• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.493-498
• /
• 2019

In polymer exchange membrane fuel cells, it is crucial to fabricate a highly active and thin Pt catalyst layer for the smooth mass transport of dissolved oxygen and water. Although a highly loaded platinum (Pt) catalyst based on the hydrothermal synthesis has been reported in several studies, its growing behaviors and kinetics were yet to be understood. In this study, we investigated the growth of Pt crystal in suspension after the reduction step depending on a stirring time and evaluated the electrochemical activity. For only a couple of hours in the early stage, Pt colloids were adsorbed on the Pt-carbon catalyst and the Pt crystal was grown. After that, the small Pt colloid was formed by another nucleation step, which did not involve the growth of Pt crystal. We reveal that the Pt-Carbon catalyst with stirring for 6 h showed a high activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.432-438
• /
• 2009

In order to develop the analytical method for the pharmaceutical tablets containing ranitidine HCl by square wave voltammetry (SWV), $5.00{\times}10^{-5}M$ ranitidine HCl solutions prepared with phosphate buffers of various pH values were investigated by SWV. The well defined main peak due to the electrochemical reduction of $-NO_2$ in the structure of ranitidine moved towards the cathodic direction by -70 mV/pH as the pH values were increased indicating the involvement of hydrogen in its reduction. The calibration curve, the plot of peak currents (Ip) vs. concentrations of ranitidine HCl in the range between $1.00{\times}10^{-7}M$ and $1.00{\times}10^{-5}M$ showed linearity with slopes of $232,530{\mu}A/M$ (pH 6.14), $289,015{\mu}A/M$ (pH 7.07) and $232,843{\mu}A/M$ (pH 8.01). When one pharmaceutical tablet was simply dissolved in the phosphate buffer with a pH value of 6.14 and determined by standard addition method using SWV, the within-day precision study (n=4) resulted in the contents of ranitidine HCl as $171{\pm}2.1mg$ ($102{\pm}1.3%$ of the specified contents, RSD of 1.2%) in a tablet of Curan$^{(R)}$. The inter-day precision for 5 days was 1.1% of RSD. For Zantac$^{(R)}$ the within-day precision study (n=4) showed the contents of ranitidine HCl as $167{\pm}0.8mg$ ($99{\pm}0.5%$ of the specified contents, RSD of 0.5%) in a tablet and the inter-day precision for 5 days was 0.3% of RSD.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.94-102
• /
• 2014

Cation exchange membrane (Nafion) was modified to reduce the vanadium ion permeation through the membrane and to increase the vanadium redox flow battery (VRB) system performance by coating the graphene oxide (GO) which has nano-plate like morphology. Modified membrane properties were studied by measuring the ion exchange capacity (I.E.C), water uptake and proton conductivity. The thickness of the coated layer on the surface of the Nafion membrane was observed as $0.93{\mu}m$ by SEM. Proton conductivity and vanadium ion permeability of the modified membrane were decreased to 27% and 25% compared to that of the commercial Nafion membrane respectively. VRB single cell performance test was performed to compare the system performance of the VRB applied with commercial Nafion membrane and modified membrane. VRB system applied with modified membrane showed higher coulombic efficiency and energy efficiency than the VRB system applied with the commercial Nafion membrane due to the reduction of the vanadium ion permeation. From these result, we could suggest that the membrane modification by coating the GO on the surface of the Nafion membrane could be one of the promising strategies to reduce the vanadium ion permeation and to increase the VRB system performance effectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.228-236
• /
• 1996

An electrolysis system with a vertically circulating mercury capillary bundle electrode was developed with a very large electrode area in a minimum space. This system was operated by forcedly feeding mercury and aqueous solution containing metal ion into a fiber bundle packed densely within a small porous glass tube. In order to test the characteristics and stability of the electrolysis system, the reduction voltammograms of uranyl and ferric ions were measured with changes of the mercury flow rate and the aqueous flow rate. The aqueous flow rate had a large effect on the electrochemical reaction of metal ion occurring at the interface between the mercury and the aqueous solution and had to be regulated as an appropriate value to have a good limiting current shape. The limiting current was linearly proportional to the aqueous flow rate, and complete reductions of uranyl and ferric ions were rapidly and continuously accomplished at the potential showing limiting current. With a mercury flow rate high enough to keep a capillary continuum of mercury in the fiber bundle, the mercury flow rate had almost no effect on the electrochemical reaction. This system was confirmed to be effective and stable enough to control rapidly and continuously the oxidation state of metal ions fed into the system under an appropriate aqueous flow rate.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.172-175
• /
• 2001

