• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.471-480
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• 2017

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) operated at $150^{\circ}C$ was evaluated by a controlling different amount of phosphoric acid (PA) to a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) without humidification of the cells. The effects on MEA performance of the amount of PA in the cathode are investigated. The PA content in the cathodes was optimized for higher catalyst utilization. The highest value of the active electrochemical area is achieved with the optimum amount of PA in the cathode confirmed by in-situ cyclic voltammetry. The current density-voltage experiments (I-V curve) also shows a transient response of cell voltage affected by the amount of PA in the electrodes. Furthermore, this information was compared with the production variables such as hot pressing and vacuum drying to investigate those effect to the electrochemical performances.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.412-416
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• 2015

To evaluate the performance and durability of membrane, measurement of hydrogen crossover is needed during PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) operation. In this work, concentration of hydrogen at cathode was analysed by gas chromatograph during operation suppling with air instead of inert gas into the cathode. The hydrogen permeated through membrane reacted with oxygen at cathode and then the concentration of hydrogen was lower than in case inert gas was supplied. Hydrogen concentration decreased as the flow rate of air increased at cathode. Increase of temperature, humidity and pressure of anode gas enhanced the hydrogen concentration at cathode. The hydrogen concentration was about 5.0 ppm at current density of $120mA/cm^2$ during general PEMFC operation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.187-190
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• 2012

Contamination of ion from cathode air on the membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) is the serious degradation source in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). In this study, concentration of ions in air at industry region, street and seaside were measured. There were comparably high concentration of $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ in this regions. This paper shows the effects of MEA contamination by these ions generated from humidification water. After 170 hours of fuel cell operation using city water as humidification water, the performance of unit cell decrease to 11% of initial performance. The electrolyte membrane easily absorbed foreign contaminant cations due to the stronger affinity of foreign cations with the sulfonic acid group compared to $H^+$. The contaminant ions existing in the interface between the platinum catalyst and ionomer layer turn out to be the most serious factor to decrease cell performance.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.321-326
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• 2022

As the thickness of the polymer membrane of PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) is getting thinner for PEMFC performance and price reduction, research on improving durability has become more important. In the durability evaluation of membranes, the mechanical durability evaluation time is more than twice that of the chemical durability evaluation time, so it is necessary to select the durability evaluation conditions well. In this study, we tried to check how much the mechanical durability evaluation time changes when there is a difference in the inflow gas type and flow rate in the mechanical durability evaluation protocol (Wet/Dry). When nitrogen was used at a flow rate of 2,000 mL/min, the evaluation time increased by 1.25 times compared to when air was used. An increase in the degradation rate of the electrode Pt was the main factor when air was used. When the flow rate was reduced to 800 mL/min, the air and nitrogen evaluation times increased by 1.5 times and 1.2 times, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2016

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) instead of batteries is appropriate for long time flight of unmanned aero vehicles (UAV). In this work, $NaBH_4$ hydrolysis system supplying hydrogen to PEMFC was studied. In order to decrease weight of $NaBH_4$ hydrolysis system, enhancement of hydrogen yield, recovery of condensing water and maintenance of stable hydrogen yield were studied. The hydrogen yield of 3.4% was increased by controlling of hydrogen pressure in hydrolysis reactor. Condensing water formed during air cooling of hydrogen was recovered into storage tank of $NaBH_4$ solution. In this process the condensing water dissolved $NaBH_4$ powder and then addition of $NaBH_4$ solution decreased system weight of 14%. $NaBH_4$ hydrolysis system was stably operated with hydrogen yield of 96% by 2.0g Co-P-B catalyst for 10 hours at 2.0L/min hydrogen evolution rate.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.157-162
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• 2014

