• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.202-207
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• 2022

The study on electrode degradation of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) was mainly studied on the particle growth and active area reduction of Pt on the electrode. The degradation of the electrode catalyst Pt in contact with the membrane affects the deterioration of the polymer membrane, but there are not many studies related to this. In this study, the phenomenon of the deposition of deteriorated Pt inside the polymer membrane during the accelerated electrode catalyst degradation test and its effects were studied. The voltage change (0.6 V ↔ 0.9 V) was repeated up to 30,000 cycles to accelerate the platinum degradation rate. When the voltage change cycle was repeated while oxygen was introduced into the cathode, the amount of Pt deposited inside the film was larger than when nitrogen was introduced. As the number of voltage change cycles increased, the amount of Pt deposited inside the membrane increased, and Pt dissolved in the cathode moved toward the anode, showing a uniform distribution throughout the membrane at 20,000 cycles. In the process of the accelerated electrode catalyst degradation test, the hydrogen crossover current density of the membrane did not change, and it was confirmed that the deposited Pt did not affect the durability of the membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.517-522
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• 2023

A chemical/mechanical durability test of polymer membrane evaluation method is used in which air and hydrogen are supplied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and wet/dry is repeated in the open circuit voltage (OCV) state. In this protocol, when wet/dry is repeated, voltage increase/decrease is repeated, resulting in electrode degradation. When the membrane durability is excellent, the number of voltage changes increases and the evaluation is terminated due to electrode degradation, which may cause a problem that the original purpose of membrane durability evaluation cannot be performed. In this study, the same protocol as the department of energy (DOE) was used, but oxygen was used instead of air as the cathode gas, and the wet/dry time and flow rate were also increased to increase the chemical/mechanical degradation rate of the membrane, thereby shortening the durability evaluation time of the membrane to improve these problems. The durability test of the Nafion 211 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was completed after 2,300 cycles by increasing the acceleration by 2.6 times using oxygen instead of air. This protocol also accelerated degradation of the membrane and accelerated degradation of the electrode catalyst, which also had the advantage of simultaneously evaluating the durability of the membrane and the electrode.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.356-361
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• 2023

In order to improve the durability of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), it is important to accurately evaluate the durability of the polymer membrane in a short time. The test conditions for chemically accelerated durability evaluation of membranes are high voltage, high temperature, low humidity, and high gas pressure. It can be said that the protocol is developed by changing these conditions. However, the relative influence of each test condition on the degradation of the membrane has not been studied. In chemical accelerated degradation experiment of the membrane, the influence of 4 factors (conditions) was examined through the factor experiment method. The degree of degradation of the membrane after accelerated degradation was determined by measuring the hydrogen permeability and effluent fluoride ion concentration, and it was possible to determine the degradation order of the polymer membrane under 8 conditions by the difference in fluoride ion concentration. It was shown that the influence of the membrane degradation factor was in the order of voltage > temperature > oxygen pressure > humidity. It was confirmed that the degradation of the electrode catalyst had an effect on the chemical degradation of the membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.175-181
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• 2014

Microbial fuel cells (MFC) were operated with livestock wastes and PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) MEA (Membrane and Electrode Assembly). OCV of MFC with mixtures of microbial was higher than that of MFC with single microbial. MFC using pig wastes showed highest OCV (540 mV) among cow waste, chicken waste and duck waste. And the power density of MFC using pig waste was $963mW/m^2$. Contamination of MEA with $Na^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $K^+$ ion and impurities was the one cause for low performance of MFC during operation.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2018

General polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEMFC) operates at less than $80^{\circ}C$. Therefore liquid phase water resulting from electrochemical reaction accumulates and floods the cell which in turn increases the mass transfer loss. To prevent the flooding, it is common to employ serpentine flow channel, which can efficiently export liquid phase water to the outlet. The major drawback of utilizing serpentine flow channel is the large pressure drop that happens between the inlet and outlet. On the other hand, in the high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (HT-PEMFC), since the operating temperature is 130 to $180^{\circ}C$, the generated water is in the state of gas, so the flooding phenomenon is not taken into consideration. In HT-PEMFCs parallel flow channel with lower pressure drop between the inlet and outlet is employed therefore, in order to circulate hydrogen and air in the cell less pumping power is required. In this study we analyzed HT-PEMFC's different flow channels by parallel computation using previously developed 3-D isothermal model. All the flow channels had an active area of $25cm^2$. Also, we numerically compared the performance of HT-PEMFC parallel flow channel with different manifold area and Rib interval against the original serpentine flow channel. Results of the analysis are shown in the form of three-dimensional contour polarization curves, flow characteristics in the channel, current density distribution in the Membrane, overpotential distribution in the catalyst layer, and hydrogen and oxygen concentration distribution. As a result, the performance of a real area fuel cell was predicted.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.478-482
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• 2017

