• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.325-343
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• 2023

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have been attracting attention as energy conversion devices that can directly supply methanol liquid fuel without a fuel reforming process. The commercial polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) currently applied to DMFC are perfluorosulfonic acid ionomer-based PEMs, which exhibit high proton conductivity and physicochemical stability during the operation. However, problems such as high methanol permeability and environmental pollutants generated during decomposition require the development of PEMs for DMFCs using novel ionomers. Recently, studies have been reported to develop PEMs using hydrocarbon-based ionomers that exhibit low fuel permeability and high physicochemical stability. This review introduces the following studies on hydrocarbon-based PEMs for DMFC applications: 1) synthesis of grafting copolymers that exhibit distinct hydrophilic/hydrophobic phase-separated structure to improve both proton conductivity and methanol selectivity, 2) introduction of cross-linked structure during PEM fabrication to reduce the methanol permeability and improve dimensional stability, and 3) incorporation of organic/inorganic composites or reinforcing substrates to develop reinforced composite membranes showing improved PEM performances and durability.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.68-71
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• 2003

The performance of the Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) using multi-layer electrode, which prepared by various anode catalysts and Nafion membranes, was studied for reducing the amount of the metal catalyst loaded in the MEA system. The amount of the catalyst used in this experiment was $3-4 mg/cm^2$ in cathode and $1-2 mg/cm^2$ in anode, respectively. The best performance was to be $230 mS/cm^2$ of MEA3 at $90^{\circ}C$ and 2 bar in this experiment. However, the overall performance of the DMFC was maintained almost the same compared to the general commercial catalyst systems.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.955-961
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• 2009

Present, a portable battery have problem that the volume increases according to capacity Increase. Direct Methanol Fuel Cell is alternative by solution plan of this problem. In this paper, the characteristics of DMFC are analyzed by change in concentration and discharge of fuel in natural convection and room temperature condition. According to the analysis result, polarization by delay of diffusion velocity of hydrogen ion appeared in methanol of low concentration. And if have a lot of supplies of methanol, generation power declines by electric cell cooling effect.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.68-73
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• 2002

Modified polymer electrolyte membranes were fabricated by the applying dc magnetron sputter-deposited Pd thin layers on the surface of the $Nafion^{TM}$ membranes in argon atmosphere. The Pd thin films were characterized by investigating its morphology, methanol permeability, and protonic conductivity. The performance of a direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC) with the modifed polymer electrolyte membrane was also tested by the measurement of its currents and voltages under flowing methanol. The Pd thin film could be a barrier layer to methanol crossover, but the protonic conductivity of the modified polymer membrane was reduced. By using the modified polymer eletrolyte membranes, both the methanol permeability and the protonic conductivity were decreased with increasing the thickness of Pd thin film. However, the performances of DMFC were almost independent on the thickness of Pd thim films. The efffcts of methanol concentration in a feeding fuels on the protonic conductivity and the cell performance were also investigated.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.161-164
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• 2002

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.193-193
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• 2001

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.177-180
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• 2004

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.181-184
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.123-134
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• 2004

연로로부터 화학에너지를 직접 전기에너지로 바꾸는 연료전지(Fuel Cells)중 고체형 고분자 전해질 연료전지(Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell: PEMFC)와 직접 메탄올 연료전지(Direct Methanol Fuel Cell: DMFC)는 효율이 높고, zero emission 가능성으로 차세대 수송용 전원으로 각광받고 있는 미래 환경친화적 에너지원이다. 수소와 산소(또는 공기)와의 반응을 이용한 것이 PEMFC이고, 수소를 연료로 쓰지 않고 액체상 메탄올을 직접 연료로 사용하는 것이 DMFC이다. (중략)

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2005

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is considered as a candidate for portable power sources, that could overcome the disadvantages of lithium battery. But in order to attain commercial viability the long term stability of the DMFC should be achieved. Understanding the long-term behavior of membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) is a prerequisite to this purpose and the optimization of the MEA is also needed. In this study we have investigated the changes in performance and electrochemical properties of the MEA during extended operation and the effects of heat treatment of MEA on the long-term performance. The MEAs have been treated in an autoclave with saturated water vapor at 120$^{\circ}C$, vacuum oven at 140$^{\circ}C$ and boiling in organic solvents. The autoclaved MEA was found to be have the best long term performance. The on-off operation mode also increased the performance probably due to effective removal of products from the electrodes. Physical and electrochemical analyses using a scanning electron microscope, impedance analyser and half-cell technique have been done to characterize the MEAs.