• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.288-295
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• 1999

Partial conductivities contributed by electron holes, oxygen ions, and protons were caluclated in $SrZr_{0.95}Y_{0.05}O_{2.975}$, using the reported formulae derived from the defect chemistry of HTPCs. Required parameters were obtained from the graphical analysis of total conductivity variation against partial pressure of water vapor and oxygen. Predicted overall conductivities showed a reasonable agreement with experimental measurements. The conductivity of the material showed a linear increase with square root of the water vapor pressure. This increase was due to proton conduction in an almost pure ionic conductivity. The calculation of partial conductivities at $800^{\circ}C$ resulted in an almost pure ionic conductivity at $P_{02}=10^{-10}$ atm and a predominant hole conductivity at $P_{02}=10^{-10}$ atm. Pure proton conduction was not expected at this temperature, contrary to the earlier reports. Discussions were made in relation with reported thermodynamic data and defect structure of the material. It was shown that from the total conductivity dependence on water vapor pressure, the pure ionic conductivity at low oxygen partial pressures could be separated into protonic and oxygen ionic conductivity in $ZrO_2$-based HTPCs.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.141-144
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• 2003

Proton conducting polymeric gels as the electrolytes of electrochemical capacitors have been prepared by two different methods: 1) swelling a polymethacrylate-based polymer matrix in aqueous solutions of inorganic and organic acids, and 2) polymerizing complexes of anhydrous acids and prepolymers with organic plasticizer. The FT-IR spectra strongly suggest that the carbonyl groups in the polymer matrix interact with protons from the doped acids. High ionic (proton) conductivity in the range of $6\times10^{-4}-4\times10^{-2}\;S\;cm^{-1}$ was obtained at room temperature for the aqueous gels. The non-aqueous polymer complexes showed rather low ionic conductivity, but it was about $10^{-3}\;S\;cm^{-1}\;at\;70^{\circ}C$ for the $H_3PO_4$ doped polymer electrolyte. The mechanisms of ion (proton) conduction in the polymeric systems are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2012

The composite membranes using Nafion as matrix and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetracyanoborate (EMITCB) as ion-conducting medium in replacement of water were prepared and characterized. The amount of EMITCB in Nafion varied from 30 to 50wt%. The composite membranes are characterized by ion conductivity, thermogravitational analyses (TGA) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The composite membranes containing EMITCB of 40wt% showed the maximum ionic conductivity which was ~0.0146 S $cm^{-1}$ at 423.15 K. It is inferred that the decrease in ionic conductivity of all the composite membranes might be due to the decomposition of a tetracyanoboric acid formed in the composite membranes. The results of SAXS indicated that the ionic clusters to conduct proton in the composite membranes were successfully formed. In accordance with the results of ionic conductivity as a function of a reciprocal temperature, SAXS showed a proportional decrease in scattering maximum $q_{max}$ as the amount of EMITCB increases in the composite membranes, which results in the increase in ionomer cluster size. The TGA showed no significant decomposition of the ionic liquid as well as the composite membranes in the range of operating temperature ($120-150^{\circ}C$) of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HTPEMFC). As a result, EMITCB is able to play an important role in transferring proton in the composite membranes at elevated temperatures with no external humidification for proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2011

The composite membranes comprising of sulfonated polymers as matrix and ionic liquids as ion-conducting medium in replacement of water are studied to investigate the effect of annealing of the sulfonated polymers. The polymeric membranes are prepared on recast Nafion containing the ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ($EMIBF_4$). The composite membranes are characterized by thermogravitational analyses, ion conductivity and small-angle X-ray scattering. The composite membranes annealed at $190^{\circ}C$ for 2 h after the fixed drying step showed better ionic conductivity, but no significant increase in thermal stability. The mean Bragg distance between the ionic clusters, which is reflected in the position of the ionomer peak (small-angle scattering maximum), is larger in the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$ than the non-annealed ones. It might have been explained to be due to the different level of ion-clustering ability of the hydrophilic parts (i.e., sulfonic acid groups) in the non- and annealed polymer matrix. In addition, the ionic conductivity of the membranes shows higher for the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$. It can be concluded that the annealing of the composite membranes containing ionic liquids due to an increase in ion-clustering ability is able to bring about the enhancement of ionic conductivity suitable for potential use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) at medium temperatures ($150-200^{\circ}C$) in the absence of external humidification.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.248-259
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• 2014

