• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.311-317
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• 2007

Proton conducting crosslinked membranes have been prepared by polymer blending, which consist of poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) (PVA-co-PE) and poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) (PSSA-co-PMA) at 50 : 50 wt ratio. Two kinds of PSSA-co-PMA copolymer with 3 : 1 and 1 : 1 the molar ratio of PSSA to PMA wereused as a proton conducting source. The ethylene content of PVA-co-PE was also changed as 0, 27 and 44 mol%. The membranes were thermally crosslinked via the esterification reaction between -OH of PVA and -COOH of PMA, as demonstrated by FT-IR spectroscopy (PVA-co-PE)/(PSSA-co-PMA) membranes with 3 : 1 the molar ratio of PSSA to PMA showed higher ion exchange capacity (IEC), lower water uptake and higher proton conductivity than those with 1 : 1 molar ratio. As the PE concentration increased, the IEC values, water uptake and proton conductivities decreased continuously. These properties were elucidated in terms of competitive effect between the concentration of sulfonic acid, hydrophilicity and the crosslinked structure of membranes.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.344-349
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• 2017

Alkaline fuel cells using polymer electrolyte membranes are expected to replace proton exchange membrane fuel cells, which have similar system configurations. In particular, in alkaline fuel cells, a low-cost non-platinium catalyst can be used. In this study, to fabricate high performance and high durability anion exchange membranes for alkaline fuel cell systems, two kinds of supports, polybenzoxazole and polyethylene supports, were impregnated with Fumion FAA ionomer, by which we tried to fabricate the support-impregnated membrane which has higher mechanical strength and higher ion conductivity than the Fumion series. Finally, the Pore-filling membranes were successfully fabricated and ionic conductivity and mechanical properties were different depending on the properties of the supports. In the pore-filling membranes with Fumion ionomer on the PE support, excellent mechanical properties were obtained, but ionic conductivity decreased. On the other hand, when the PBO support was impregnated with Fumion ionomer, high ionic conductivity was shown after impregnation due to high basicity of PBO, but the mechanical strength was relatively low as compared with Fumion-PE membrane. As a result, it was concluded that it is necessary to consider the characteristics of the support according to the operating conditions of the alkaline fuel cell during the preparation of the pore-filling membranes.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.664-670
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• 2021

Stainless steel was applied as bipolar plate (BP) of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) due to high mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and good machinability. However, stainless steel was corroded and increased contact resistance resulting PEMFC performance decrease. Although the corrosion resistance could be improved by surface treatment such as noble metal coating, there is a disadvantage of cost increase. The stainless steel corrosion behavior and passive layer influence on PEMFC performance should be studied to improve durability and economics of metal bipolar plate. In this study, SUS316L bipolar plate of 25 cm² active area was manufactured, and experiments were conducted for corrosion behavior at an anode and cathode. The influence of SUS316L BP corrosion on fuel cell performance was measured using the polarization curve, impedance, and contact resistance. The metal ion concentration in drained water was analyzed during fuel cell operation with SUS316L BP. It was confirmed that the corrosion occurs more severely at the anode than at the cathode for SUS316L BP. The contact resistance was increased due to the passivation of SUS316L during fuel cell operation, and metal ions continuously dissolved even after the passive layer formation.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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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.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.58-61
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• 2023

The activation process is essential for PEMFC to improve initial performance. The most commonly used activation method is a voltage change (load change) method, which may accompany degradation of the electrode catalyst if excessively performed. In many activation processes, the voltage change range is activated in a wide range from 0.4 V to OCV, and research is needed to reduce the voltage change range in order to prevent electrode catalyst degradation and shorten the activation time. Therefore, in this study, when the activation voltage range was 0.4~0.6 V, 0.4~0.8 V, and 0.4~OCV, we tried to research and develop an effective activation method by analyzing the performance and characteristics of the electrode and polymer membrane. The performance improvement was the lowest in the activation with a wide voltage range from 0.4 V to the highest OCV, and the performance decreased by 10% when activated for 56 cycles. The 0.4~0.6 V activation cycle showed the highest performance improvement up to 20% and the smallest decrease in performance due to overactivation, indicating that it is optimal method.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.181-188
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• 2009

Pt catalyst was adsorbed on Carbon nanofiber (CNF) by modified polyol method after acid treatment of the carbon support with $HNO_3$ and $H_{2}SO_{4}$. As the time for acid treatment increases, more oxygen functional groups on carbon surface were produced which improve the loading amount and dispersion of Pt catalyst on carbon supports. In order to inspect the effect of CNF acid treatment time on electrochemical corrosion, constant potential of 1.4 V was applied to a single cell for 30 min and the amount of $CO_2$ emitted was monitored with on-line mass spectrometry. According to the results of our experiment, more $CO_2$ was produced with Pt/ oxidized-CNF catalyst in compared to that with unoxidized-CNF. Increasing acid treatment time also induces the more $CO_2$ emission. Besides, performance degradation after corrosion test expanded with severer carbon corrosion. From the observed results, it can be concluded that the acid treatment of CNF is beneficial to catalyst loading, but it also is a significant factor declining the fuel cell durability by accelerating electrochemical oxidation of carbon support.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2008

A graft copolymer consisting of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) backbone and poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) side chains was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of PVC facilitates grafting of hydrophilic PHEA monomer. This graft copolymer, i.e. PVC-g-PHEA was cross-linked with sulfosuccinic acid (SA) via the esterification reaction between -OH of the graft copolymer and -COOH of SA, as confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Ion exchange capacity (IEC) continuously increased to 0.87meq/g with increasing concentrations of SA, due to the increasing portion of charged groups in the membrane. However, the water uptake increased up to 20.0wt% of SA concentration above which it decreased monotonically. The membrane also exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 0.025 S/cm at 20.0 wt% of SA concentration, which is presumably due to competitive effect between the increase of ionic sites and the crosslinking reaction.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.143.1-143.1
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• 2010

