• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.316-326
• /
• 2016

Development and discovery of efficient, cost-effective, and robust electrocatalysts are imperative for practical and widespread implementation of water electrolysis and fuel cell techniques in the anticipated hydrogen economy. The electrochemical reactions involved in water electrolysis, i.e., hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, are complex inner-sphere reactions with slow multi-electron transfer kinetics. To develop active electrocatalysts for water electrolysis, the physicochemical properties of the electrode surfaces in electrolyte solutions should be investigated and understood in detail. When electrocatalysis is conducted using nanoparticles with large surface areas and active surface states, analytical techniques with sub-nanometer resolution are required, along with material development. Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is an electrochemical technique for studying the surface reactions and properties of various types of electrodes using a very small tip electrode. Recently, the morphological and chemical characteristics of single nanoparticles and bio-enzymes for catalytic reactions were studied with nanometer resolution by combining SECM with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Herein, SECM techniques are briefly reviewed, including the AFM-SECM technique, to facilitate further development and discovery of highly active, cost-effective, and robust electrode materials for efficient electrolysis and photolysis.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.179-184
• /
• 2016

The interface between the surface of a cathode material and the electrolyte gives rise to surface reactions such as solid electrolyte interface (SEI) and chemical side reactions. These reactions lead to increased surface resistance and charge transfer resistance. It is consequently necessary to improve the electrochemical characteristics by suppressing these reactions. In order to suppress unnecessary surface reactions, we coated cathode material using polypropylene (PP). The PP coating layer effectively reduced the SEI film that is generated after a 4.3 V initial charging process. By mitigating the formation of the SEI film, the PP-coated Li[(Ni_0.6Co_0.1Mn_0.3)_0.36(Ni_0.80Co_0.15Al0.05)_0.64)]O₂(NCS) electrode provided enhanced transport of Li⁺ ions due to reduced SEI resistance (R_SEI) and charge transfer resistance (R_ct). The initial charge and discharge efficiency of the PP-coated NCS electrode was 96.2 % at a current density of 17 mA/g in a voltage range of 3.0 ~ 4.3 V, whereas the efficiency of the NCS electrode was only 94.7 %. The presence of the protective PP layer on the cathode improved the thermal stability by reducing the generated heat, and this was confirmed via DSC analysis by an increased exothermic peak.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.149-156
• /
• 2018

In this technical note, I report the analysis of electrochemical impedance data measured with potential sweeping. Even though the instruments for voltammetric impedance measurements have been developed for decades using different approaches, their applications are limited due to the lack of well-established protocols to easily analyze voltammetry data. To fill this gap, the singular point of the specific potential is considered that is only determined by the standard/formal potential and the transfer coefficient and is independent of the kinetics and experimental parameters (including revertability) of faradaic reactions. Taking the advantage of its inertness, I suggest an approach employing the singular point as a reference to obtain general electrochemical information. As all the concepts and methods are verified with numerical simulations, this technique is expected to be applied for complex reactions involving electrochemical and chemical reaction mechanisms.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.411-420
• /
• 2020

Undesirable interfacial reactions between the cathode and sulfide electrolyte deteriorate the electrochemical performance of all-solid-state cells based on sulfides, presenting a major challenge. Surface modification of cathodes using stable materials has been used as a method for reducing interfacial reactions. In this work, a precursor-based surface modification method using Zr and Mo was applied to a LiNi_0.6Co_0.2Mn_0.2O₂ cathode to enhance the interfacial stability between the cathode and sulfide electrolyte. The source ions (Zr and Mo) coated on the precursor-surface diffused into the structure during the heating process, and influenced the structural parameters. This indicated that the coating ions acted as dopants. They also formed a homogenous coating layer, which are expected to be layers of Li-Zr-O or Li-Mo-O, on the surface of the cathode. The composite electrodes containing the surface-modified LiNi_0.6Co_0.2Mn_0.2O₂ powders exhibited enhanced electrochemical properties. The impedance value of the cells and the formation of undesirable reaction products on the electrodes were also decreased due to surface modification. These results indicate that the precursor-based surface modification using Zr and Mo is an effective method for suppressing side reactions at the cathode/sulfide electrolyte interface.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.415-423
• /
• 2021