Nanophase catalyst layer for direct methanol fuel cell has been fabricated by magnetron sputtering method. Catalyst metal targets and carbon were sputtered simultaneously on the Nafion membrane surface at abnormally higher gas (Ar/He mixture) pressure than that of normal thin film processing. They could be coated as a novel structure of catalyst layer containing porous PtRu or Pt and carbon particles both in nanometer range. Membrane electrode assembly made with this layer led to a reduction of the catalyst loading. At the catalyst loading of 1.5mg $PtRu/cm^2$ for anode and 1mg $Pt/cm^2$ for cathode, it could provide $45 mW/cm^2$ in the operation at 2 M methanol, 1 Bar Air at 80"C. It is more than $30\%$ increase of the power density performance at the same level of catalyst loading by conventional method. This was realized due to the ultra fine particle sizes and a large fraction of the atoms lie on the grain boundaries of nanophase catalyst layer and they played an important role of fast catalyst reaction kinetics and more efficient fuel path. Commercialization of direct methanol fuel cell for portable electronic devices is anticipated by the further development of such design.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.424-432
• /
• 2019

Planar BiVO₄ and 3 wt% Mo-doped BiVO₄ (abbreviated as Mo:BiVO₄) film were prepared by the facile spin-coating method on fluorine doped SnO₂(FTO) substrate in the same precursor solution including the Mo precursor in Mo:BiVO₄ film. After annealing at a high temperature of 450℃ for 30 min to improve crystallinity, the films exhibited the monoclinic crystalline phase and nanoporous architecture. Both films showed no remarkably discrepancy in crystalline or morphological properties. To investigate the effect of surface passivation exploring the Al₂O₃ layer, the ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer with a thickness of approximately 2 nm was deposited on BiVO₄ film using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. No distinct morphological modification was observed for all prepared BiVO₄ and Mo:BiVO₄ films. Only slightly reduced nanopores were observed. Although both samples showed some reduction of light absorption in the visible wavelength after coating of Al₂O₃ layer, the Al₂O₃ coated BiVO₄ (Al₂O₃/BiVO₄) film exhibited enhanced photoelectrochemical performance in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ solution (pH 6.5), having higher photocurrent density (0.91 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), briefly abbreviated as V_RHE) than BiVO₄ film (0.12 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). Moreover, Al₂O₃ coating on the Mo:BiVO₄ film exhibited more enhanced photocurrent density (1.5 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE) than the Mo:BiVO₄ film (0.86 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). To examine the reasons, capacitance measurement and Mott-Schottky analysis were conducted, revealing that the significant degradation of capacitance value was observed in both BiVO₄ film and Al₂O₃/Mo:BiVO₄ film, probably due to degraded capacitance by surface passivation. Furthermore, the flat-band potential (V_FB) was negatively shifted to about 200 mV while the electronic conductivities were enhanced by Al₂O₃ coating in both samples, contributing to the advancement of PEC performance by ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.543-548
• /
• 2015

Si/C/CNF composites as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries were examined to improve the capacity and cycle performance. Si/C/CNF composites were prepared by the fabrication process including the synthesis and magnesiothermic reduction of SBA-15 to obtain Si/MgO by ball milling and the carbonization of phenol resin with CNF and HCl etching. Prepared Si/C/CNF composites were then analysed by BET, XRD, FE-SEM and TGA. Among SBA-15 samples synthesized at reaction temperatures between 50 and $70^{\circ}C$, the SBA-15 at $60^{\circ}C$ showed the largest specific surface area. Also the electrochemical performances of Si/C/CNF composites as an anode electrode were investigated by constant current charge/discharge test, cyclic voltammetry and impedance tests in the electrolyte of LiPF6 dissolved in mixed organic solvents (EC : DMC : EMC = 1 : 1 : 1 vol%). The coin cell using Si/C/CNF composites (Si : CNF = 97 : 3 in weight) showed better capacity (1,947 mAh/g) than that of other composition coin cells. The capacity retention ratio decreased from 84% (Si : CNF = 97 : 3 in weight) to 77% (Si : CNF = 89 : 11 in weight). It was found that the Si/C/CNF composite electrode shows an improved cycling performance and electric conductivity.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.223-229
• /
• 2015

