• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.440-447
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• 2006

Solid polymer electrolyte(SPE) membrane with electrodes embedded on both faces offer unique possibilities for the electrochemical cells like water electrolyzer with fuel cell. The Nafion 117 membrane was used as the SPE, and $Pt(NH_3)_4Cl_2$ and $NaBH_4$ as the electrocatalysts and reducing agent, respectively. The 'impregnation-reduction(I-R) method' has been investigated as a tool for the preparation of electrocatalysts for water electrolyzer by varying the concentration of reducing agent and reduction time at fixed concentration of platinum salt, 5 mmol/L. Pt-SPE electrocatalysts prepared by non-equilibrium I-R method showed the lowest cell voltage of 2.17 V at reduction time, 90 min and with concentration of reducing agent 0.8 mol/L and the cell voltage with those by equilibrium I-R method was 2.42 V at reduction time, 60 min and with concentration of reducing agent 0.8 mol/L. The cell voltage were obtained at a current density $1\;A/cm^2$ and $80^{\circ}C$. In water electrolysis, hydrogen production efficiency by Pt-SPE electrocatalyst is 68.2% in case of non-equilibrium I-R method and 61.2% at equilibrium I-R method.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.118-124
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• 2005

In this study, a novel deposition method of Pt catalysts onto Nafion membranes modified with polypyrrole (PPy) has been proposed for PEMFC application. The PPy/Nafion composite membranes were fabricated by chemical polymerization of pyrrole using $FeCl_3$ and $Na_2S_2O_8$ as initiator. The proton conductivity and water uptake of the chemically prepared PPy/Nafion composites were investigated. The ionic conductivity and water uptake of PPy/Nafion composite membrane prepared with $Na_2S_2O_8$ were decreased with polymerization time of pyrrole. In the case of $FeCl_3$, the ionic conductivity was almost retained and the water uptake was decreased with polymerization time of pyrrole. When the Pt particle was deposited on PPy/Nafion composites membrane by chemical reduction of $H_2PtCl_6$, the Pt loading on Nafion membrane was enhanced by polypyrrole due to electronic conduction property. The performance evaluation with membrane electrode assembly composed of Pt/PPy/Nafion composite and diffusion electrode was carried out using a single cell. As a result of fuel cell test, current density of $569mA/cm^2$ at 0.3 V has been obtained for MEA contained with Pt/PPy/Nafion composite. This study shows that direct deposition of Pt catalysts on Nafion impregnated polypyrrole is a promising method to prepare thin catalyst layer for the PEMFC.