• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.2529-2535
• /
• 2013

Sol-gel method was utilized to prepare SPEEK/PWA electrolyte composite membranes. TEOS was used as a precursor and phosphotungstic acid(PWA) as a catalyst for the sol-gel reaction. It was observed through FE-SEM analysis that the PWA and silica nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed into the polymer matrix. The water uptake of SPEEK/PWA/silica composite membranes was less affected by TEOS concentration at higher TEOS contents, while the water uptake decreased as TEOS concentration increased at lower TEOS contents. The proton conductivity of the composite membranes showed similar trend as the water uptake of the composite membranes. The methanol permeability of SPEEK/PWA/silica composite membranes decreased as TEOS concentration increased.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.449-455
• /
• 2006

Ionic cluster mimic, polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared using polymer composites of crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with sulfated-${\beta}$-cyclodextrins (${\beta}-CDSO_3H$) or phosphated-${\beta}$-cyclodextrins (${\beta}-CDPO(OH)_2$). When Nafion, developed for a fuel cell using low temperature, polymer electrolyte membranes, is used in a direct methanol fuel cell, it has a methanol crossover problem. The ionic inverted micellar structure formed by micro-segregation in Nafion, known as ionic cluster, is distorted in methanol aqueous solution, resulting in the significant transport of methanol through the membrane. While the ionic structure formed by the ionic sites in either ${\beta}-CDSO_3H$ or ${\beta}-CDPO(OH)_2$ in this composite membrane is maintained in methanol solution, it is expected to reduce methanol transport. Proton conductivity was found to increase in PVA membranes upon addition of ionized cyclodextrins. Methanol permeability through the PVA composite membrane containing cyclodextrins was lower than that of Nafion. It is thus concluded that the structure and fixation of ionic clusters are significant barriers to methanol crossover in direct methanol fuel cells.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.57 no.5
• /
• pp.625-633
• /
• 2013

A type of polycyclotriphosphazene derivative (PCTPD), hexasulfanilic acid polycyclotriphosphazene (HSACP) and HSACP grafting SPEEK, sulfonated poly[2-(petachloropolycyclotriphosphazene-oxy)] etheretherketone (SPPSACPEEK) were synthesized, which were characterized by FTIR and $^{31}P$ NMR. Then three types of composite membranes such as HSACP grafting SPEEK, HSACP blending SPEEK, and nano $Y_2O_3$ doping and HSACP grafting SPEEK, respectively, were continuously prepared by solution-casting method. Comparing to SPEEK membranes with different amount of HSACP grafted or blended, grafting 15 wt% HSACP and doping 10 wt% nano $Y_2O_3$ SPEEK membrane conducted outstanding overall behavior of proton conductivity reaching $3.18 {\times}10^{-2}$ S/cm at $90^{\circ}C$ which was merely junior to SPEEK with 15 wt% HSACP grafted, methanol permeability coefficient getting $9.46{\times}10^{-8}cm^2{\cdot}s^{-1}$, swelling degree of 20.9% and solid residue of 98.98% which was superior to all specimen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
• /
• 2006.09a
• /
• pp.487-488
• /
• 2006

Novel bisphenol-based wholly aromatic poly(ether sulfone-ketone) copolymer containing pendant sulfonate groups were prepared by direct aromatic nucleophilic substitution polycondensation of 4,4-difluorobenzophenone, 2,2'-disodiumsulfonyl-4,4'-fluorophenylsulfone (40mole% of bisphenol A) and bisphenol A. Polymerization proceeded quantitatively to high molecular weight in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone at $180^{\circ}C$. Organic-inorganic composite membranes were obtained by mixing organic polymers with hydrophilic $SiO_2$ (ca. 20nm) obtained by sol-gel process. The polymer and a series of composite membranes were studied by FT-IR, $^1HNMR$, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal stability. The proton conductivity as a function of temperature decreased as $SiO_2$ content increased, but methanol permeability decreased. The nano composite membranes were found to posse all requisite properties; Ion exchange capacity (1.2meq./g), glass transition temperatures $(164-183\;^{\circ}C)$, and low affinity towards methanol $(4.63-1.08{\times}10^{-7}\;cm^2/S)$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.31 no.7
• /
• pp.375-381
• /
• 2021

