• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2008

Optimization of ionomer solution was conducted in order to improve the performance of MEAs in PEMPC. The interface between membrane and electrodes in MEAs is crucial region determining fuel cell performance as well as ORR reaction at cathode. Through the modification of Nafion ionomer content at the interface between membrane and electrodes, an optimal content was obtained with Nafion 115 membranes. Two times higher current density was obtained with the outer Nafion sprayed MEA compared with the non-sprayed one. In addition, the symmetrical impedance spectroscopy mode (SM) exhibited that the resistances of membrane area, proton hydration, and charge transfer decreased as the outer Nafion is sprayed. From the polarization curves and SM, the highest current density and the lowest resistance was obtained at the outer ionomer content of $0.15\;mg\;cm^{-2}$.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.868-873
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• 2019

In this study, the evaluation of performance of AORFB using methyl viologen and TEMPOL as organic active materials in neutral supporting electrolyte (NaCl) with various membrane types was performed. Using methyl viologen and TEMPOL as active materials in neutral electrolyte solution, the cell voltage is 1.37V which is relatively high value for AORFB. Two types of membranes were examined for performance comparison. First, when using Nafion 117 membrane which is commercial cation exchange membrane, only the charge process occurred in the first cycle and the single cell couldn't work because of its high resistance. However, when using Fumasep anion exchange membrane (FAA-3-50) instead of Nafion 117 membrane, the result was obtained as the totally different charge-discharge graphs. When current density was $40mA{\cdot}cm^{-2}$ and cut off voltage range was from 0.55 V to 1.7 V, the charge efficiency (CE) was 97% and voltage efficiency (VE) was 78%. In addition, the discharge capacity was $1.44Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}$ which was 54% of theoretical capacity ($2.68Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}$) at $10^{th}$ cycle and the capacity loss rate was $0.0015Ah{\cdot}L^{-1}$ per cycle during 50 cycles. Through cyclic voltammetry test, it seems that this difference in the performance between the full cell using Nafion 117 membrane and Fumasep anion exchange membrane came from increasing resistance due to chemical reaction between membrane and active material, not the capacity loss due to cross-over of active material through membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.477-483
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• 2007

A coagulation process for RO (reverse osmosis) membrane pretreatment system was an effective technology to remove colloidal and particulate matters. However, coagulant residuals from the pretreatment process may negatively affect RO membrane performance. The bench-scale coagulant exposure study was performed to investigate the effect of their residual on adsorbed mass which related to the membrane performance. Coagulant addition in this study ranged from 0 to 5mg/L ferric chloride, alum, and 2mg/L cationic polymer(poly-di-methyldiallyl ammonium chloride) as coagulant aids. This results showed that adsorbed mass is not significantly increased during short-time period, however, accumulated mass of coagulants on the membrane surface is significantly increased during long-time experimental period. The effect of pH on coagulants adsorption characteristics was significantly differed due to the electrostatic repulsive interactions between soluble coagulants and membrane surface charge. This data suggest that the RO membrane performance of drinking water treatment plant could be decreased by adsorption of residual coagulants when applied for the coagulant pretreatment process.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1997.04b
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• pp.21-22
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• 1997

최근의 이온교환막은 종래의 양이온교환막의 표면에 polycation 등의 얇은 층을 덧붙인 다층막(multi-layer membrane)의 형태가 많이 이용되고 있으며, 정전기적 반발력의 차 등을 이용하여 원자가가 다른 이온들간의 투과성에 차를 부여하기 위하여 이용되고 있다. 이 때문에 polycation막을 통한 1가 이온과 2가 이온의 투과성을 연구하는 것은 우수한 이온교환막을 제작하는것 이상으로 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 고정전하농도(fixed charge density, $\Phi$ X)가 낮은 다공성 저전하음이온교환막을 제작하여, 양측에 대이온(counterion)은 같고 복이온(co-ion)이 다른 전해질용액을 두었을 경우에 관찰되는 막전위를 측정하였다. 이를 토대로 음이온교환막을 통한 막전위의 농도의존성에 관하여 검토하였으며, 비평형열역학(non-equilibrium thermodynamies)에 기초한 이론적 모델을 도입하여 실험치와 비교, 해석하였다.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.529-539
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• 1998

The effects of membrane surface charge originated from lipid head groups on ion channels were tested by analyzing the activity of single large conductance $Ca^{2+}-activated\;K^+$ (maxi K) channel from rat skeletal muscle. The conductances and open-state probability ($P_o$) of single maxi K channels were compared in three types of planar lipid bilayers formed from a neutral phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) or two negatively-charged phospholipids, phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI). Under symmetrical KCl concentrations $(3{\sim}1,000\;mM)$, single channel conductances of maxi K channels in charged membranes were $1.1{\sim}1.7$ times larger than those in PE membranes, and the differences were more pronounced at the lower ionic strength. The average slope conductances at 100 mM KCl were $251{\pm}9.9$, $360{\pm}8.7$ and $356{\pm}12.4$ $(mean{\pm}SEM)$ pS in PE, PS and PI membranes respectively. The potentials at which $P_o$ was 1/2, appeared to have shifted left by 40 mV along voltage axis in the membranes formed with PS or PI. Such shift was consistently seen at pCa 5, 4.5, 4 and 3.5. Estimation of the effect of surface charge from these data indicated that maxi K channels sensed the surface potentials at a distance of $8{\sim}9\;{\AA}$ from the membrane surface. In addition, similar insulation distance ($7{\sim}9\;{\AA}$) of channel mouth from the bilayer surface charge was predicted by a 3-barrier-2-site model of energy profile for the permeation of $K^+$ ions. In conclusion, despite the differences in structure and fluidity of phospholipids in bilayers, the activities of maxi K channels in two charged membranes composed of PS or PI were strikingly similar and larger than those in bilayers of PE. These results suggest that the enhancement of conductance and $P_o$ of maxi channels is mostly due to negative charges in the phospholipid head groups.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.649-655
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• 2015

