• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.11a
• /
• pp.643-646
• /
• 2005

직접 메탄올 연료전지는 휴대용기기의 전원으로써 기대되고 있다. 그러나 메탄올의 crossover, 느린 산화반응과 같은 몇 가지 해결해야 할 문제점을 갖고 있다. 이에 메탄올을 대체할 연로로서 이론적으로 높은 기전력 (1.45 V)을 갖는 개미산이 제안되었다. 본 연구에서는 직접 개미산 연료전지에 대한 이전 연구를 바탕으로 개미산 연료전지에 우수한 성능을 나타내는 촉매를 개발하고자 하였다. 기존의 연구에서 Pt-Pd/C 촉매가 개미산에 대해 우수한 산화반응을 보이며 높은 OCP를 나타내어, 본 연구에서는 deposition method을 이용하여 Pt-Pd 촉매를 제조한 후 그 특성을 조사하였다. Pt-Pd 촉매는 이전의 연구에서 우수한 성능을 나타낸 Pt-Pd 촉매보다 상온에서 2배 이상의 우수한 성능을 나타내었다.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.101-108
• /
• 1996

The oxidation/degradation efficiency of formic acid through the photoelectrochemical reaction has been investigated as a basic research in order to develope the process for degrading toxic organic compounds dissolved in water. A $TiO_{2}$ photoelectro-membrane reactor for purification of water, in which filtration as well as photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds could be carried out simultaneously, was developed. Porous $SnO_{2}$ tubes prepared by slip casting and commercial porous stainless steel tubes, being electrically conductive, were used as not only supports but also working electrodes. The UV light with the wavelength of 365 nm was applied as a light source for photocatalytic reactions. The photoelectrocatatytic composite membranes were prepared by coating the support surface with the $TiO_{2}$ sol of pH 1.45. The oxidation efficiency of formic acid increased with the reaction time and the applied voltage, but was almost independent of the solution flux. The results showed that more than 90% of formic acid could he dograded at 27V using the $TiO_{2}$/stainless steel composite membrane, while about 77% in case of the $TiO_{2}/SnO_{2}$ Composite membrane. It was also concluded that the oxidation efficiencies of formic acid could be significantly improved by about 6~7 times by the photoelectrochemical reaction in comparison with those by the photocatalytic reaction only.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.227-233
• /
• 2015

In this study, we evaluate catalytic activity of Pd/C catalyst that is synthesized by modified polyol method. With such formed Pd/C is used as anodic catalyst for direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) and performances of the DFAFC are measured to verify whether the new catalyst is effective for enhancing DFAFC performance and to determine optimal loadings of the Pd/C needed for obtaining best DFAFC performance. Pd particle distribution of the Pd/C catalyst is analyzed by TEM, while its catalytic activity is estimated by using cyclic voltammogram (CV) as measuring formic acid oxidation reaction and active surface area. As a result of that, the Pd/C catalyst synthesized by modified polyol shows better catalytic activity and DFAFC performance with small loading amount of Pd/C. When loading amount of Pd/C is $1.5mgcm^{-2}$, maximum power density of DFAFC adopting the catalyst is $122mWcm^{-2}$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.11a
• /
• pp.459-462
• /
• 2006

Formic acid recently attracted attention as an alternative fuel for direct liquid fuel cells(DLFCs) due to its high theoretical open circuit voltage(1.45V). In this paper, a novel chemical strategy is described for the preparation and characterization of carbon-supported and surface-alloys, which were prepared by using a successive reduction process. After preparing Au colloid nanoparticles, the deposition of Au colloid nanoparticles occurred spontaneously in the carbon black-dispersed aqueous solution. Then nano-scaled Pt layer were formed on the surface of carbon-supported Au nanoparticles. The Au-Pt[x] showed the higher electrocatalytic activity than those of the particle-alloys and commercial one (Johnson-Matthey) for the reaction of formic acid oxidation when the mass-specific currents were compared. The increased electrocatalytic activity might be attributed to the effective surface structure of surface-alloys, which have a high utilization of active materials for the surface reaction of electrode.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.314-318
• /
• 2006

Direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs) are potential alternative power sources for portable devices such as cellular phone, personal digital assistants (PDA) and laptop computers. In this study, we developed the catalysts for great performance of fuel cell, and investigated their characteristics by using EDS and SEM. Pt-Pd catalysts showed uniform size and homogeneous distribution. As the content of palladium increased, the performance of DFAFC increased. Pd black showed the greatest performance among the five catalysts tested. Also, Pt-Pd (1:1) catalyst had an excellent maximum power density of $120mW/cm^2$. As the operating temperature increased, fuel cell performance was increased due to a reaction activity increases of catalyst. But, temperature had only a slight effect on the performance of fuel cell in the best activity range of membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.292-302
• /
• 2009