Surface modification is a technology to form a new surface layer and overcome the intrinsic properties of the base material by applying thermal energy or stress onto the surface of the material. The purpose of this technique is to achieve anti-corrosion, beautiful appearance, wear resistance, insulation and conductance for base materials. Surface modification techniques may include plating, chemical conversion treatment, painting, lining and surface hardening. Among which, a surface modification process using electrolytes has been investigated for a long time in connection with research on its industrial application. The technology is highly favoured by various fields because it provides not only high productivity and cost reduction opportunities, but also application availability for components with complex geometry. In this study, an electrochemical experiment was performed on the surface of 5083-O Al alloy to determine an optimal electrolyte temperature, which produces surface with excellent corrosion resistance under marine environment than the initial surface. The experiment result, the modified surface presented a significantly lower corrosion current density with increasing electrolyte temperature, except for $5^{\circ}C$ of electrolyte temperature at which premature pores was created.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.523-527
• /
• 2002

LiMn$_2$O$_4$ compounds were synthesized by calcining a mixture of LiOH and MnO$_2$(CMD) at 47$0^{\circ}C$ for 10 h and then calcining again at $650^{\circ}C$ to 90$0^{\circ}C$ fur 48 h in air with intermediate grinding. All the synthesized samples exhibited XRD patterns for the cubic spinel phase with a space group Fd3m. The lattice parameter increased gradually as the sintering temperature rose. The electrochemical cells were charged and discharged fur 20 cycles at a current density 300$\mu$A/$\textrm{cm}^2$ between 3.5 V and 4.3 V. The voltage vs. discharge capacity curves for all the samples showed two plateaus. The LiMn$_2$O$_4$ sample calcined at 90$0^{\circ}C$ had the largest first discharge capacity. This sample exhibited the best crystallinity, had relatively large lattice parameter and had relatively large particles with rectatively homogeneous size. All the samples showed good cycling performances. Among all the samples, the LiMn$_2$O$_4$ calcined at 85$0^{\circ}C$ had relatively large first discharge capacity and very good cycling performance. The addition of excess LiOH and the mixing in ethanol considered to help the formation of the more LiMn$_2$O$_4$ phase per unit weight sample and the more stable LiMn$_2$O$_4$phase. These led to the larger discharge capacities and the better cycling performances. The cyclic voltammograms fur the second cycle of the LiMn$_2$O$_4$ samples showed the oxidation and reduction peaks around 4.05 V and 4.18 V and around 4.08 V and 3.94 V, respectively. The larger first discharge capacity of the sample calcined at the higher temperature is related to the larger lattice parameter.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.329-334
• /
• 2009

This study is to develop a fuel cell system applicable to an in situ NMR (Nuclear magnetic resonance) diagnosis. The in situ NMR can be used in real time monitoring of various reactions occurring in the fuel cell, such as oxidation of fuel, reduction of oxygen, transport phenomena, and component degradation. The fuel cell for this purpose is, however, to be operated in a specifically designed tubular shape toroid cavity detector (TCD), which constrains the fuel cell to have a tubular shape. This may cause difficulties in effective mass transport of reactants/products and uniform distribution of assembly pressure. Therefore, a new flow field designed in a particular way is necessary to enhance the mass transport in the tubular fuel cell. In this study, a tubular-shaped close-type flow field made of non-magnetic material is developed. With this flow field, oxygen is effectively delivered to the cathode surface and the produced water is readily removed from the membrane-electrode assembly to prevent flooding. The resulting DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) outperforms the open-type flow field and exhibits $36\;mW/cm^2$ even at room temperature.