• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.592-596
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• 2009

DAFC(direct alcohol fuel cell) takes the same structure and operational principle with PEMFC(Proton exchange membrane fuel cell). However, DAFC, which uses liquid alcohol instead of hydrogen as fuel, is able to be used as a portable power for small-scaled electronic devices such as MP3, PMP, and mobile phone because alcohol is quite convenient steady-state compound to carry and store it. This paper presents the OCV(open circuit voltage) characteristics of the cases which are alcohol species and different weight rate of ethanol, respectively. The OCV of methanol fuel cell is slightly higher 0.2V than ethanol one, and 8% wt. rate ethanol is rated as the most appropriate fuel for DAFC.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.173-180
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• 2009

In order to develop a novel polymer electrolyte membrane for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), styrene monomer was graft-polymerized into poly(tetrafluoroethylene perfluoropropyl vinyl ether) (PFA) film followed by a sulfonation reaction. The graft polymerization was prepared by the $\Upsilon$-ray radiation-grafting method. Subsequently, sulfonation of the radiation-grafted film was carried out in a chlorosulfonic acid/1,2-dichloroethane (2 v/v%) solution. The chemical, physical, electrochemical and morphological properties of the radiation-grafted membranes (PFA-g-PSSA) were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The water uptake, ionic conductivity, and methanol permeability of the PFA-g-PSSA membrane were also measured. The cell performances of MEA prepared with the PFA-g-PSSA membranes were evaluated and the cell resistances were measured by an impedance analyzer. The MEA using PFA-g-PSSA membranes showed superior performance for DMFCs in comparison with the commercial Nafion 112 membrane.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.219-233
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• 2009

Mobile devices in the next generation such as camera, cell phone, network, Note PC, etc. require higher power and energy sources due to convergences of various functions. Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has been focused as an attractive power source, but there are critical issues involved in its commercialization with regard to the core technologies of materials, components, and system. The requirements of key technologies are differentiated from applications and fuel supply methods. Here, the roles of the proton-conducting membrane are discussed and the current status of DMFC systems is discussed in terms of proton conductivity, methanol permeability, and water management. Materials such as perfluorinated and partially fluorinated membranes, hydrocarbon membranes, composite membranes, and other modified ionomers have been studied. These would explain the critical issues of DMFC and the role of membranes for commercialization.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.769-774
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• 2011

Porous carbon nanofibers(CNF) were synthesized via NaOH activation at 700~$900^{\circ}C$, and the porous CNF-supported PtRu catalysts were evaluated for the anode in direct methanol fuel cells. The change of surface characteristics by NaOH activation was examined by analyses of the specific surface area and pore size distribution. The morphological and structural modification was investigated under scanning electron microscopy. The activity of catalysts supported on porous CNFs was examined by cyclic voltammograms and single cell tests. The pore formation on CNF by the NaOH activation was discussed, concerning the catalyst activity, when they were applied as catalyst supports.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.319-322
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• 2009

This paper investigated environmental effects for passive, air-breathing, and vapor-feeding direct methanol fuel cells. In these experiments, experimental parameters are temperature($30^{\circ}C$, $40^{\circ}C$ and relative humidity(25%, 50%, 75%). From these experimental results, the water contents play a key role in terms of optimal ionic conductivity at the cathode catalyst layer. In case of pure methanol feeding, the performance is inversely proportional to the relative humidity. The water generation resulting from methanol crossover maintains ionic conductivity at the cathode. On the contrary, diluted methanol solution (50wt.%) lowers methanol crossover to the cathode. In order to increase ionic conductivity, the relatively high humidity is required to the cathode catalyst layer for the water generation. The relative humidity scales with the performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.803-804
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• 2012

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2017

A simple strategy is proposed herein for attaining uniform current distribution in direct methanol fuel cells by varying the catalyst loading over the electrode. In order to use the same total catalyst amount for a serpentine flow field, three spatial variation types of catalyst loading were selected: enhancing the cathode catalyst loading (i) near the cathode outlet, (ii) near the cathode inlet, and (iii) near the lateral areas. These variations in catalyst loading are shown to improve the homogeneity of the current distribution, particularly at lower currents and lower air-flow rates. Among these three variations, increased loading near the lateral areas was shown to contribute most to achieving a homogenous current distribution. The mechanism underlying each catalyst loading variation method is different; very high catalyst-loading is shown to decrease the homogeneity of the distribution, which may be caused by water management in the thick catalyst layer thereof.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.33-36
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• 2008

The transient behavior of a passive air breathing direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) operated on vapor-feeding mode is studied in this paper. It generally takes 30 minutes after starting for the cell response to come to its steady-state and the response is sometimes unstable. A mathematical dynamic one-dimensional model for simulating transient response of the DMFC is presented. In this model a DMFC is decomposed into its subsystems using lumped model and divided into five layers, namely the anodic diffusion layer, the anodic catalyst layer, the proton exchange membrane (PEM), the cathodic catalyst layer and the cathodic diffusion layer. All layers are considered to have finite thickness, and within every one of them a set of differential-algebraic governing equations are given to represent multi-components mass balance, such as methanol, water, oxygen and carbon dioxide, charge balance, the electrochemical reaction and mass transport phenomena. A one-dimensional, isothermal and mass transport model is developed that captures the coupling between water generation and transport, oxygen consumption and natural convection. The single cell is supplied by pure methanol vapor from a methanol reservoir at the anode, and the oxygen is supplied via natural air-breathing at the cathode. The water is not supplied from external source because the cell uses the water created at the cathode using water back diffusion through nafion membrane. As a result of simulation strong effects of water transport were found out. The model analysis provides several conclusions. The performance drop after peak point is caused by insufficiency of water at the anode. The excess water at the cathode makes performance recovery impossible. The undesired crossover of the reactant methanol through the PEM causes overpotential at the cathode and limits the feeding methanol concentration.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2008

The composite membrane for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was developed using $H_3O^+-{\beta}"-Al_2O_3$ powder and perfluorosulfonylfluroride copolymer (Nafion) resin. The perfluorosulfonylfluroride copolymer (Nafion) resin was mixed with $H_3O^+-{\beta}"-Al_2O_3$ powder and it was made to sheet form by hot pressing. The electrodes were prepared with 60 wt% PtRu/C and 60wt% Pt/C catalysts for anode and cathode, respectively. The morphology and the chemical composition of the composite membrane have been investigated by using SEM and EDXA, respectively. The composite membrane and $H_3O^+-{\beta}"-Al_2O_3$ were analyzed by using FT-IR and XRD. The methanol permeability of the composite membranes was also measured by gas chromatography (GC). The performance of the MEA containing the composite membrane (2wt% $H_3O^+-{\beta}"-Al_2O_3$) was higher than that of normal pure Nafion membrane at high operating temperature (e.g. $110^{\circ}C$), due to the homogenous distribution of $H_3O^+-{\beta}"-Al_2O_3$, which decreased the methanol permeability through the membrane and enhanced the water contents in the composite membrane.