• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.42-45
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• 2013

Natural photosynthesis utilizes solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water to energy-rich carbohydrates. Substantial use of sunlight to meet world energy demands requires energy storage in useful fuels via chemical bonds because sunlight is intermittent. Artificial photosynthesis research focuses the fundamental natural process to design solar energy conversion systems. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ($NAD^+$) and $NADP^+$ are ubiquitous as electron transporters in biological systems. Enzymatic, chemical, and electrochemical methods have been reported for NADH regeneration. As photochemical systems, visible light-driven catalytic activity of NADH regeneration was carried out using platinum nanoparticles, molecular rhodium and cobalt complexes in the presence of triethanolamine as a sacrificial electron donor. Pt nanoparticles showed photochemical NADH regeneration activity without additional visible light collector molecules, demonstrating that both photoactivating and catalytic activities exist together in Pt nanoparticles. The NADH regeneration of the Pt nanoparticle system was not interfered with the reduction of $O_2$. Molecular cobalt complexes containing dimethylglyoxime ligands also transfer their hydrides to $NAD^+$ with photoactivation of eosin Y in the presence of TEOA. In this photocatalytic reaction, the $NAD^+$ reduction process competed with a proton reduction.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.232-236
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• 2020

Three-dimensional (3D) multilayered Pt electrodes were fabricated to develop a porous electrode using a pattern-transfer printing process. The Pt thin films were deposited using a transferred sputtering pattern having a 250 nm line width on the substrate, and the uniform line patterns were efficiently transferred using our proposed method. Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) analyses were used to evaluate the porosity of the electrodes. It was possible to distinguish between two resolved maxima at 168 and 227 ℃, which could be described in terms of desorption reactions on the Pt (111) planes. The results of the TPD analysis of the 3D and multilayered Pt electrodes prepared through transfer printing were compared to those of an electrode fabricated through screen printing using a commercial Pt-carbon paste commonly used as porous electrodes. It was confirmed that the 3D multilayered electrodes exhibited a desorption concentration approximately 100 times higher than that of the Pt-carbon composite electrode, and the desorption concentration increased by approximately 0.02 mg/mol per layer. The 3D multilayered electrode effectively functions as a porous electrode and a catalyst.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.80.2-80.2
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• 2010

The development of high temperature-proton exchange fuel cell (HT-PEFC) is a key in solving the problem of carbon monoxide poisoning of the platinum at anode as well as water management in PEFCs operated below $90^{\circ}C$. In order to overcome these main issues, PEFCs must be operated at high temperature above $120^{\circ}C$. Ionic liquids are available for HT-PEFC due to exhibiting non-volatility and thermal stability. Ionic liquids are however leached out from polymeric matrix resulting in the increase of gas permeability. In this study, we have prepared and characterized the composite membranes with the ionic liquids consisting of 1-(4-vinylbenzyl)-3-butyl imidazolium chloride immobilized by the cross-linkers in pore-filling membrane to prevent to be leached out from the membrane. We confirmed that cross-linked ionic liquids were not leached out from the composite membranes through the various characteristic analyses. It was also verified that the prepared membranes are thermally stable from the result of TG analysis. The pore-filling membranes with the immobilized ionic liquids have a high proton conductivity over $10^{-2}$ S/cm at high temperature (> $120^{\circ}C$).

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.3331-3337
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• 2012

Ru-modified Pt nanoparticles of various sizes on platelet carbon nanofiber toward methanol oxidation were investigated in terms of particle size effect. The sizes of Pt nanoparticles, prepared by polyol method, were in the range of 1.5-7.5 nm and Ru was spontaneously deposited by contacting Pt nanoparticles with the Ru precursor solutions of 2 and 5 mM. The Ru-modified Pt nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The methanol oxidation activities of Ru-modified Pt nanoparticles, measured using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry, revealed that when the Pt particle size was less than 4.3 nm, the mass specific activity was fairly constant with an enhancement factor of more than 2 at 0.4 V. However, the surface area specific activity was maximized on Pt nanoparticles of 4.3 nm modified with 5 mM Ru precursor solution. The observations were discussed in terms of the enhancement of poison oxidation by Ru and the population variation of Pt atoms at vertices and edges of Pt nanoparticles due to selective deposition of Ru on the facets of (111) and (100).