Humidity control of proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) is very important control condition during driving. In terms of water management, low humidification conditions are advantageous, and high humidification is advantageous in terms of drainage utilization and energy efficiency. In this study, the characteristics of outlet water in low humidification and high humidification process were studied in terms of utilization of discharged water. Since the impurities in the effluent are generated during the degradation of the membrane and the electrode assembly(MEA), degradation of the MEA under low humidification and high humidification conditions was also studied. The rate of radical generation was high at low humidification condition of the anode RH 0%, which showed that it was the main cause of the degradation of the polymer membrane. Analysis of effluent showed low concentration of fluoride ion concentration of about 20 ppb at high humidification (both electrodes RH 100%) and 0.6 V, which was enough to be used as the feed water for electrolysis. Very low concentration of platinum below 0.2 ppb was detected in the condensate discharged from the high humidification condition.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 2011

This study deals with the preparation of polymeric electrolyte membranes having high durability for the application of fuel cells. The membranes under investigation were prepared the impregnation to porous polyethylene membranes with poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA), poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid), and (PSSA-MA)3-(trihydroxysilyl)-1-propanesulfonic acid (THS-PSA). To characterize the resulting membranes, the water contents, the contact angles, FT-IR, the proton conductivity and the the modulus were measured. The proton conductivity of 30% content of THS-PSA at $55^{\circ}C$ gave excellent $1.27{\times}10^{-1}S/cm$ and the mechanical strength was improved 7 times higher up to the THS-PSA content 15%, as a result, the durability was elevated extensively.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.294-301
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• 2007

To improve oxidative stability of non-fluorinated styrene-based polymer electrolyte membranes, copolymerized membranes were prepared using styrene derivatives such as p-methylstyrene, t-butylstyrene, and ${\alpha}-methylstyrene$ by monomer sorption method. Prepared membrane was characterized by measurement of weight gain ratio, water content, ion-exchange capacity, proton conductivity, and oxidative stability under the accelerated condition. It was found that each step of monomer sorption method including sorption, polymerization and sulfonation could be affected by the properties and the structures of styrenederivatives. Due to difficulty of polymerization, ${\alpha}$-methylstyrene was copolymerized with styrene or p-methylstyrene. Prepared membrane using ${\alpha}-methylstyrene$ and styrene showed higher performance and stability comparing to copolymerized membrane with styrene. However, copolymerized membranes with ${\alpha}-methylstyrene$ did not showed much improved oxidative stability comparing to styrene membrane due to their lower molecular weight. The t-butylstyrene membrane showed a low performance due to substituted bulky-butyl group which prevents sorption and sulfonation reaction. However, copolymerized t-butylstyrene membranes with p-methylstyrene showed good performance and much improved stability than the styrene membranes.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2023

In order to improve the durability of the PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) polymer membrane, a radical scavenger and a support are used. In this study, the durability of membranes containing fucoidan extracted from seaweeds and tannic acid serving as a crosslinking agent is evaluated to improve chemical and physical durability. Physical durability is evaluated by measuring tensile strength, and chemical durability is measured by Fenton experiment. Membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) is prepared and mechanical and chemical durability are measured through accelerated durability evaluation in the cell. The tensile strength measurement showed that fucoidan and tannic acid can improve the mechanical durability of the membrane by improving the strain rate and yield strength. It is shown in Fenton experiment that fucoidan acts as a radical scavenger. As a result of the accelerated durability test in the unit cell, fucoidan improved both chemical and mechanical durability, increasing the accelerated durability evaluation time by 38.1% compared to the additive-free membrane. When tannic acid is added, the durability of the polymer membrane is improved by 13.9% by improving the mechanical durability.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.3279-3284
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• 2012

Poly(benzimidazole-co-benzoxazole)s (PBI-co-PBO) are synthesized by polycondensation reaction with 3,3'-diaminobenzidine, terephthalic acid and 3,3'-dihydroxybenzidine or 4,6-diaminoresorcinol in polyphosphoric acid (PPA). All polymer membranes are prepared by the direct casting method (in-situ fabrication). The introduction of benzoxazole units (BO units) into a polymer backbone lowers the basic property and $H_3PO_4$ doping level of the copolymer membranes, resulting in the improvement of mechanical strength. The proton conductivity of $H_3PO_4$ doped PBI-co-PBO membranes decrease as a result of adding amounts of BO units. The maximum tensile strength reaches 4.1 MPa with a 10% molar ratio of BO units in the copolymer. As a result, the $H_3PO_4$ doped PBI-co-PBO membranes could be utilized as alternative proton exchange membranes in high temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells.