• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.210-218
• /
• 2007

CEDI-BPM(Continuous Electrodeionization-Bipolar Membrane) has advantages due to high ion permselectivity through ion exchange membranes and the production of $H^+$ and $OH^-$ ions on the bipolar membrane surfaces for regeneration of ion exchange resin during electrodeionization operation. In this study, hardness materials were removed by the CEDI-BPM without scale formation and the ion exchange resins were electrically regenerated during the operation. The adsorption characteristic of ion exchange resin surface, the influence of flow rate on the hardness removal and electric regeneration were investigated in the study. The removal efficiency of Ca was higher than that of Mg in the CEDI-BPM, which was related to the high adsorption capacity of Ca on the cation exchange resin. With increasing flow rate, the flux of Ca and Mg was enhanced by the permselectivity of a cation exchange membrane. In the electric regeneration of CEDI-BPM, it was shown that the regeneration efficiency was higher with a lower regeneration potential applied between cathode and anode.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.447-455
• /
• 2015

In this study, Polysulfone (PSf) and polyetherimide (PEI) as the anion exchange polymers were aminated in the different ratio whereas the polyether ether ketone (PEEK) as the cation exchange polymer was sulfonated. The bipolar membranes of SPEEK (sulfonated PEEK)/APSf (aminated PSf) and SPEEK/APEI (aminated PEI) were prepared by the double-casting method. The surfaces of bipolar membranes were fluorinated in accordance with the amination ratio and applied to produce the hypochlorite. As the amination increased, the hypochlorite concentration is also increased. Typically, for SPEEK/APSf 3 : 1 membrane, the produced hypochlorite concentration was 61.0 ppm and its durability was 220 min for the non-fluorinated membrane while for the fluorinated membrane, the concentration of 58.6 ppm and its durability lasted 570 min. Also for SPEEK/APEI 3 : 1 membrane, the hypochlorite concentrations of 60.1 ppm and 58.3 ppm for before- and after-fluorination, respectively were observed whereas the durability was remarkably developed from 150 min to 440 min. Therefore, the surface fluorination takes an important role for the development of the membrane durability.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.11a
• /
• pp.82.2-82.2
• /
• 2010

The development of bipolar plate having high efficiency and chemical properties has a major impact on fuel cell applications commercialization. Even though graphite bipolar plate has high electric conductivity and chemical resistance, it has demerits about mass production and brittle property for commercialization. Hence, metallic bipolar plate can be substitute for fuel cell bipolar plate. Although its inadequate corrosion behavior under PEMFC environment lead to a deterioration of membrane by dissolved metal ions, metallic bipolar plate for PEMFC is more suitable for automotive and residential power generation system because of its high mechanical strength, low gas permeability and applicability to mass production. Therefore, several types of coating has been applied to prevent corrosion and oxide film growth and to achieve more high durability. This work presents durability of coated metal bipolar plate for low temperature PEMFC which made for fuel cell vehicle. This results showed surface treatment increase long-term durability, even electric conductivity and corrosion resistance.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.11a
• /
• pp.87.1-87.1
• /
• 2010

Metallic bipolar plate is the one of the promising candidate material for PEMFC because of mechanical strength, low gas permeability, electrical and thermal conductivity. However, the corrosion is the main obstacle of metallic bipolar plate, and many investigations, especially coating on base metal, have been carried out to avoid corrosion. Gold is considered as the one of the best coating material because of its corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity. In this study, gold coated metallic bipolar plate was developed and evaluated. Due to our coating process, gold can be well-adhere to the base material, and hydrophobic material on its gold surface was coated by dipping method for better water management. To verify coating reliability, a single fuel cell(50cm2) was evaluated, and its durability over 4000hrs was demonstrated.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.313-320
• /
• 2002

The characteristics of the AISI bipolar plates have been investigated to replace the expensive graphite bipolar plates. It was found from the contact resistance evaluation of graphites, composites, and AISI that the contact resistance of AISI was the lowest, but it could approach to that of composites at higher compression forces. The single cell operation using the AISI bipolar plates revealed that the lower performance of the AISI single cell compared to the graphite one was due to not only the higher contact resistance but the flooding effect caused by high wettability of AISI. The performance of the AISI single cell could be improved if the channels were modified appropriately. The large size AISI single cell was operated to investigated the size effect on the performance.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.187-193
• /
• 2010

