr was the most effective elctrocatalyst for oxygen electrode of present PEM URFC system. In addition, the water electrolysis performance was significantly improved when Ir or IrOx was added to Pt black just 1 wt.% without the decrease of fuel cell performance. Based on the catalyst screening and the optimization of catalyst composition and loading, the optimum catalyst electrodes for PEM URFC were $1.0mg/cm^2$ of Pt black as hydrogen electrode and $2.0mg/cm^2$ of PtIr (99:1) as oxygen electrode.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.553-561
• /
• 2012

Existing energy sources convert chemical energy into mechanical energy, while fuel cell directly generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Therefore, it has a lot of strong points such as high efficiency, zero emission, and etc. In addition, with the development of hydrogen preservation technique, some companies have been researching and releasing portable fuel cell power packs for specific applications like military equipment, automobile, and so on. However, there are some drawbacks to the fuel cell, high cost and slow dynamic response. In order to compensate these weak points, auxiliary energy storages could be applied to the fuel cell system. In this paper, the optimum structure for a 150W portable fuel cell power pack with a battery pack is selected considering the specification of the system, and the design process of main parts is described in detail. Here, main objectives are compact size, simple control, high efficiency, and low cost. Then, an automatic mode change algorithm, which converts the operating mode depending on the states of fuel cell stack, battery pack, and load, is introduced. Finally, performance of the designed prototype using the automatic mode change control is verified through experiments.