• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.157-162
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• 2014

In this research, we investigate electrical performance and electrochemical properties of carbon supported Pt (Pt/C) that is synthesized by polyol method. With the Polyol_Pt/C that is adopted for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), their catalytic activity and ORR performance and electrical performance are estimated and compared with commercial Pt/C(Johnson Mattey) catalyst. Their electrochemically active surface (EAS) area are measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV), respectively. On the other hand, regarding ORR activity and electrical performance of the catalysts, (i) linear sweeping voltammetry by rotating disk electrode and (ii) PEMFC single cell tests are used. The CV measurement demonstrate EAS of Polyol_Pt/C is compared with commercial JM_Pt/C. In case of Polyol_Pt/C, its half-wave potential, kinetic current density are excellent. Based on data obtained by half-cell test, when PEMFC single cell tests are carried out, current density measured at 0.6V and maximum power density of the PEMFC single cell employing Polyol_Pt/C are better than those employing commercial Pt/C. Conclusively, Polyol_Pt/C synthesized by modified polyol process shows better ORR catalytic activity and PEMFC performance than other catalysts.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.266-268
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• 2009

In this paper, authors deal with a power conditioning system (PCS) of high efficiency for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) generation system. Fuel cells are a direct current (DC) power generators. They generate electricity through an electrochemical process that converts the energy stored in a fuel directly into electricity. Fuel cells have many benefits, which produce no particulate matter, nitrogen or sulfur oxides. And they have few moving parts and produce little or no noise. When fueled by hydrogen, they yield only heat and water as byproducts. Their wide application can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign sources of petroleum. This paper studies on a novel PCS circuit topology of high efficiency using in PEMFC generation system The controlling switches in the PCS is operated to soft switching. Some digital simulation results and experimental results for the proposed PCS is confirmed to the validity of the analytical results.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.234-240
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• 2008

This work demonstrates the preparation of proton conducting crosslinked polymer electrolyte membranes by blending polystrene-b-poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PS-b-PHEA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) at 1 : 1 wt ratio. The PHEA block of the diblock copolymer was crosslinked with PVA using sulfosuccinic acid (SA) via the esterification reaction between -OH of membrane and -COOH of SA, as confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Ion exchange capacity (IEC) continuously increased from 0.14 to 0.91 meq/g with increasing concentrations of SA, due to the increasing portion of charged groups in the membrane. In contrast, the water uptake increased up to 20.0 wt% of SA concentration above which it decreased monotonically. The membrane also exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 0.024 S/cm at 20.0 wt% of SA concentration. The maximum behavior of water uptake and proton conductivity is considered to be due to competitive effect between the increase of ionic sites and the crosslinking reaction according to the SA concentration.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.129-132
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• 2007

고분자 전해질 연료전지의 성능에 영향을 주는 많은 인자들 중에서도 촉매층의 조성과 구조의 최적화는 성능변화에 큰 요인으로 작용 된다. 촉매층내 반응 활성점인 삼상계면을 형성시키기 위해 함침하는 Nafion binder를 anode와 cathode의 두 전극에 이온당량(Equivalent weight, EW)이 동일하게 함침시켜 그 성능을 확인하였다. 그 결과를 토대로 anode와 cathode에 이온당량을 각기 다르게 하여 각각의 전극마다 이온당량이 미치는 영향에 대해서도 살펴보았다. Anode와 cathode의 이온당량을 동일하게 EW1100, EW1000, EW900으로 변화 시켜주었을 경우 이온당량의 물성치가 상대적으로 향상된 EW900의 단위 전지 성능이 가장 우수하였으며, 이온당량이 EW900이었을 때 최적의 Nafion binder 함침량은 EW1100의 Nafion binder 함침량과 동일하였다. Anode와 cathode에 함침하는 Nafion binder의 이온당량을 각각 EW1100과 EW900, EW900과 EW1100으로 MEA를 제조하여 전극에 따라 이용당량이 미치는 영향을 살펴보았다.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

Hydrogen production by the reaction of aluminum alloys and NaOH solution was studied for an automotive proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) application. In our experiment conditions($30{\sim}75^{\circ}C$, NaOH $0.5{\sim}5M$), passivation of aluminum was not occurred. Higher rate of hydrogen production was observed at the reaction with Al alloys that contain impurities. With an increase in reaction temperature, hydrogen production rate by an increase in NaOH concentration increased much. When hydrogen was fed into the anode without filtering, PEMFC cell performance decreased 35% by ionic contamination such as $Na^+$ on the membrane and electrode. Thus, filtering of produced hydrogen is necessary for PEMFC operation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.104-109
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• 2005