As a novel water treatment membrane, concept of ceramic-based graphene membrane (CbGM) was suggested, and its mass transport behavior was investigated. The selectivity of CbGM was given by graphene material which is consisting of active layer, only transmitting water, but rejecting salts. Filtration-assisted assembly methods was employed as a facile method to fabricate CbGM. Surface morphology and characteristics of CbGM were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle. In addition, three different kinds of solutes (i.e., NaCl, $MgCl_2$, $Na_2SO_4$) were tested in batch forward osmosis system to confirm the mass transport behavior. Through surface morphology analysis and mass transport behavior, it was revealed that interlocking between graphene layers is very important, rather than thickness of laminated graphene layers, in terms of selectivity to CbGM. All the anions in each solute showed faster transport than those of cations. In addition, solutes which have high ion valence charge ratio of anion to cation ($Z^-/Z^+$) was easier to be passed through CbGM. It indirectly implied that the surface charge of CbGM appear to be positive. In addition, It showed that surface charge of CbGM has a great role on mass transport, in particular, transport of matter having charges, generally ions.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.127-142
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• 2013

In order to investigate the significance of "salting-out" and "pore swelling" effects on the nanofiltration of neutral solutes, rejection properties of two NF ceramic and polymeric membranes were studied with single polyethyleneglycol (PEG) solution and mixed PEG/inorganic electrolyte solutions. For both membranes, the rejection rate of PEG was found to decrease significantly in the presence of ions. In the case of the ceramic membrane (rigid pores), this phenomenon was imputed to the sole partial dehydration of PEG molecules induced by the surrounding ions. This assumption was confirmed by the lowering of the PEG rejection rates which followed the Hofmeister series. Experimental data were used to compute the resulting decrease in the Stokes radius of PEG molecules in the presence of the various salts. Concerning the polymeric membrane, the decrease in the rejection rate was found to be systematically higher than for the ceramic membrane. The additional decrease was then ascribed to the swelling of the pores. The experimental data of rejection rates were then used to compute the variation in the mean pore radius in the presence of the various salts. The pore swelling phenomenon due to accumulation of counterions inside pores was supported by electrokinetic charge density measurements.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2021

With the advances in recent nanotechnology, mass transport phenomena have been receiving large attention both in academic researches and industrial applications. Nonetheless, it is not clearly determined which parameters are dominant at nanoscale mass transport. Especially, membrane is a kind of technology that use a selective separation to secure fresh water. The development of great separation membrane and membrane-based separation system is an important way to solve existing water resource problems. In this study, glass fiber-based membranes which are treated by graphene oxide (GO), poly-styrene sulfonate (GOP) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (GPS) were fabricated. Mass transport parameters were investigated in terms of material-specific and structure-specific dominance. The 3D structural information of GO, GOP, and GPS was obtained by using synchrotron X-ray nano tomography. In addition, electrostatic characteristic and water absorption rate of the membranes were investigated. As a result, we calculated internal structural information using Tomadakis-Sotrichos model, and we found that manipulation of surface characteristics can improve spacer arm effect, which means enhancement of water permeability by control length of ligand and surface charge functionality of the membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.211-221
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• 2023

This study presents a comprehensive study on the synthesis and characterization of PVI-PGMA/LiTFSI polymeric membrane electrolytes and CxNy-C flexible electrodes for energy storage applications. The dual-functional PVI-PGMA copolymer exhibited excellent ionic conductivity, with the PVI-PGMA73/LiTFSI200 membrane electrolyte achieving the highest conductivity of 1.0 × 10^-3 S cm^-1. The electrochemical performance of the CxNy-C electrodes was systematically investigated, with C3N2-C demonstrating superior performance, achieving the highest specific capacitance of 958 F g^-1 and lowest charge transfer resistance (R_ct) due to its highly interconnected hybrid structure comprising nanowires and polyhedrons, along with binary Co/Ni oxides, which provided abundant redox-active sites and facilitated ion diffusion. The presence of a graphitic carbon shell further contributed to the enhanced electrochemical stability during charge-discharge cycles. These results highlight the potential of PVI-PGMA/LiTFSI polymeric membrane electrolytes and CxNy-C electrodes for advanced energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries, paving the way for further advancements in sustainable and high-performance energy storage technologies.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.28-38
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• 2014

The organic-inorganic composite membrane in polymer exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have several fascinating technological advantages such as a proton conductivity, thermal stability and mechanical properties. As the inorganic filler, silicon carbide (SiC) fiber have been used in various fields due to its unique properties such as thermal stability, conductivity, and tensile strength. In this study, composite membrane was successfully fabricated by modified-silicon carbide fiber. Modified process, as a novel process in SiC, takes reaction by phosphoric acid after oxidation process (generated homogeniusly $SiO_2$ layer on SiC fiber). The mechanical property which was conducted by tensile test of the 5wt% modified-$SiO_2@SiCf$ composite membrane was better than that of Aquivion casting membrane as well as ion cxchange capacity(IEC) and proton conductivity. In addition, the single cell performance was observed that the 5wt% modified-$SiO_2@SiCf$ composite membrane was approximately $0.2A/cm^2$ higher than that of a Aquivion casting electrolyte membrane and electrochemical impedance was improved with the charge transfer resistance and membrane resistance.