• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.76-81
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• 2016

An anatase TiO₂ nanotube array (NTA) was fabricated by anodization and successive heat treatments. When the anatase TiO₂ NTA was cathodically polarized, its color changed to blue, and it could be used as an electrochemically active anode for an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline water electrolysis. The structure of the blue anatase TiO₂ NTA was controlled by the anodization conditions and its catalytic activity increased with an increase of the surface area. The activity of the blue anatase TiO₂ NTA gradually reduced with the continued OER because of the partial oxidation of Ti³⁺ to Ti⁴⁺. However, an intermittent cathodic regeneration process could significantly slow its reduction rate. The blue anatase TiO₂ NTA could be an alternative anode for alkaline water electrolysis.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.169-182
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• 2017

Iron and nitrogen codoped carbon (Fe-N/C) catalysts have emerged as one of the most promising replacements for state-of-the-art platinum-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. During the last decade, significant progress has been achieved in Fe-N/C catalysts in terms of ORR activity improvement and active site identification. In this review, we focus on recent efforts towards advancing our understanding of the structure of active sites in Fe-N/C catalysts. We summarize the spectroscopic and electrochemical methods that are used to analyze active site structure in Fe-N/C catalysts, and the relationship between active site structure and ORR activity in these catalysts. We provide an overview of recently reported synthetic strategies that can generate active sites in Fe-N/C catalysts preferentially. We then discuss newly suggested active sites in Fe-N/C catalysts. Finally, we conclude this review with a brief future outlook.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 1997

The photochemical reactions of the neat chloroform and the aqueous chloroform in the absence (saturated with argon) and presence of 02 (saturated with air or oxygen) have been investigated using 184.9 nm UV light. The irradiation of the deoxygenated neat chloroform causes the formation of hexachloroethane, pentachloroethane, and 1, 1, 2, 2-tetrachloroethane. The initial quantum yields of the products were determined to be 6.37 x 10$^{-4}$, 4.04 x 10$^{-4}$ and 1.76 x 10$^{-4}$, respectively. In the irradiation of aqueous chloroform, chloride ion was also formed along with the products listed above and 1, 1, 2, 2-tetrachloroethane was the predominant product among the chlorinated organic products, which contrasts to the case of the neat chloroform. The presence of oxygen during the irradiation of aqueous chloroform had an effect on the yield of the products. With increasing the concentration of oxygen, the formation of the products was decreased. Probable reaction mechanisms for the photochemical reaction were presented on the basis of products analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.278-282
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• 2014

Due to high ionic conductivity and favorable oxygen electrocatalysis, doped $Bi_2O_3$ systems are promising candidates as solid oxide fuel cell cathode materials. Recently, several researchers reported reasonably low cathode polarization resistance by adding electronically conducting materials such as (La,Sr)$MnO_3$ (LSM) or Ag to doped $Bi_2O_3$ compositions. Despite extensive research efforts toward maximizing cathode performance, however, the inherent catalytic activity and electrochemical reaction pathways of these promising materials remain largely unknown. Here, we prepare a symmetrical structure with identically sized $Y_{0.5}Bi_{1.5}O_3$/LSM composite electrodes on both sides of a YSZ electrolyte substrate. AC impedance spectroscopy (ACIS) measurements of electrochemical cells with varied cathode compositions reveal the important role of bismuth oxide phase for oxygen electrocatalysis. These observations aid in directing future research into the reaction pathways and the site-specific electrocatalytic activity as well as giving improved guidance for optimizing SOFC cathode structures with doped $Bi_2O_3$ compositions.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.269-276
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• 2016

Carbon-supported ordered Pt-Ti alloy nanoparticles were prepared as a durable and efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) via wet chemical reduction of Pt and Ti precursors with heat treatment at $800^{\circ}C$. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the prepared electrocatalysts with Ti precursor molar compositions of 40% (PtTi40) and 25% (PtTi25) had ordered $Pt_3Ti$ and $Pt_8Ti$ structures, respectively. Comparison of the ORR polarization before and after 1500 electrochemical cycles between 0.6 and 1.1 V showed little change in the ORR polarization curve of the electrocatalysts, demonstrating the high stability of the PtTi40 and PtTi25 alloys. Under the same conditions, commercial carbon-supported Pt nanoparticle electrocatalysts exhibited a negative potential shift (10 mV) in the ORR polarization curve after electrochemical cycling, indicating degradation of the ORR activity.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.203-208
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• 1998