Chromium nitride (CrN) samples with two different layer structures (multilayer and single layer) were coated on bipolar plates of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) using the reactive sputtering method. The effects with respect to layer structure on corrosion resistance and overall cell performance were investigated. A continuous and thin chromium nitride layer ($Cr_{0.48}\;N_{0.52}$) was formed on the surface of the SUS 316L when the nitrogen flow rate was 10 sccm. The electrochemical stability of the coated layers was examined using the potentiodynamic and potentiostatic methods in the simulated corrosive circumstances of the PEMFC under $80^{\circ}C$. Interfacial contact resistance (ICR) between the CrN coated sample and the gas diffusion layer was measured by using Wang's method. A single cell performance test was also conducted. The test results showed that CrN coated SUS316L with multilayer structure had excellent corrosion resistance compared to single layer structures and single cell performance results with $25\;cm^2$ in effective area also showed the same tendency. The difference of the electrochemical properties between the single and multilayer samples was attributed to the Cr interlayer layer, which improved the corrosion resistance. Because the coating layer was damaged by pinholes, the Cr layer prevented the penetration of corrosive media into the substrate. Therefore, the CrN with a multilayer structure is an effective coating method to increase the corrosion resistance and to decrease the ICR for metallic bipolar plates in PEMFC.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.38 no.10
• /
• pp.1031-1037
• /
• 2010

This paper proposed lightweight aluminum bipolar plates as an alternative for conventional graphite bipolar plates in fuel cell systems used as a power source for small reconnaissance UAVs. Since bipolar plates occupy more than 80% of the total weight of the fuel cell system, lightweight aluminum bipolar plates can improve the overall payload and flight time of the fuel cell UAV. The aluminum and graphite bipolar plates were fabricated to compare the performance of each of them. A 15% higher performance per weight was obtained from aluminum bipolar plates than the graphite bipolar plates. Also, the performance of a single cell using aluminum bipolar plates was evaluated under various operating conditions.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
• /
• 2008.06a
• /
• pp.643-645
• /
• 2008

Stainless steel 304 and 316 plates were deposited with the multi-layered coatings of titanium film (0.1um) and gold film (1-2um) by an electron beam evaporation method. The XRD patterns of the stainless steel plates modified with the multi-layered coatings showed the crystalline phases of the external gold film and the stainless steel substrate. Surface microstructural morphologies of the stainless steel bipolar plates modified with multi-layered coatings were observed by AFM and FE-SEM images. The external gold films formed on the stainless steel plates showed microstructure of grains of about 100nm diameter. The grain size of the external surface of the stainless steel plates increased with the gold film thickness. The electrical resistance and water contact angle of the stainless steel bipolar plates covered with multi-layered coatings were examined with the thickness of the external gold film.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.159-165
• /
• 2004

Fuel cell makes electricity through chemical reaction. Bipolar-plate distribute hydrogen, oxidation using channel geometry condensation of water vapor inside channels of bipolar-plates lowers efficiency of fuel cell. Usually high pressured gas supply is used to solve the water condensation problem with serpentine type channel geometry. In this study, a new channel geometry shows feasible to minimize lowering efficiency due to water condensation through numerical and experimental analysis.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.291-297
• /
• 2003

As an alternative bipolar plate material for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), TiN-coated 316 stainless was evaluated in terms of electrical contact resistance and water contact angle. Performance and lifetime of the TiN-coated 316 bipolar plates were measured in comparison with those of graphite and bare 316 bipolar plates. At a cell voltage of 0.6 V, current density of the single cells using graphite, AISI 316, and TiN/316 bipolar plates was 996, 796, and $896mA/cm^2$, respectively. By coating 316 stainless steel with TiN layer, performance degradation rate determined to be the voltage degradation rate at a cell voltage of 0.6 V was reduced from 2.3 to 0.43 mV/h.