Chitosan powder is synthesized by a deasetylation process of chitin, obtained from processing of dried shrimp shell powder. Subsequently, chitosan (CS) membranes filled by montmorillonite (MMT) particles and phosphotungstic acid are prepared, and characterized by FT-IR and SEM. The morphology, obtained by SEM for the composite membrane, showed that MMT filler is successfully incorporated and relatively well dispersed in the chitosan polymer matrix. Water and methanol uptake for the CS/MMT composite membranes decrease with increasing MMT loadings, but IEC value increases. In all prepared CS/MMT composite membranes, the CS membrane filled by 5 wt% MMT particles exhibits the best proton conductivity, while that with 10 wt% MMT loading exhibits the lowest methanol permeability; these values are 2.67 mS·cm^-1 and 3.40 × 10^-7 cm²·s^-1, respectively. The best membrane selectivity is shown in the CS/MMT10 composite membrane; this shows that 10 wt% filled MMT is the optimum loading to improve the performance of the chitosan composite membrane. These characteristics make the developed chitosan composite membranes a promising electrolyte for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) application.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.465-477
• /
• 2023

In proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), proper thermal management of the stack and moisture generation by electrochemical reactions significantly affect fuel cell performance. In this study, the PEMFC dynamic characteristic model was developed through Simcenter AMESim, a development program. In addition, the developed model aims to understand the thermal resin balance of the stack and performance characteristics for input loads. The developed model applies the thermal management model of the stack and the moisture content and permeability model to simulate voltage loss and stack thermal behavior precisely. This study extended the C based AMESet (adaptive modeling environment submodeling tool) to simulate electrochemical reactions inside the stack. Fuel cell model of AMESet was liberalized with AMESim and then integrated with the balance of plant (BOP) model and analyzed. And It is intended to be used in component design through BOP analysis. The resistance loss of the stack and thermal behavior characteristics were predicted, and the impact of stack performance and efficiency was evaluated.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.68-73
• /
• 2002

Modified polymer electrolyte membranes were fabricated by the applying dc magnetron sputter-deposited Pd thin layers on the surface of the $Nafion^{TM}$ membranes in argon atmosphere. The Pd thin films were characterized by investigating its morphology, methanol permeability, and protonic conductivity. The performance of a direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC) with the modifed polymer electrolyte membrane was also tested by the measurement of its currents and voltages under flowing methanol. The Pd thin film could be a barrier layer to methanol crossover, but the protonic conductivity of the modified polymer membrane was reduced. By using the modified polymer eletrolyte membranes, both the methanol permeability and the protonic conductivity were decreased with increasing the thickness of Pd thin film. However, the performances of DMFC were almost independent on the thickness of Pd thim films. The efffcts of methanol concentration in a feeding fuels on the protonic conductivity and the cell performance were also investigated.

• 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.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.56 no.1
• /
• pp.1-5
• /
• 2018

In this work, we study the ion conductivity by analyzing the impedance to the high current density range that the PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) is actually operated. The effect of GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer)presence on impedance was investigated indirectly by measuring hydrogen permeability. When the RH (Relative Humidity)was higher than 60% in the low current range (< $80mA/cm^2$), the moisture content of the polymer membrane was sufficient and the ion conductivity of the membrane was not influenced by the current change. However, when RH was low, ion conductivity increased due to water production as current density increased. The ion conductivity of the membrane obtained by HFR (High Frequency Resistance) in the high current region ($100{\sim}800mA/cm^2$)was compared with the measured value and simulated value. At RH 100%, both experimental and simulated values showed constant ion conductivity without being influenced by current change. At 30~70% of RH, the ionic conductivity increased with increasing current density and tended to be constant.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.45-51
• /
• 2010

This study focuses on the investigation of the possibility of the crosslinked poly (vinyl alcohol) membranes with both poly (acrylic acid-co-maleic acid) (PAM) and 3-(trihydroxysilyl)-1-propane-sulfonic acid (THS-PSA) for the direct methanol fuel cell application. In order to characterize the prepared membranes, the water content, the thermal gravimetric analysis, the ion exchange capacity, the ion conductivity and the methanol permeability measurements were carried out and then compared with the existing Nafion 115 membrane. The ion exchange capacity of the resulting membranes showed 1.6~1.8 meq./g membrane which was improved than Nafion 115, 0.91 meq./g membrane. In the case of the proton conductivity, the THS-PSA introduced membranes gave more excellent $0.042{\sim}0.056\;S{\cdot}cm^{-1}$ than Nafion 115, $0.024\;S{\cdot}cm^{-1}$. On the other hand, the methanol permeability was increased more than Nafion 115 for all the range of THA-PSA concentration.