• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.190-198
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• 2016

Application of fuel cell to produce renewable energy for commercial purpose is limited by the high cost of Pt based electrode materials. Development of inexpensive, high energetic electrode is the need of the hour to produce pollution free energy using bio-fuel through a fuel cell. Ni-Cu and Ni-CeO₂-Cu electrode materials, electro synthesized by pulse current have been developed. The surface morphology of the electrode materials is controlled by different deposition parameters in order to produce a high current from the electro-oxidation of the fuel, the ethanol. The developed materials are electrochemically characterized by Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Chronoamperometry (CA) and Potentiodynamic polarization tests. The results confirm that the high current is due to their enhanced catalytic properties viz. high exchange current density (i₀), low polarization resistance (R_p) and low impedance. It is worthwhile to mention here that the addition of CeO₂ to Ni-Cu has outperformed Pt as far as the high electro catalytic properties are concerned; the exchange current density is about eight times higher than the same on Pt surface. The morphology of the electrode surface examined by SEM and FESEM exhibits that the grains are narrow and sub spherical with 3D surface, containing vacancies in between the elongated grains. The fact has enhanced more surface area for electro oxidation of the fuel, giving rise to an increase in current. Presence of Ni, CeO₂, and Cu is confirmed by the XRD and EDXS. Fuel cell fabricated with Ni-CeO₂-Cu material electrode is expected to produce clean electrical energy at cheaper rates than conventional one, using bio fuel the derived from biomass.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.62-68
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• 2006

High temperature electrolysis is a promising technology to produce massively hydrogen using renewable and nuclear energy. Solid oxide fuel cell materials are candidates as the components of steam electrolysers. However, the polarization characteristics of the typical electrode materials during the electrolysis have not been intensively investigated. In this study, NiO electrode was deposited on YSZ electrolyte by spin coat process and firing at $1300^{\circ}C$. Pt electrode was applied on the other side of the electrolyte to compare the polarization characteristics with those by NiO during electrolysis. The $H_2$ evolution rate was also monitored by measuring the electromotive force of Lambda probe and calculated by thermodynamic consideration. At low current density, Pt showed lower cathodic polarization and thus higher current efficiency than Ni, but the oxidation of Ni into NiO caused the increase of anodic resistance with increasing current density. High overpotential induced high power consumption to produce hydrogen by electrolysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society Of Semiconductor Equipment Technology
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• 2003.12a
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• pp.163-168
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• 2003

In the present study, the piezoelectricity and polarization of multilayer ceramic actuator, being designed to stack PMN-PZ-PT ceramic layers and Ag-Pd electrode layers alternatively, were investigated under a consideration of geometric factor, the volume ratio of the ceramic to the electrode layers. The actuators were fabricated by tape casting of $0.2Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3)O_3-0.38PbZrO_3-0,42PbTiO_3$ followed by lamination and burnout & co-firing processes. The actuators of $10\times10\times0.6~2\textrm{mm}^3$ in size were formed in a way that $60 ~ 200\mu\textrm{m}$ thick were stacked alternatively with $5\mu\textrm{m}$ thick electrode layer. Increases in polarization and electric field-induced displacement with thickness of the ceramic layer were attributed to change of $90^{\circ}$/$180^{\circ}$ domain ratio, which was affected by interlayer internal stress. The piezoelectricity and actuation behaviors were found to depend upon the volume ratio (or thickness ratio) of ceramic to electrode layers.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.553-558
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• 2003

The A S $r_{0.7}$B $i_{2.6}$T $a_2$ $O_{9}$ (SBT)thin films are deposited on Pt-coated electrode(Pt/$TiO_2$/$SiO_2$/Si) using a RF magnetron sputtering method. The electrical properties of SBT capacitors with top electrodes were studied. In the XRD pattern, the SBT thin films in all annealing temperatures had (105) orientation. In the SEM images, Bi-layered perovskite phase was crystallized at 75$0^{\circ}C$ and grains largely grew in oxygen annealing atmosphere. The electrical properties of SBT capacitor with top electrodes represent a favorable properties in Pt electrode. The maximum remanent polarization and the coercive electric field with Pt electrode are 12.40C/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and 30kV/cm, respectively. The dielectric constant and leakage current density with Pt electrode is 340 and 6.8110$^{-10}$ A/$\textrm{cm}^2$, respectively.y.y.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.75-78
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• 2004

$Bi_{3.25}Eu_{0.75}Ti_3O_{12}$ (BET) thin films were deposited on the $LaNiO_3$ (LNO (100))/Si and Pt/Ti/$SiO_2$/Si substrates by the metal-organic decomposition method. Structural and dielectric properties of BLT thin films for the applications in nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memories were investigated. Both the structure and morphology of the films were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Even at low temperatures $650^{\circ}C$, the BET thinfilms were successfully deposited on LNO bottom electrode and exhibited (001) and (117) orientation. Compared with the Pt electrode films, the BET thin films on the LNO electrode annealed at $650^{\circ}C$ showed better dielectric constantsand remanent polarization. The BET thin films on the LNO electrode for the annealing temperature of $650^{\circ}C$, the remanent polarization Pr and coercive field were $45.6\;C/cm^2$ and 171 kV/cm, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.99-99
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• 2013