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.145-150
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• 2013

Optimal preparation guidelines of a cathode catalyst layer by non-precious metal catalysts were evaluated based on electrochemical performance in single-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Experiments for catalyst loading rate revealed that iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc) can be a promising alternative, comparable to platinum (Pt) and cobalt tetramethoxyphenylporphyrin (CoTMPP), including effects of substrate concentration. Results showed that using an optimal FePc loading of $1mg/cm^2$ was equivalent to a Pt loading of $0.35mg/cm^2$ on the basis of maximum power density. Given higher loading rates or substrate concentrations, FePc proved to be a better alternative for Pt than CoTMPP. Under the optimal loading rate, it was further revealed that 40 wt% of FePc to carbon support allowed for the best power generation. These results suggest that proper control of the non-precious metal catalyst layer and substrate concentration are highly interrelated, and reveal how those combinations promote the economic power generation of single-chamber MFCs.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.817-821
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• 2016

Levodopa or L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) is the direct precursor of the neurotransmitter dopamine. L-DOPA is a well-known neuroprotective agent for the treatment of Parkinson's disease symptoms. L-DOPA was synthesized using the enzyme, tyrosinase, as a biocatalyst for the conversion of L-tyrosine to L-DOPA and an electrochemical method for reducing L-DOPAquinone, the product resulting from enzymatic synthesis, to L-DOPA. In this study, three electrode systems were used: A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) as working electrode, a platinum, and a Ag/AgCl electrode as auxiliary and reference electrodes, respectively. GCE has been modified using electropolymerization of pyrrole to facilitate the electron transfer process and immobilize tyrosinase. Optimum conditions for the electropolymerization modified electrode were a temperature of $30^{\circ}C$ and a pH of 7 producing L-DOPA concentration 0.315 mM. After 40 days, the relative activity of an enzyme for electropolymerization remained 38.6%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.264-269
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• 2012

In this study, highly loaded(50 wt%) and very stable Pt/MWCNT catalysts for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells(PEMFCs) are synthesized in short time scale by microwave assisted polyol method with different microwave irradiation time. The XRD and TEM results show that the Pt size becomes bigger as the microwave irradiation time increases. The mean Pt sizes of fabricated catalysts are 4.1, 4.9 and 8.5 nm when the microwave are irradiated for 10, 20 and 30 min, respectively. When compared with Pt catalyst made by conventional polyol method, it shows better long term durability due to the better Pt dispersion on the MWCNT surface.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.169-182
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• 2017

Iron and nitrogen codoped carbon (Fe-N/C) catalysts have emerged as one of the most promising replacements for state-of-the-art platinum-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. During the last decade, significant progress has been achieved in Fe-N/C catalysts in terms of ORR activity improvement and active site identification. In this review, we focus on recent efforts towards advancing our understanding of the structure of active sites in Fe-N/C catalysts. We summarize the spectroscopic and electrochemical methods that are used to analyze active site structure in Fe-N/C catalysts, and the relationship between active site structure and ORR activity in these catalysts. We provide an overview of recently reported synthetic strategies that can generate active sites in Fe-N/C catalysts preferentially. We then discuss newly suggested active sites in Fe-N/C catalysts. Finally, we conclude this review with a brief future outlook.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.58-65
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• 1992

Pt loaded porous carbon Pt/C electrode was prepared by hot pressing process to enhance the electrode performance in PAFC (phosphoric acid fuel cell). By changing the hot pressing conditions and PTFE contents, Pt/C electrodes were prepared and the electrochemical characteristics of oxygen reduction and unit-cell performance were evaluated. The optimum condition of hot press to make electrode is 360$^{\circ}C$ and 10 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$. Maximum performance was obtained at 30 wt% PTFE content in the catalyst layer with 80% utilization of platinum clusters. Unit-cell performance of hot pressed Pt/C electrode was 200 mA/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 700 ㎷ and stable performance was maintained more than 200 hr.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.221-225
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• 2002

Assisted by the highly sensitive confocal microprobe Raman spectrometer and proper surface roughening procedure, the Raman investigation on the adsorption and reaction of methanol was performed on Pt-Ru electrodes with different coverages. A detailed description of the roughening process of the Pt electrodes and the underpotential deposition of the Ru was given. Reasonably good Raman signal reflecting the metal-carbon vibration and CO vibration was detected. The appearance of vibrations of the Ru oxides, together with the existence of Ru-C, Pt-C and CO bands, clearly demonstrates the participation of the bi-functional mechanism during the oxidation process of methanol on Pt-Ru electrodes. The Pt-Ru electrode was found to have a higher catalytic activity over Pt electrodes. This preliminary study shows that electrochemical Raman spectroscopy can be applied to the study of rough electrode surface.