• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2017.07a
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• pp.461-462
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• 2017

가장 대표적인 연료전지인 고분자 전해질 연료전지(PEMFC; polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell)은 두 개의 전극으로 이루어지며, 각 전극(electrode)에 공급되는 수소(anode)와 공기(cathode)의 원활한 반응을 위해 촉매(catalyst)로서 백금(Pt)을 사용한다. 이 때, 촉매의 실험 조건에 따라 연료전지 두 전극의 반응이 달라지므로 촉매의 가변성 즉, 가변적인 전극 조건에 따른 전기화학적 특성이 면밀히 분석되어야 한다. 그러므로, 본 논문에서는 촉매의 변화에 기인한 가변적인 전극 특성에 따른 연료전지의 전기화학적 특성 분석을 실시하였다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.95.2-95.2
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• 2011

In order to achieve high performance and low cost for commercial applications, the development of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA), in which the electrochemical reactions actually occur, must be optimized. Expensive platinum is currently used as an electrochemical catalyst due to its high activity. Although various platinum alloys and non-platinum catalysts are under development, their stabilities and catalytic activities, especially in terms of the oxygen reduction (ORR), render them currently unsuitable for practical use. Therefore, it is important to decrease platinum loading by optimizing the catalysts and electrode microstructure. In this study, we prepared several different MEAs (non-uniform Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer loading electrode) which have dual catalyst layers to find the optimal Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer distribution in the electrodes. We changed Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer content in the layers to find the ideal composition of the binder and Pt/C in the electrode. For MEAs with various ionomer contents in the anodes and cathodes, the electrochemical activity (activation overpotential) and the mass transport properties (concentration overpotential) were analyzed and correlated with the single cell performance. The dual catalyst layers MEA showed higher cell performance than uniformly fabricated MEA, especially at the high current density region.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.442-448
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• 2021

Flow field is an important parameter for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance to have an effect on the reactant supply, heat and water diffusion, and contact resistance. In this study, PEMFC performance was investigated using Cu foam flow field at the cathode of 25 cm² unit cell. Polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were performed at different pressure and relative humidity conditions. The Cu foam showed lower cell performance than that of serpentine type due to its high ohmic resistance, but lower activation and concentration loss due to the even reactant distribution of porous structure. Cu foam has the advantage of effective water transport because of its hydrophobicity. However, it showed low membrane hydration at low humidity condition. The metal foam flow field could improve fuel cell performance with a uniform pressure distribution and effective water management, so future research on the properties of metal foam should be conducted to reduce electrical resistance of bipolar plate.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.597-601
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• 2006

The degradation of the Nafion membrane by oxygen radical (OH, $HO_2$) was investigated in Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Nafion membrane was degraded in Fenton solution consisted with hydrogen peroxide (10-30％) and ferrous ion (1-4 ppm) at $80^{\circ}C$. After degradation in Fenton solution, C-F, S-O and C-O chemical bonds of membrane were broken by oxygen radical attack. Breaking of C-F bond reduced the mechanical strength of Nafion membrane, and hence induced pinholes, resulting in increase of $H_2$ crossover through the membrane. Decomposition of S-O and C-O bonds decreased the ion exchange capacity of the electrolyte membrane. The performance of unit cell composed the membrane, which was degraded in 30％ $H_2O_2$ with 4ppm $Fe^{2+}$ solution for 48 hr, was about half times as low as one with normal membrane.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2022

Two different gas diffusion layers having noticeable differences in micro-porous layer's (MPL's) crack were studied as a substrate for the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) with different binder/carbon (B/C) ratios in high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (Ht-PEMFC). As a result, the performance defined as the voltage at 0.2 A/cm² and maximum power density from the single cells using GDEs from H23 C2 and SGL38 BC with different B/C ratios were compared. GDEs from H23 C2 showed a proportional increase of the voltage with the binder content on the other hand GDEs from SGL38 BC displayed a proportional decline of the voltage to the binder content. It was revealed that MPL crack influences the structure of catalyst layer in GDEs as well as affects the RC_athode which is in close connection with the Ht-PEMFC performance.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2020

Epoxy/carbon composite was used to prepare a bipolar plate for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Phenol novolac-type epoxy and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA)-type epoxy mixture was used as a matrix and graphite powder, carbon fiber (CF) and graphite fiber (GF) were used as carbon materials. In order to improve the mechanical properties of the bipolar plate, surface-modified CF was incorporated into the epoxy/carbon composite. To determine the cure temperature of the epoxy mixture, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis was performed and the data were introduced to Kissinger equation in order to get reaction activation energy and pre-exponential factor. Tensile and flexural strength was obtained by using universal testing machine (UTM). The surface morphology of the fractured specimen and the interfacial morphology between epoxy matrix and CF or GF were observed by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

A fuel handling process combined with a pressure swing adsorption system (PSA) was simulated to produce pure hydrogen with a purity greater than 99.97%. The simulation consists of two parts. The fuel processing part consisting of reformer and water-gas shift reaction was simulated with Aspen plus^®, and the hydrogen purification part consisting of PSA was simulated with Aspen Adsorption^®. In this study, the effect of reformer temperature and pressure on the total hydrogen production yield was investigated. Simulations were performed over a temperature range of 700 to 1,000℃ and a pressure range of 1 to 10 bar. The total hydrogen production yield increased with increasing temperature and decreasing pressure. The maximum hydrogen yield was less than 50% in the simulation and will be lower in the real process.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.55.2-55.2
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• 2009

A polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell has been getting large interest as a typical issue in useful applications. The PEMFC is composed of a membrane, catalyst and the bipolar plate. SnOx:F films on SUS316 stainless steel were prepared as a function of substrate with using electron cyclotron resonance-metal organic chemical vapor deposition (ECR-MOCVD) in order to achieve the corrosion-resistant and low contact resistance bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells. The SnOx:F films coated on SUS316 substrate at surface plasma treatment for excellent stability, before/after heat treatment for good crystalline structure and microwave power for were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), auger electron microscopy (AES) and field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The SnOx:F film coated on SUS316 substrate with various process parameters were able to observe optimum interfacial contact resistance (ICR) and corrosion resistance. It can be concluded that fluorine-doping content plays an important function in electrical property and characteristic of corrosion-protective film.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2017

In this study, the composite membranes prepared by sulfonated graphene oxide (sGO) and Nafion were developed as proton exchange membranes (PEMs) for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The sGO/Nafion composite membranes were prepared by mixing Nafion solution with the sGO dispersed in a binary solvent system to improve dispersity of sGO. The composite membranes were investigated in terms of ionic conductivity, ion exchange capacity (IEC), FT-IR, TGA and SEM, etc. As a result, the binary solvent system, i.e., ortho-dichlorobenzene (ODB) and N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), were used to obtain high dispersion of sGO particles in Nafion solution, and the ionic conductivity of the sGO/Nafion composite membrane showed $0.06Scm^{-1}$ similar to other research results at lower water uptake, 11 wt%.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.563-567
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• 2009

The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) with the advantages of low-operating temperature, high current density, low cost and volume, fast start-up ability, and suitability for discontinuous operation becomes the most reasonable and attractive power system for transportation vehicle and micro-grid power plant in a household. 200W PEM-type FCs system was integrated by this study, then the electrical characteristics and diagnosis of the fuel cell were analyzed with variations on mass flow rate and stack temperature. The ranges of the variations are 1~8L/min on $H_2$ volume and $20{\sim}70^{\circ}C$ on stack temperature.