In this talk, I will present two research works in progress, which are: i) mapping of piezoelectric polarization and associated charge density distribution in the heteroepitaxial InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well (MQW) structure of a light emitting diode (LED) by using inline electron holography and ii) in-situ observation of the polarization switching process of an ferroelectric Pb(Zr1-x,Tix)O3 (PZT) thin film capacitor under an applied electric field in transmission electron microscope (TEM). In the first part, I will show that strain as well as total charge density distributions can be mapped quantitatively across all the functional layers constituting a LED, including n-type GaN, InGaN/GaN MQWs, and p-type GaN with sub-nm spatial resolution (~0.8 nm) by using inline electron holography. The experimentally obtained strain maps were verified by comparison with finite element method simulations and confirmed that not only InGaN QWs (2.5 nm in thickness) but also GaN QBs (10 nm in thickness) in the MQW structure are strained complementary to accommodate the lattice misfit strain. Because of this complementary strain of GaN QBs, the strain gradient and also (piezoelectric) polarization gradient across the MQW changes more steeply than expected, resulting in more polarization charge density at the MQW interfaces than the typically expected value from the spontaneous polarization mismatch alone. By quantitative and comparative analysis of the total charge density map with the polarization charge map, we can clarify what extent of the polarization charges are compensated by the electrons supplied from the n-doped GaN QBs. Comparison with the simulated energy band diagrams with various screening parameters show that only 60% of the net polarization charges are compensated by the electrons from the GaN QBs, which results in the internal field of ~2.0 MV cm-1 across each pair of GaN/InGaN of the MQW structure. In the second part of my talk, I will present in-situ observations of the polarization switching process of a planar Ni/PZT/SrRuO3 capacitor using TEM. We observed the preferential, but asymmetric, nucleation and forward growth of switched c-domains at the PZT/electrode interfaces arising from the built-in electric field beneath each interface. The subsequent sideways growth was inhibited by the depolarization field due to the imperfect charge compensation at the counter electrode and preexisting a-domain walls, leading to asymmetric switching. It was found that the preexisting a-domains split into fine a- and c-domains constituting a $90^{\circ}$ stripe domain pattern during the $180^{\circ}$ polarization switching process, revealing that these domains also actively participated in the out-of-plane polarization switching. The real-time observations uncovered the origin of the switching asymmetry and further clarified the importance of charged domain walls and the interfaces with electrodes in the ferroelectric switching processes.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.93-103
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• 2005

This study was performed to identify the presence of measurement distortions such as electrode polarization and to investigate the influence of soil water content on complex permittivity at low frequency. In low frequency measurement using two-terminal electrode system, electrode polarization effect was observed at frequencies less than approximately 100 HBz. The analysis for real permittivity should be performed at frequencies above 100 kHz in order to exclude electrode polarization effect in the analysis of real permittivity at low frequency measurements. For a given soil, both of real and effective imaginary permittivity of wet soil increased continuously with volumetric water content. This is evidenced by the facts that the real permittivity is proportional to the number of dipole moments per unit volume and effective imaginary permittivity is effected by the conduction due to water. However, proportional relation between real permittivity and volumetric water content is valid at upper MHz frequencies.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.497-503
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• 2022

Spinel ferrites (Ni_xFe_3-xO₄; x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0) have been prepared at 550℃ by egg white auto-combustion route using egg white at 550℃ and characterized by physicochemical (TGA, IR, XRD, and SEM) and electrochemical (CV and Tafel polarization) techniques. The presence of characteristic vibration peaks in FT-IR and reflection planes in XRD spectra confirmed the formation of spinel ferrites. The prepared oxides were transformed into oxide film on glassy carbon electrodes by coating oxide powder ink using the nafion solution and investigated their electrocatalytic performance for OER in an alkaline solution. The cyclic voltammograms of the oxide electrode did not show any redox peaks in oxygen overpotential regions. The iR-free Tafel polarization curves exhibited two Tafel slopes (b₁ = 59-90 mV decade^-1 and b₂ = 92-124 mV decade^-1) in lower and higher over potential regions, respectively. Ni-substitution in oxide matrix significantly improved the electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction. Based on the current density for OER, the 0.75 mol Ni-substituted oxide electrode was found to be the most active electrode among the prepared oxides and showed the highest value of apparent current density (~9 mA cm^-2 at 0.85 V) and lowest Tafel slope (59 mV decade^-1). The OER on oxide electrodes occurred via the formation of chemisorbed intermediate on the active sites of the oxide electrode and follow the second-order mechanism.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.179-181
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• 2008

With nano-$SiO_2$ and sulphate acid, a kind of colloid electrolyte is synthesized by sol-gel method. It is placed outside the reference electrode as a layer of gel electrolyte so as to decrease the leaching of $Cu^{2+}$ and increase the life of the reference electrode. The performance of the gel electrode in simulating soil solution is measured as follows: the potential of the electrodes ranging from 60 mV to 80 mV (vs. SCE) with potential variation no more than $\pm10mV$, enough resistance to polarization. The $Cu^{2+}$ effusion rate of the reference electrode without gel electrolyte is 3 times that with colloid electrolyte, which means that gel electrolyte can extend the life of the reference electrode significantly.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 1997

Electrode surface reaction on three carbon materials(glassy carbon, synthesized graphite, graphite foil) in 0.5 M K2SO4 electrolyte is investigated by impedance spectroscopy during anodic polarization. The double layer capacitance of the graphite foil electrode is relatively higher than that of other two materials. The change of capacitance parameter C due to chemical adsorption on glassy carbon and synthesized graphite(PVDF graphite) is observed in 0.5 M K2SO4 solution at anodic polarization. In general, the faradic impedance on glassy carbon depends on anodic polarization, and the change of impedance parameter on graphite foil at anodic polarization is not remarkable, because this reaction is controlled by field transport.