In this research, we investigate electrical performance and electrochemical properties of carbon supported Pt (Pt/C) that is synthesized by polyol method. With the Polyol_Pt/C that is adopted for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), their catalytic activity and ORR performance and electrical performance are estimated and compared with commercial Pt/C(Johnson Mattey) catalyst. Their electrochemically active surface (EAS) area are measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV), respectively. On the other hand, regarding ORR activity and electrical performance of the catalysts, (i) linear sweeping voltammetry by rotating disk electrode and (ii) PEMFC single cell tests are used. The CV measurement demonstrate EAS of Polyol_Pt/C is compared with commercial JM_Pt/C. In case of Polyol_Pt/C, its half-wave potential, kinetic current density are excellent. Based on data obtained by half-cell test, when PEMFC single cell tests are carried out, current density measured at 0.6V and maximum power density of the PEMFC single cell employing Polyol_Pt/C are better than those employing commercial Pt/C. Conclusively, Polyol_Pt/C synthesized by modified polyol process shows better ORR catalytic activity and PEMFC performance than other catalysts.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2010

A PEMFC(proton exchange membrane fuel cell) is a good candidate for residential power generation to be coped with the shortage of fossil fuel and green house gas emission. The attractive benefit of the PEMFC is to produce electric power as well as hot water for home usage. The thermal management of PEMFC for RPG is to utilize the heat of PEMFC so that the PEMFC can be operated at its optimal efficiency. In this study, thermal management system of PEMFC stack is modeled to understand the dynamic response during load change. The thermal management system of PEMFC for RPGFC is composed of two cooling circuits, one for controling the fuel cell temperature and the other for heating up the water for home usage. The different operating strategy is applied for each cooling circuit considering the duty of those two circuits. Even though the capacity of PEMFC system (1kW) is enough to supply hot domestic water for residence, heat-up of reservior takes some hours. Therefore, in this study, time schedule of the simulation reflects the heat-up process. Dynamic responses and operating strategies of the PEMFC system are investigated during load changes.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.216-221
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• 2012

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide has been widely studied by many scientists and researchers. Recently, the production of formic acid, which is expensive but highly useful liquid material, is receiving a great attention. However, difficulties in the electrochemical reduction process and analyzing methods impede the researches. Therefore, it is important to design an adequate system, develop the reduction process and establish the analyzing methods for carbon dioxide reduction to formic acid. In this study, the production of formic acid through electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide was performed and concentration of the product has been analyzed. Large scale batch cell with proton exchange membrane was used in the experiment. The electrochemical experiment has been performed using a series of metal catalysts. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry were performed for carbon dioxide reduction and electrochemical analysis using silver chloride and platinum electrode as a reference electrode and counter electrode, respectively. The concentration of formic acid generated from the reduction was monitored using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results validate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the designed system and analyzing tool.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2016

This article reports current status of micro fuel cell-combined heat and power (${\mu}FC$-CHP) systems which utilize both power and heat generated by fuel cells. There are several options for constructing CHP systems and among them, fuel cells are the most useful and their total energy efficiency combining heat and power can reach up to about 90%. Fuel cells are classified as five types based on the electrolyte, but the most suitable fuel cell types for the ${\mu}FC$-CHP system are proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems have several advantages such as decrease of the transmission-distribution loss, reduced costs of electricity due to distributed power generation, and environmental-friendliness owing to zero emission. The main drawback of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems is the high initial investment, however, it keeps decreasing as the technology development reduces production costs. Currently, Japan is the most leading country of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP market, however, Korea tries to expand the market by planning the deployment of 1 million units of ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems and governmental subsidiary supporting of half of the install price. In this report, integration technologies for connecting FC and CHP, and technology trends of leading countries are presented as well.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.362-367
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• 2009

Recently, the use of formic acid as a fuel for direct liquid fuel cells has emerged as a promising alternative to methanol. In the work presented herein, we evaluated direct formic acid fuel cells(DFAFCs) with various components under operating conditions, for example, the thickness of the proton exchange membrane, concentration of formic acid, gas diffusion layer, and commercial catalyst. The thickness of the proton exchange membrane influenced performance related to the fuel cross-over. To optimize the cell performance, we investigated on the proper concentration of formic acid and catalyst for the formic acid oxidation. Consequently, membrance-electrode assembly(MEA) consisted of $Nafion^{(R)}$-115 and the Pt-Ru black as a anode catalyst showed the maximum performance. This performance was superior to the DMFCs' one.