The catalyst layer design is one of the most important factors to enhance the performance of PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) system. The hydrophobic and ion conductive type is studied for the MEA(Membrane Electrolyte Assembly). It is found that those have some limitations for performance enhancement when they are used separately. Thus, the dual catalyst type, a mixed model, is developed for the better MEA performance. In the meantime, the design of flow field plate is subsequently carried out in order to give more enhanced output during its operation. The conductivity of flow field plate showed better performance in the case of manufactured by the more compressed process(20MPa) than by the less compressed process(10MPa). The micro-structure of the flow field plate is examined in details using SEM(Scanning Electron Microscope) to analyse the effects on the different compression processes.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.587-592
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• 2016

Sodium borohydride, $NaBH_4$, shows a number of advantages as hydrogen source for portable proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Properties of $NaBH_4$ hydrolysis reaction using unsupported Co-P-B Co-B, catalyst at high concentration $NaBH_4$ solution were studied. In order to enhance the hydrogen generation yield at high concentration of $NaBH_4$, the effect of catalyst type, $NaBH_4$ concentration and recovery of condensing water on the hydrogen yield were measured. The yield of hydrogen evolution increased as the boron ratio increased in preparation process of Co-P-B catalyst. The hydrogen yield decreased as the concentration increased from 20 wt% to 25 wt% in $NaBH_4$ solution during hydrolysis reaction using 1:5 Co-P-B catalyst. Maximum hydrogen yield of 96.4% obtained by recovery of condensing water and thinning of catalyst pack thickness in reactor using Co-P-B with Co-B catalyst and 25 wt% $NaBH_4$ solution.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.265-273
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• 2009

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) has low operating temperature and high efficiency. And PEMFC consists of many components as bipolar plate, gas diffusion layer, membrane etc.. Flow-field in bipolar plate roles path for transporting reactants to membrane. Therefore a design of flow-field has an effect on PEMFC's performance. In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed for comparing mixed multiple serpentine (MMS) flow-field and multiple serpentine (MS) flow-field. And we studied an effect according to change mixing region design in MMS flow-field. Finally the applicability of results is verified by performing CFD simulation about fixed MMS flow-field which is combined good designs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2171-2178
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• 2016

Polyester cloth (PC) was selected as a prospective inexpensive substitute separator material for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). PC was compared with a traditional Nafion proton exchange membrane (PEM) as an MFC separator by analyzing its physical and electrochemical properties. A single layer of PC showed higher mass transfer (e.g., for $O_2/H^+/ions$) than the Nafion PEM; in the case of oxygen mass transfer coefficient ($k_o$), a rate of $50.0{\times}10^{-5} cm{\cdot}s^{-1}$ was observed compared with a rate of $20.8{\times}10^{-5}cm/s$ in the Nafion PEM. Increased numbers of PC layers were found to reduce the oxygen mass transfer coefficient. In addition, the diffusion coefficient of oxygen ($D_O$) for PC ($2.0-3.3{\times}10^{-6}cm^2/s$) was lower than that of the Nafion PEM ($3.8{\times}10^{-6}cm^2/s$). The PC was found to have a low ohmic resistance ($0.29-0.38{\Omega}$) in the MFC, which was similar to that of Nafion PEM ($0.31{\Omega}$); this resulted in comparable maximum power density and maximum current density in MFCs with PC and those with Nafion PEMs. Moreover, a higher average current generation was observed in MFCs with PC ($104.3{\pm}15.3A/m^3$) compared with MFCs with Nafion PEM ($100.4{\pm}17.7A/m^3$), as well as showing insignificant degradation of the PC surface, during 177 days of use in swine wastewater. These results suggest that PC separators could serve as a low-cost alternative to Nafion PEMs for construction of cost-effective MFCs.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.525-530
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• 2012

In this study, silane-crosslinked organic/inorganic composite membranes were prepared by simultaneous irradiation grafting of binary monomer mixtures (styrene and 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSPM)) with various compositions onto a poly(ethylene-alt-tetraethylene) (ETFE) film and followed by sol-gel processing and sulfonation to provide a silane-crosslinked structure and a proton conducting ability, respectively. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) were utilized to confirm the crosslinking of ETFE-g-PS/PTMSPM films. The prepared membranes with similar ion exchange capacity but a different TMSPM content were selected and their membrane properties were compared. The ETFE-g-PSSA/PTMSPM membranes were characterized by water uptake, dimensional stability, and proton conductivity after sulfonation. The membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) of the prepared membranes were fabricated and their single cell performances were measured.