고분자 전해질막 연료전지(Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell; PEMFC)는 수소를 이용하여 전기를 발생시키는 친환경적이고 이상적인 발전장치로 고효율과 높은 전류밀도를 가지며 그 응용분야가 다양하다. 저온에서 작동하는 PEM fuel cell은 전극에서 효과적인 산화환원반응을 위해 그 촉매로 활성이 우수한 Pt(Platinum)을 사용하고 있으나, Pt의 높은 가격은 연료전지의 상용화에 걸림돌이 되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 연료전지의 Pt/C 촉매 층에서 Pt의 분산성을 높여 Pt의 담지량을 줄이고 작동 중 발생하는 Pt의 응집 현상을 방지하여 Pt의 수명을 연장시킬 목적으로, Au(gold) 나노입자를 첨가한 Pt-Au/C 복합나노촉매를 제조하였다. 본 발표에서는 합성된 Pt-Au/C 복합촉매 중 Au 첨가량이 Pt 촉매의 활성에 미치는 영향을 조사하기 위하여, 복합촉매 중에 금속(Pt+Au)의 총 함량이 30 wt.%와 40 wt.% 인 Pt-Au/C 촉매에 대하여 각각 Au 첨가량을 변화시켜, cyclic voltammetry 법에 의해 Au 첨가 효과를 조사한 결과에 대하여 보고하고자 한다. Au 나노입자를 제조하기 위한 출발 물질로는 $HAuCl_4{\cdot}4H_2O$를 이용하였고 trisodium citrate와 $NaBH_4$를 환원제로 하여, 입경이 5~8 nm 인 Au 콜로이드를 제조하였다. Pt-Au/C 복합나노촉매를 제조하기 위하여 먼저 Au/C 복합분체가 제조되었다. 0.03g의 carbon이 첨가된 carbon 현탁액에 합성된 Au 콜로이드 수용액을 첨가한 후 24시간 동안 교반하여 Au/C 복합분체를 제조하였다. 이 Au/C 복합분체에 $H_2PtCl_6{\cdot}6H_2O$ 수용액을 현탁하고 methanol 을 환원제로 사용해 Pt를 환원 석출시켜 Pt-Au/C 복합촉매를 제조하였다. Pt-Au/C 복합 나노촉매에서 Pt와 Au를 다양한 비율(3:1, 2.5:1.5, 2:2)로 합성하였으며 Pt-Au/C 복합촉매 중 금속(Pt+Au) 촉매의 총 함량은 30 wt.%와 40 wt.%로 각각 제조되었다. Au 나노입자 콜로이드의 분산성은 UV-visible spectrum의 흡광도에 의해 관찰되었고, Pt-Au/C 복합 나노촉매의 형상 및 분산성 분석은 transmission electron microscopy(TEM)에 의해 이루어졌다. 또한, 촉매의 전기화학적 특성평가는 cyclic voltammetry(CV)에 의해 조사되었다.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.883-891
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• 2017

For the preferential oxidation of CO contained in the fuel of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), CuO-$CeO_2$ mixed oxide catalysts were prepared by the sol-gel and co-precipitation methods to replace noble metal catalysts. In the catalyst preparation by the sol-gel method, Cu/Ce ratio and hydrolysis ratio were changed. The catalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was compared with the catalytic activity of the noble metal catalyst($Pt/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$). Among the catalysts prepared with different Cu/Ce ratios, the catalyst whose Cu/Ce ratio was 4:16 showed the highest CO conversion (90%) and selectivity (60%) at $150^{\circ}C$. As the hydrolysis ratio was increased in the catalyst preparation, surface area increased, and catalytic activity also increased. The highest CO conversions with the CuO-$CeO_2$ mixed oxide catalyst prepared by the co-precipitation method and the noble metal catalyst (1wt% $Pt/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$) were 82 and 81% at $150^{\circ}C$, respectively, whereas the highest CO conversion with the CuO-$CeO_2$ mixed oxide catalyst prepared by the sol-gel method was 90% at the same temperature. This indicates that the catalyst prepared by the sol-gel method shows higher catalytic activity than the catalysts prepared by the co-precipitation method and the noble metal catalyst. From the CO-TPD experiment, it was found that the catalyst having CO desorption peak at a lower temperature ($140^{\circ}C$) revealed higher catalytic activity.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.173-178
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• 2011

Separator of stack in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is high cost and heavy. If we make it low cost and lighter, it will have a great ripple. In this study, low carbon steel is used as base metal of separator because the cost of low carbon steel is very cheaper commercial metal material than stainless steels, which is widely used as separator. Low carbon steel has not a good corrosion resistance. In order to improve the corrosion resistance and electrolytic conductivity, low carbon steel needs to be surface treated. We made Chromium electroplated layer of $5{\mu}m$, $10{\mu}m$ thickness on the surface of low carbon steel and it was nitrided for 2 hours at $1000^{\circ}C$ in a furnace with 100 torr nitrogen gas pressure. Cross-sectional and surface microstructures of surface treated low carbon steel are investigated using SEM. And crystal structures are investigated by XRD. Interfacial contact resistance and corrosion tests were considered to simulate the internal operating conditions of PEMFC stack. The corrosion test was performed in 0.1 N $H_2SO_4$ + 2 ppm $F^-$ solution at $80^{\circ}C$. Throughout this research, we try to know that low carbon steel can be replaced stainless steel in separator of PEMFC.