• KIEE International Transactions on Electrophysics and Applications
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• v.5C no.4
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• pp.165-170
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• 2005

A series of inorganic-organic hybrid membranes were prepared with a systematic variation of titanium dioxide nanoparticle content. Their water uptake, methanol permeability and proton conductivity as a function of temperature were investigated. The results obtained show that the inorganic oxide network decreases the proton conductivity and water swelling. It is also found that increase in inorganic oxide content leads to decrease of methanol permeability. In terms of the morphology, membranes are homogeneous and exhibit good adhesion between inorganic domains and the polymer matrix. The properties of the composite membranes are compared with the standard nafion membrane.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2006

Nafion/poly(ether(amino sulfone)) acid-base blend polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared and their proton conductivity and dimethyl ether permeability were investigated. Characteristics of direct dimethyl ether fuel cell (DDMEFC) performance using prepared blend membrane were studied. The increase of amine groups in the base polymer in composite membranes resulted in the decrease in dimethyl ether permeability. The proton conductivity of the blend membranes gradually increased as increasing temperature. The conductivity of Nafion/PEAS-0.6 (85:15) blend membranes was measured to be $1.42\times10^{-2}S/cm\;at\;120^{\circ}C$ which was higher than that of the recast Nafion. The performance of direct dimethyl ether fuel cell (DDMEFC) using the Nafion/PEAS blend membranes was higher than that using $Nafion^(R)115$ membrane. Enhanced performance of direct dimethyl ether fuel cells using Nafion/PEAS blend membrane was explained by reducing dimethyl ether (DME) crossover through the electrolyte membrane and maintenance of the proton conductivity at high temperature.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2003

In order to improve the mechanical properties of the sulfonated polysulfone (SPSf) membranes previously synthesized in our laboratory, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was blended which is well known as the excellent physical and chemical properties. The resulting membranes blended with several molecular weight of PVA varying from 13,000 to 124,000 have been characterized to investigate the effect of PVA molecular weight in terms of ion conductivities, methanol permeabilities, water contents and ion exchange capacities for both heat treated and untreated membranes at 150$^{\circ}C$. The proton conductivity is decreased as the molecular weight of PVA increases. The plain SPSf-6.0 showed the proton conductivity of 0.078 S/cm whereas the blended membrane with M.W. 31,000 PVA indicated 0.04 S/cm. For methanol permeabilities, when PVA is added to SPAf-6.0, methanol crossover is increased because of the gain of the hydrophilicity from 3.4 to 6.5${\times}$10$\^$-6/ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s. For the annealed blended membranes (with M.W. 31,000 PVA), both the methanol corssover and proton conductivity showed very consistent values, about 2.3${\times}$10$\^$-6/ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s and 0.036 S/cm, respectively.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.378-378
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• 2009

The ionic liquid-based sulfonated hydrocarbon composite membranes was prepared for use in anhydrous high temperature-polymer electrolyte fuel cells (HT-PEFCs). Ionic liquid behaves like water in the composite membranes under anhydrous condition. However the composite membranes show a low conductivity and high gas permeability as the content of ionic liquid increases due to its high viscosity and content of ionic liquid, respectively. Hence, in order to enhance the proton conductivity and to reduce the gas permeability of the composite membranes with low content of ionic liquids, the acid containing a common ion of ionic liquid was added to the composite membranes. The characterization of composite membranes was carried out using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and impedance spectroscopy. As a result, the composite membranes containing acid showed higher proton conductivity than those with no acid under the un-humidified condition due to a decrease in viscosity. In addition, the proton conductivity of composite membranes increased with increasing mole concentration of acid.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2004

Proton exchange membrane composed of PVA/PAM/ZrP was prepared and effect of PAM and ZrP contents on properties and performance of the membrane were investigated. PAM as a crosslinking agent was mixed into PVA solution with different concentration (7∼11 wt%) and the PVA/PAM solution was cast to prepare PVA/PAM crosslinked membrane. The membrane was treated in the solution of zirconyl chloride and phophoric acid to make a PVA/PAM/ZrP composite membrane. Methanol permeability, ion conductivity, swelling and ion exchange capacity of the membranes with different ZrP concentration were $10^{-8}∼l0^{-6}$ $\textrm{cm}^2$/sec, $10^{-3}~10^{-2}$ S/cm, 0.26∼1.17 g $H_2O$/g membrane and 2.59∼5.1 meq/g membrane, respectively. Hethanol permeability and ion conductivity of the PVA/PAM/ZrP membrane were improved by 18% and 23%, respectively, compared to those of the PVA/PAM membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.274-281
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• 2008