Acceptor-doped cerium pyrophosphates have shown significant proton conductivity of > $10^{-2}Scm^{-1}$ in the range of $100-300^{\circ}C$ and are considered promising candidates for use as electrolytes in proton-conducting, ceramic electrolyte fuel cells (PCFCs). But, cerium pyrophosphates themselves do not have structural protons, and protons incorporate into their material bulk only as impurities on exposure to a hydrogen-containing atmosphere. However, proton incorporation and proton conduction in these materials are expected to be affected by factors such as the nature (ionic size and charge) and concentration of the aliovalent dopant, processing history (synthesis route and microstructure), and the presence of residual phosphorous phosphate ($P_mO_n$) phases. An exact understanding of these aspects has not yet been achieved, leading to large differences in the magnitude of proton conductivity of cerium pyrophosphates reported in various studies. Herein, we systematically address some of these aspects, and present an overview of factors affecting proton conductivity inacceptor-doped $CeP_2O_7$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.378-378
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• 2009

The ionic liquid-based sulfonated hydrocarbon composite membranes was prepared for use in anhydrous high temperature-polymer electrolyte fuel cells (HT-PEFCs). Ionic liquid behaves like water in the composite membranes under anhydrous condition. However the composite membranes show a low conductivity and high gas permeability as the content of ionic liquid increases due to its high viscosity and content of ionic liquid, respectively. Hence, in order to enhance the proton conductivity and to reduce the gas permeability of the composite membranes with low content of ionic liquids, the acid containing a common ion of ionic liquid was added to the composite membranes. The characterization of composite membranes was carried out using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and impedance spectroscopy. As a result, the composite membranes containing acid showed higher proton conductivity than those with no acid under the un-humidified condition due to a decrease in viscosity. In addition, the proton conductivity of composite membranes increased with increasing mole concentration of acid.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.282-285
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• 2009

This study presents preparation and characterization of composite membranes based on ionic liquids. The ionic liquids act as water in sulfonated membranes. On the behalf of ionic conduction through ionic liquid inside the membranes, non-aqueous membranes showed Arrenhius dependence on temperature with no external humidification. It was implied that hopping mechanism of proton was dominant in the ionic liquid based membranes. In addition, small angle X-ray (SAXS) studies provided the information on morphology of ionic clusters formed by the interaction between sulfonic acid groups of the polymers and ionic liquids. The SAXS spectra showed matrix peaks, ionomer peaks and Prodo's law for Nafion based composite membranes and only matrix peaks for hydrocarbon based ones. However, ionic conductivity and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images showed the clear formation of ionic clusters of the hydrocarbon based composite membranes. It implies for ionic liquid based high temperature membranes that it is important to use sulfonated polymers as solid matrix of ionic liquid which can form clear ionic clusters in SAXS spectra.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.189-192
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• 2001

In order to prepare the proton-conducting membrane with lower cost and higher ionic conductivity than commercialized one, the concept of incorporating the nitrogen acid to polymer backbone, is proposed. The synthesis, thermal, and temperature-variable impedance/electrical conductivity studies of poly (p-tolunesulfonylamido acrylate) are reported. This polymer can be prepared by reacting poly (acryloyl chloride) with ptolunesulfonamide and cast into homogeneous membranes. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the polymer is thermally stable up to about $200^{\circ}C$ and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) illustrates that the glass transition occur at around $67^{\circ}C$. The ionic conductivity measured by dielectric spectroscopy is in the range of $10^{-5}\;S/cm$ in dry atmosphere that it can be a candidate for the membrane of PEMFC or DMFC.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.9-16
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• 2014

A proton exchange membrane is a core component in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell because the role of proton exchange membrane(PEM)is supplying proton conductivity to fuel cell, a gas separator, and insulating between an anode and cathode. Among various role of PEM, supplying proton conductivity is the most important and the proton conductivity is strongly related the structural evolution of PEM by hydration. Thus a lot of studies have done by past few decade based on small angle X-ray scattering and wide angle X-ray scattering for understanding morphological structure of the PEM. Resulting from these studies, several morphological models of hydrated PEM are proposed. Current sensing atomic force microscopy (CSAFM) can map morphology and conductance on the membrane simultaneously. It can be the best tool for studying heterogenous structured materials such as PEM. In this study, the hydration of the membrane is examined by using CSAFM. Conductance and morphological images are simultaneously mapped under different relative humidity. The conductance images, which are mapped from different relative humidity, are analyzed by statistical methode for understanding ionic channel variation in PEM.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.459-464
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• 2007

Polymer electrolyte membranes, featuring ionic channels, were prepared from sulfonated dextran/ poly(vinyl alcohol) (sD/PVA) membranes. A stiff sulfated dextran was chosen as the route for ionic transport, since ionic sites are located along the stiff dextran main chain. The sD/PVA blend membranes were annealed and then chemically crosslinked. The characteristics of the crosslinked sD/PVA membranes were investigated to determine their suitability as proton exchange membranes. The proton conductivity was found to increase with increasing amounts of sD inside the membrane, which reached a maximum and then decreased when the sD content exceeded 30 wt%, while the methanol permeability increased with increasing sD content. The good dispersion of sD inside the membrane, which serves as an ionic channels mimic, played a significant role in proton transportation.