A simple on-line measurement system consisting of a conventional peristaltic pump, a HPLC-type heater, and a flow-through spectrophotometer is introduced for the determination of chemical oxygen demand(CODI. The system was configured such that the reaction mixture in the highly concentrated surffuric acrid medium flowing through the PTFE reaction tubing was heated at 150℃ and the absorbance of dichromate was continuously moutored at 445 m. The same addation principle as in the standard procedure was employed akcept the use of CoSO4 as a new effective catalyst. To test the system, potassium hydrogen phthalate was selected as a COD standard material. With suitably optimized reaction condition, the applicable concentration range depends on the concentration of potassium dichromate in the oxidizing reagent. With 2.0×10-3 M and 5.0×10-4M dichromate, the linear dynamic range was observed up to 400 ppm and 100 ppm, respectively. The standards in the Unear ranges were shown to be completely oxidized, which was confirmed with sodium oxalate or Mohr's salt. In all cases, the typical reproduclbility for betweenruns was 2% or less. The proposed measurement system provides the valuable in- formation for the further development of automated analysis system based on the present standard procedure.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.447-452
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• 2008

We synthesized nano-sized $La_{1-x}Sr_xCoO_3$ ($x=0.1{\sim}0.4$) cathode catalyst for the zinc air secondary batteries by citrate method, And we measured the cathode's electrochemical characteristics according to content of strontium compose the cathode catalyst. We controlled the pH of precursor solution by 10 in the process of manufacturing the precursor, We heat treated the prepared precursor at various calcination temperature ($500{\sim}900^{\circ}C$), and examined the optimum calcinations temperature by XRD analysis and electrochemical evaluation. We examined the ORR (oxygen reduction reaction) and OER (oxygen evolution reaction) performance of the prepared $La_{1-x}Sr_xCoO_3$ catalyst powder. When we consider ORR and OER performance simultaneously, $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}CoO_3$ catalyst has shown the best performance because of its lowest voltage deference between charge and discharge.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.35-35
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• 2010

Understanding the mechanistic details of heterogeneous catalytic reactions will provide a way to tune the selectivity between various competing reaction channels. In this regard, catalytic decomposition of alcohols over the rutile $TiO_2$(110) surface as a model oxide catalyst has been studied to understand the reaction mechanism employing the temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) technique. The $TiO_2$(110) model catalyst is found to be active toward alcohol dehydration. We find that the active sites are bridge-bonded oxygen vacancies where RO-H heterolytically dissociates and binds to the vacancy to produce alkoxy (RO-) and hydroxyl (HO-). Two protons adsorbed onto the bridge-bonded oxygen atoms (-OH) readily react with each other to form a water molecule at ~500 K and desorb from the surface. The alkoxy (RO-) undergoes decomposition at higher temperatures into the corresponding alkene. Here, the overall desorption kinetics is limited by a first-order decomposition of intermediate alkoxy (RO-) species bound to the vacancy. We show that detailed analysis on the yield and the desorption temperatures as a function of the alkyl substituents provides valuable insights into the reaction mechanism. After the catalytic role of the oxygen vacancies has been established, we employed x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to further study the surface electronic structure related to the catalytically active defective sites. The defect-related state in valence band has been related to the chemically reduced $Ti^{3+}$ defects near the surface region and are found to be closely related to the catalytic activity of the $TiO_2$(110) surface.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.454-459
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• 2009

In order to commercialize Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC), the cathode catalyst such as Platinum supported Carbon (Pt/C) need to have a high activity of Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR). In this study, the 20% Pt/C was synthesized using the chemical reduction method while the crystallinity of Platinum (Pt) particles were controlled under heat treatment conditions. The activity of synthesized Pt catalysts was evaluated using electrochemical measurement. Compared with the $i_{ORR}$ at 0.8 V of 20% Pt/C heat-treated at $500^{\circ}C$ and the 20% Pt/C that were not heated and commercial 20% Pt/C, the $i_{ORR}$ at 0.8 V of 20% Pt/C heattreated at $500^{\circ}C$ was 9.5 and 1.7 times higher than those of the 20% Pt/C and commercial 20% Pt/C that were not heated. It was considered that the crystallinity and particle size affect the ORR activity of the Pt/C catalysts.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.207-219
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• 2024

Metal-N-C (MNC) catalysts have been anticipated as promising candidates for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to achieve low-cost polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The structure of the M-N_x moiety enabled a high catalytic activity that was not observed in previously reported transition metal nanoparticle-based catalysts. Despite progress in non-precious metal catalysts, the low density of active sites of MNCs, which resulted in lower single-cell performance than Pt/C, needs to be resolved for practical application. This review focused on the recent studies and methodologies aimed to overcome these limitations and develop an inexpensive catalyst with excellent activity and durability in an alkaline environment. It included the possibility of non-precious metals as active materials for ORR catalysts, starting from Co phthalocyanine as ORR catalyst and the development of methodologies (e.g., metal-coordinated N-containing polymers, metal-organic frameworks) to form active sites, M-N_x moieties. Thereafter, the motivation, procedures, and progress of the latest research on the design of catalyst morphology for improved mass transport ability and active site engineering that allowed the promoted ORR kinetics were discussed.