• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1994.05a
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• pp.50-50
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• 1994

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1076-1084
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• 1995

A mixture of aluminum isopropoxide (Al(OC3H7i)3) solution and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution was hydrolyzed in the range between pH 1~14. the powder obtained from sol-gel process was calcined at several temperatures and crystallization behaviors of various samples were investigated. The hydrolyzed sols of pH 1~6 wre clear, or near clear. On the other hand, powder precipitated from sols of pH 7~14. The sample obtained from pH 3 solution crystallized via complicated route, and $\beta$-Al2O3 and $\beta$"-Al2O3 phases appeared at lower temperature than samples from other pH conditions. And the quantity of remained $\beta$"-Al2O3 phase after heat treatment at 150$0^{\circ}C$ was more than samples from other pH conditions. After sintering, ionic conductivities were 1.3$\times$10-4S.cm-1 to 0.76$\times$10-4S.cm-1.0-4S.cm-1.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1310-1314
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• 2011

Sodium beta-alumina (SBA) nano-powders were synthesized by the citrate sol-gel process, and the effects of the cationic surfactant n-cetyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactant (CTAB) were investigated. The structure and morphology of the nano-powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) techniques, respectively. The effects of CTAB on the citrate sol-gel process and the SBA formation were investigated by thermo gravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The conductivity of ceramic pellets of SBA was measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results showed that the CTAB inhibited the agglomeration of SBA powders effectively and consequently decreased the crystallization temperature of SBA, about $150^{\circ}C$ lower than that of the sample without CTAB. The measured conductivity of SBA was $1.21{\times}10^{-2}S{\cdot}cm^{-1}$ at $300^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.164-168
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• 2014

The sodium-sulfur batteries which operate at $350^{\circ}C$ have been mainly used in the field of energy storage system. This batteries consist of liquid sodium anode, sulfur cathode and ${\beta}^{{\prime}{\prime}}$-alumina solid electrolyte. The conditioning process for stabilization of the batteries is essential since the cells show considerable fluctuation of discharge voltage at the beginning of discharge/charge cycles. It is found that one of the reasons of the fluctuation is the gradual change of contact area between molten sodium and solid electrolyte.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.191-200
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• 2022

Na-β"-Al₂O₃ has been widely employed as a solid electrolyte for high-temperature sodium (Na) beta-alumina batteries (NBBs) thanks to its superb thermal stability and high ionic conductivity. Recently, a vapor phase conversion (VPC) method has been newly introduced to fabricate thin Na-β"-Al₂O₃ electrolytes by converting α-Al₂O₃ into β"-Al₂O₃ in α-Al₂O₃/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) composites under Na⁺ and O^2- dual percolation environments. One of the main challenges that need to be figured out is lowered conductivity due to the large volume fraction of the non-Na⁺-conducting YSZ. In this study, the effect of lithia addition in the β"-Al₂O₃ phase on the grain size and ionic conductivity of Na-β"-Al₂O₃/YSZ solid electrolytes have been investigated in order to enhance the conductivity of the electrolyte. The amount of pre-added lithia (Li₂O) precursor as a phase stabilizer was varied at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 mol% against that of Al₂O₃. It turns out that ionic conductivity increases even with 1 mol% lithia addition and reaches 67 mS cm^-1 at 350 ℃ of its maximum with 3 mol%, which is two times higher than that of the undoped composite.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 1988

β-Al2O3, which is used for solid electrolyte membrances in sodium-sulfur batteries, was prepared by sol-gel process. Sodium-n-propoxide NaOC3H7 and aluminum-isopropoxide Al(OC3H7)3 were hydrolyzated in the solution at pH 3, pH 7, pH 9 and pH 11, respectively. The sol-gel processed samples were calcined at several temperature steps, respectively and analysed by thermal analyser(DT-TGA), infrared spectrum analyser and X-ray diffraction analyser. The gelling rate of solution at pH 7 was much higher than that of the solution at pH 3. Thermal exchanging behavior of the gels at pH 3 were similar to Na2O·Al2O3·6H2O and, above pH 7, were similar to Na2O·Al2O3·3H2O. When samples' composition ratio was 9.13 : 90.87 [NaOC3H7:Al(OC3H7)3] at pH 7, β-Al2O3 was formed at 1100℃.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.398-405
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• 2021