The wet oxidation of phenol has been investigated at temperatures from 150 to $250^{\circ}C$ and oxygen partial pressures from 25.8 to 75.0 bar with initial pH of 1.0 to 12.0 and initial phenol concentration of 10 g/l. Chemical Oxygen Demand COD has bee measured to estimate the oxidation rate. Reaction intermediates have been identified and their concentration profiles have been determined using liquid chromatography. The destruction rate of phenol have shown the first-order kinetics with respect to phenol and the changes in COD during wet oxidation have been described well with the lumped model. The impact of various homogeneous catalysts, such as $Cu^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$ and $Ce^{3+}$ ions, on the destruction rate of phenol and COD has also been studied. The homogeneous catalyst of $CuSO_4$ has been found to be the most effective for the destruction of phenol and COD during wet oxidations. The destruction rate of formic acid formed during wet oxidations of phenol have increased as increasing temperature and $CuSO_4$ concentration. The final concentrations of acetic acid which has been formed during wet oxidations and difficult to oxidize have increased with reaction temperature and with decrease in the catalyst load.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.283-289
• /
• 2016

In this study, electrochemical characterizations of PdCu/C catalysts that are synthesized by modified polyol method are investigated. Most of all, amount of ethylene glycol (EG) that is used as main component for catalyst synthesis is mainly modulated to optimize synthetic condition of the PdCu/C catalyst, For evaluations about catalytic activity and performance of direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC), half cell and full cell tests are implemented. As a result, when amount of EG is 4M, catalytic activities of the PdCu/C catalyst such as peak current of formic acid oxidation and active surface area are best, while maximum power density of DFAFC using the optimized PdCu/C catalyst is better than that using commercial Pd/C (30 wt%) by 6%. Based on that, PdCu/C catalyst synthesized by modified polyol method plays a critical role in improving (i) catalytic activity for formic acid oxidation and (ii) DFAFC performance by employing as anodic catalyst.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.431-439
• /
• 2014

The purposes of this research were to investigate the enrichment of metal-reducing bacteria from KURT groundwater and the identification of the microbial diversity by 16S rRNA as well as to examine microbial Fe(III)/Mn(IV) reduction and to analyze morphological features of interactions between microbes and precipitates and their mineralogical composition. To cultivate metal-reducing bacteria from groundwater sampled at the KURT in S. Korea, different electron donors such as glucose, acetate, lactate, formate, pyruvate and Fe(III)-citrate as an electron accepter were added into growth media. The enriched culture was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis for the diversity of microbial species. The effect of electron donors (i.e., glucose, acetate, lactate, formate, pyruvate) and electron acceptors (i.e., akaganeite, manganese oxide) on microbial iron/manganese reduction and biomineralization were examined using the 1st enriched culture, respectively. SEM, EDX, and XRD analyses were used to determine morphological features, chemical composition of microbes and mineralogical characteristics of the iron and manganese minerals. Based on 16S rRNA gene analysis, the four species, Fusibacter, Desulfuromonas, Actinobacteria, Pseudomonas sp., from KURT groundwater were identified as anaerobic metal reducers and these microbes precipitated metals outside of cells in common. XRD and EDX analyses showed that Fe(III)-containing mineral, akaganeite (${\beta}$-FeOOH), reduced into Fe(II)/Fe(III)-containing magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) and Mn(IV)-containing manganese oxide (${\lambda}-MnO_2$) into Mn(II)-containing rhodochrosite ($MnCO_3$) by the microbes. These results implicate that microbial metabolism and respiratory activities under anaerobic condition result in reduction and biomineralization of iron and manganese minerals. Therefore, the microbes cultivated from groundwater in KURT might play a major role to reduce various metals from highly toxic, mobile to less toxic, immobile.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.19 no.10
• /
• pp.1389-1395
• /
• 2009

Generally, it takes a long time to purify wood vinegar, and it contains toxic compounds such as tar, methanol, phenol and benzopyrene. To reduce the toxicity of wood vinegar itself, we have developed a new purification method of wood vinegar using an oxidation-cohesion reaction and distillation with an active carbon. We have investigated the physico-chemical change (pH, specific gravity, refractive index and dissolved tar), the change of amount of toxic compounds (carbonyl group, phenol, benzopyrene and residual solvents) and organic acids (formic acid (FA), acetic acid (AA), propionic acid (PA)) of the purified wood vinegar under the long term and accelerated storage conditions. Also, we have evaluated the effect of the purified wood vinegar on hair growth using an alopecia model of C57BL/6 mice. As a result, we could find out that the purified wood vinegar was stable and remained without decay under the storage conditions and benzopyrene, a carcinogenic agent, was not detected in the purified wood vinegar. After topical treatment of the purified wood vinegar solution or minoxidil (MXD) for 2 weeks to dorsal skin, the hair regrowth of the mice accelerated faster than that of the control, with no clinical signs. In conclusion, we could suggest a guideline for quality control of process to reduce the toxic compounds in wood vinegar and it might be a useful hair growth promoter in the treatment of baldness or alopecia.