For a battery module where single cells are connected in series, the single cells should each have a similar state of charge (SOC) to prevent them from being exposed to an overcharge or over-discharge during charge-discharge cycling. To detect the existence of unbalanced SOC cells in a battery module, we propose a simple measurement method using a single-frequency response of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). For a commercially available graphite/nickel-cobalt-aluminum-oxide lithium-ion cell, the cell impedance increases significantly below SOC20%, while the impedance in the medium SOC region (SOC20%-SOC80%) remains low with only minor changes. This impedance behavior is mostly due to the elementary processes of cathode reactions in the cell. Among the impedance values (Z, Z', Z"), the imaginary component of Z" regarding cathode reactions changes heavily as a function of SOC, in particular, when the EIS measurement is performed around 0.1 Hz. Thanks to the significant difference in the time constant of cathode reactions between ≤SOC10% and ≥SOC20%, a single-frequency EIS measurement enlarges the difference in impedance between balanced and unbalanced cells in the module and facilitates an ~80% improvement in the detection signal compared to results with conventional EIS measurements.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2007.07a
• /
• pp.2020-2021
• /
• 2007

Viologen derivative has been widely investigated because of their well-electrochemical behavior including the electron acceptor for the electric charge delivery mediation of the devices. The viologen exist in three main oxidation states, namely, $V^{2+}{\rightleftarrows}V^{{\cdot}+}{\rightleftarrows}V^0$. These redox reactions are highly reversible and can be cycled many times without significant side reaction. In this paper, we determined the time dependence to resonant frequency shift of QCM during self-assembly process and the electrochemical behavior of the self-assembled viologen monolayers by electrochemical QCM method. The redox reactions of viologen were highly reversible and the EQCM has been employed to monitor the electrochemically induced adsorption of SAMs during the redox reactions.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.13-16
• /
• 1999

A mathematical analysis of bipolar electrode reactor model for complex electrochemical reactions could estimate total current from time-concentration data, which coincided well with experimental total current data. Thus behaviour of bipolar electrode reactor could be described by a proposed simulation model. This paper demonstrates how such a model can be used a useful tool in the design for pilot plant experimentation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2018.11a
• /
• pp.299-300
• /
• 2018

Electrochemical behaviors of Nb ion in the $LiCl-KCl-NbCl_5$ molten salt were examined. Cyclic voltammograms with different scan rates and scan range at $450^{\circ}C$ showed possible electrochemical redox reactions which were identified by comparison to the literature data. Peak potentials for each redox reaction were consistent with the literature, but some redox reactions were not clearly defined due to the formation of subchloride compound in chloride salt. The electrochemical behaviors of Nb ion related to the subchloride formation as well as Nb metal deposition will be investigated for the future work.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.26-26
• /
• 2007

To attest zinc electrodeposition mechanism, electric circuit models for zinc electro reaction on Pt electrode are analyzed from the a.c. impedance data. Electrochemical reactions of zinc deposition are composed of the three electrochemical reactions on the cathode layer and of the induced electrode layers.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.227-241
• /
• 2008

This article involves a unified treatment of equilibrium thermodynamics of the chemical reaction coupled with other interfacial (phase boundary) reactions. The modified (restrictive) chemical potential ${\mu}_k^+$, such as electrochemical potential, hydrostatic-chemical (mechanochemical) potential (exceptionally in the presence of the pressure difference) and surface-chemical potential, was first introduced under the isothermal and isobaric conditions. This article then enlightened the equilibrium conditions in case where the release of chemical energy is counterbalanced by the supply of electrical energy, by the supply of hydrostatic work (exceptionally in the presence of ${\Delta}p$), and finally by the release of surface energy, respectively, at constant temperature T and pressure p in terms of the modified chemical potential ${\mu}_k^+$. Finally, this paper focussed on the difference between chemical and electrochemical equilibria based upon the fundamentals of the isothermal and isobaric equilibrium conditions described above.