Covalent-crosslinked sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) copolymers were synthesized copolymerization technique and additionally crosslinked with divinylbenzene (DVB). To optimize the reaction condition, a concentration of crosslinking agent and a reaction time were varied in the ranges of $30{\sim}90\;v/v%$ and $30{\sim}720\;min$. The properties of the crosslinked membranes were investigated by SEM, TGA and the measurement of proton conductivity. It was found that the proton conductivity of crosslinked membranes decreased depending on a degree of crosslinking while water uptake and methanol permeability reduced.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.42-50
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• 2011

The Montmorillonite (MMT) in the polymer matrix is expected to reduce methanol permeability due to the tortous path formed by dispersed silicate layers. However, the polymer composite membranes containing non-proton conducting inorganic particle tend to show low proton conductivity. To solve this problem, we used an ion exchange method to prepare functionalized MMT with various silane coupling agents. The modified MMT was randomly dispersed in sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) matrix to prepare SPAES/modified MMT composite membranes. The performances of hybrid membranes for DMFCs application were investigated. The SPAES/modified composite membrane showed increased proton conductivity compared with the non-modified MMT composite membrane. However, the methanol permeability of the SPAES/modified membrane was higher than that of the non-modified MMT.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2003

In the present study, crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes were prepared at various crosslinking agent content using sulfosuccinic acid (SSA) containing sulfonic acid group ($SO_3H)$. To reduce methanol permeability, silica was introduced to the membrane using sol-gel process. The hybrid membranes were studied in relation to proton conductivity and methanol permeability. It was found that both these properties were very dependent on the effect of SSA content as a crosslinking agent and as a donor of hydrophilic $SO_3H)$ group. The proton conductivities of these PVA/SSA/Silica membranes are in the range from $10^{-3}\;to\;10^{-2}$S/cm and the methanol permeabilities are in the range from $10^{-8}\;to\;10^{-7}\;cm^2/sec$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.1880-1886
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• 2024

To elucidate the mechanism of damage caused by hyphae and organic acids produced by Aspergillus Niger on the surface and internal structure of uranium ore, direct uranium leaching, indirect uranium leaching and semidirect uranium leaching were conducted, and the surface morphology, strength, mineral crystallinity, porosity, and permeability of the ore were analyzed. The results demonstrated that the combination of biomechanical forces exerted by hyphae and the complexation effects of organic acids led to the dissolution of SiO₂ and other substances on the surface of ore, resulting in exfoliation from the exterior to the interior, thereby promoting uranium recovery. Furthermore, the proton exchange involving H⁺ and the complexation of organic acids resulted in the dissolution of cations within the ore, causing destruction to the crystal lattice structure of minerals and increasing the porosity and permeability inside the ore. The dominant factor contributing to ore damage during recovery was organic acids.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 1998

Purpose : A precise NMR technique for measuring the rate of water exchange and cell membrane permeability across the hepatocyte membrane using liver-specific MR contrast agent is described. Materials and Methods : The rat hepatocytes isolated by perfusion of the livers were used for the NMR measurements. All experiments were performed on an IBM field cycling relaxometer operating from 0.02MHz to 60 MHz proton Larmor frequency. spin-echo pulse sequence was empolyed to measure spin-lattice relaxation time, T1. The continuous distribution analysis of water proton T1 data from rat hepatocytes containing low concentrations of the liver specific contrast agent, Gd-EOB-DTPA, modeled by a general two compartment exchange model. Results : The mean residence time of water molecule inside the hepatocyte was approximately 250 msec. The lower limit for the permeability of the hepatocyte membrane was $(1.3{\pm}0.1){\;}{\times}{\;}10^{-3}cm/sec$. The CONTIN analysis, which seeks the natural distribution of relaxation times, reveals direct evidence of the effect of diffusive exchange. the diffusive water exchange is not small in the intracellular space in the case of hepatocytes. Conclusions : Gd-EOB-DTPA, when combined with continuous distribution analysis, provides a robust method to study water exchange and membrane permeability in hepatocytes. Water exchange in hepatocyte is much slower thatn that in red blood cells. Therefore, tissue-specific contrast agent may be used as a functional agent to give physiological information such as cell membrane permeability.