To fabricate a full-scale pilot model of the cost-effective Na-(Ni,Fe)Cl₂ cell, a Na-beta-alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) was developed by applying a one-step synthesis cum sintering process as an alternative to the conventional solid-state reaction process. Also, Fe metal powder, which is cheaper than Ni, was mixed with Ni metal powder, and was used for cathode material to reduce the cost of raw material. As a result, we then developed a prototype Na-(Ni,Fe)Cl₂ cell. Consequently, the Ni content in the Na-(Ni,Fe)Cl₂ cell is decreased to approximately (20 to 50) wt.%. The #1 prototype cell (dimensions: 34 mm × 34 mm × 235 mm) showed a cell capacity of 15.9 Ah, and 160.3 mAh g^-1 (per the Ni-Fe composite), while the #2 prototype cell (dimensions: 50 mm × 50 mm × 335 mm) showed a cell capacity of 49.4 Ah, and 153.2 mAh g^-1 at the 2^nd cycle.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.170-172
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• 2014

$CO_2$ sensor was used only one solid electrolyte in many cases. To improve the sensing characteristics of $CO_2$ sensors, solid electrolyte $CO_2$ sensor has been developed by bi-electrolyte type sensor using Na-Beta-alumina and YSZ. However, in many further studies, bi-electrolyte type sensor was made by pellet pressed by press machine and additional treatment for formation of interface. In the aspect of mass production, using thick film and additional treatment is not suitable. In this study, $CO_2$ sensor was fabricated by bi-electrolyte structure which was made by an NBA paste layer deposited on YSZ pellet and fired at $1650^{\circ}C$ for 2 hour. The formation of stable interface between YSZ and NBA were confirmed by SEM image. When the type IV electrochemical cell arrangement represented by $CO_2,O_2,Pt{\mid}Li_2CO_3-CaCO_3{\parallel}NBA{\parallel}YSZ{\mid}O_2,Pt$ is used to measure the $CO_2$ concentration in air. This sensor EMF should depend only on the concentration of $CO_2$ by logarithmic. Also, sensor shows $P_{CO_2}$ and EMF relationship like nerstian reaction at a temperature of $450^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.04b
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• pp.956-961
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• 2000

This paper describes the design of a small size Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter (AMTEC) which employs a capillary structure for recirculating sodium working fluid. The cycle is based on the simple and small capillary type ${\beta}"$ -alumina and wick tube element. The proposed cell consists of the 37 conversion elements with capillary tube of $50{\mu}m$ in diameter and the sealed cylindrical vessel of 22mm in outer diameter. Results on the cycle analysis of sodium flow and heat transfer in the cell showed that the expected power output was 4.65W and the conversion efficiency was 19% for the source temperature of 900K.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.665-671
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• 2017

The alkali-Metal Thermal-to-electric Converter (AMTEC) is one of the promising static energy conversion technologies for the direct conversion of thermal energy to electrical energy. The advantages over a conventional energy converter are its high theoretical conversion efficiency of 40% and power density of 500 W/kg. The working principle of an AMTEC battery is the electrochemical reaction of the sodium through an ion conducting electrolyte. Sodium ion pass through the hot side of the beta"-alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) primarily as a result of the pressure difference. This pressure difference across the BASE has a significant effect on the overall performance of the AMTEC system. In order to build the high pressure difference across the BASE, hermeticity is required for each joined components for high temperature range of $900^{\circ}C$. The AMTEC battery was manufactured by utilizing robust joining technology of BASE/insulator/metal flange interfaces of the system for both structural and electrical stability. The electrical potential difference between the anode and cathode sides, where the electrons emitted from sodium ionization and recombined into sodium, was characterized as the open-circuit voltage. The efforts of technological improvement were concentrated on a high-power output and conversion efficiency. This paper discusses about the joining and performance of the AMTEC systems.