• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.395-408
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• 2020

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have gained much attention as eco-friendly energy conversion devices without emission of environmental pollutant. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) that can transfer proton from anode to cathode and also prevent fuel cross-over has been regarded as a key component of PEMFCs. Although perfluorinated polymer membranes such as Nafion® were already commercialized in PEMFCs, their high cost and toxic byproduct generated by degradation have still limited the wide spread of PEMFCs. To overcome these issues, development of hydrocarbon based PEMs have been studied. Incorporation of cross-linked structure into the hydrocarbon based PEM system has been reported to fabricate the PEMs showing both high proton conductivity and outstanding physicochemical stability. This study focused on the various cross-linking strategies to the preparation of cross-linked PEMs based on hydrocarbon polymers with ion conducting groups for application in PEMFCs.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.45-49
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• 2016

In order to mitigate oxidative degradation of polymer membrane during fuel cell operation, an organic radical quencher was introduced. Rutin was selected as a radical quencher and mixed with sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) to prepare composite membrane. Physicochemical properties of the composite membranes such as water uptake and proton conductivity were characterized. Hydrogen peroxide exposure experiment, which can mimic accelerated oxidative stability test during fuel cell operation, was adopted to evaluate the oxidative stability of the membranes. The composite membranes containing Rutin showed similar proton conductivity and enhanced oxidative stability compared to pristine ones.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.413-422
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• 2015

Proton exchange membrane (PEM), which transfers proton from the anode to the cathode, is the key component of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Nafion is widely used as PEM due to its high proton conductivity as well as excellent chemical and physical stabilities. However, its high cost and the environmental hazards limit the commercial application in PEMFCs. To overcome these disadvantages, various alternative polymer electrolytes have been investigated for fuel cell applications. We used densely sulfonated polymers to maximize the ion conductivity of the corresponding membrane. To overcome high swelling, dipole-dipole interaction was used by introducing nitrile groups into the polymer backbone. As a result, physically-crosslinked membranes showed improved swelling ratio despite of high water uptake. All the membranes with different hydrophilic-hydrophobic compositions showed higher conductivity, despite their lower IEC, than that of Nafion-117.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.400-407
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• 2011

The stress distribution and stress amplitude of a membrane are major factors to decide the mechanical fatigue life of PEMFC (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell). In this paper, mechanical stresses under operating hygro-thermal condition of the membrane are numerically modelled. Contact analysis between gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the membrane is performed under various temperature-humidity conditions. The structural model has nonlinear material properties depending on temperature and relative humidity. Several geometric conditions are applied to the model. The numerical analysis results indicate that deformations of the membrane are strongly related with assembly conditions of the fuel cell. The fatigue life is predicted for practical operating condition through experimental data.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.331-337
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• 2006

높은 이온전도도와 충분한 기계적 강도, 전해질 누수가 적은 새로운 형태의 고분자 전해질막(pore-gel SPE)을 연구 개발하였다. 다공성 PVDF-HFP 고분자막의 기공 내에 전해질 용액을 흡수시킨 후 막 내에서 젤화를 진행시켰다. 전해질 용액은 2:2:1의 비를 갖는 PC/EC/DMA에 1M SA(Salicylic acid)를 용해하고 여기에 고분자막을 용해시킬 수 있는 아세톤을 첨가하였다. 초음파를 이용함으로써 고분자막의 용액 흡수율을 증가시키고 또 고분자막에서 젤화를 촉진 시킬 수 있었다. 이렇게 젤화한 막의 이온전도도는 젤화 전 막보다 $1{\sim}2.2$ 배 향상되었고, 인장강도는 gel-type SPE 보다 40 배 증가하였으며, 전해질 누수실험결과 hybrid-type SPE는 13%의 누수를 보였으나 본 연구의 막(pore-gel SPE)은 6%로 감소함을 보였다.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.345-354
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• 2009

Sulfonated poly(ether sulfone)s (PESs) with a network structure were prepared by heat-induced crosslinking of the allyl-terminated telechelic sulfone polymers using a bisazide and their structure was analyzed by $^1H$ NMR. Having both uniform distribution of the hydrophilic conductive sites and controlled hydrophobic nature by minimized crosslinking, the crosslinked polymer (PES-60) membrane offered excellent proton conductivity at high temperature with a good thermal stability. In addition, selectivity of the crosslinked membrane (PES-60) was more than three times than that of Nafion$^{(R)}$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society Of Semiconductor Equipment Technology
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• 2003.12a
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• pp.99-104
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• 2003

본 연구에서는 고분자 전해질 연료전지의 촉매 슬러리 함침 도구와 전극 촉매층 형성 방법이 전극 성능에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 촉매 슬러리 함침 도구는 브러쉬, 스프레이 건, 스크린 프린터를 이용하였으며, 전극 촉매층 형성 방법은 스크린 프린터를 이용하여 고분자 전해질 막 위에 전극 촉매층을 형성하는 방법, 카본 페이퍼 위에 전극 촉매층을 형성하는 방법과 위의 두 방법을 결합하여 전극 촉매층을 형성하는 방법으로 구분하였다. 스크린 프린터로 제조된 전극은 브러쉬와 스프레이 건으로 제조된 전극들과 비교하여 백금 함침량을 50% 이상 줄일 수 있었으며, 고분자 전해질 막 위에 전극 촉매층을 형성하는 방법과 카본 페이퍼에 전극 촉매층을 형성하는 방법을 결합한 전극이 $1A/\textrm{cm}^2$에서 0.6V로 가장 좋은 I-V 특성을 나타내었다.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.473-477
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• 2017

The polymer membrane of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has a great influence on PEMFC performance and durability. In this study, hydrogen permeability, fluorine emission rate (FER), lifetime, and performance of Nafion membranes with different thicknesses were measured to investigate the effect of thickness of polymer membrane on performance and durability. The relationship between membrane thickness and lifetime was obtained from the relationships between hydrogen permeability and membrane thickness, hydrogen permeability and FER, FER and lifetime. As the membrane became thicker, the hydrogen permeability and FER decreased and the lifetime increased. On the other hand, the performance decreased with increasing membrane resistance. The membrane thickness range satisfying both performance and durability was 25 to $28{\mu}m$.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2001

Various charged homogeneous membranes were fabricated by blending of ionic polymer with a non-ionic polymer with different ratios. In this study. sodium alginate, chitosan and poly(vinyl alcohol) were employed as anionic. cationic and non-ionic polymers, respectively. The permcation and separation behaviors of aquCOll::; salt solutions have been investigated through the charged membranes. As the content of ionic polymer increases in the membrane, the hydrophilicity of the membrane increases and pure water flux as well as solution flux increases correspondingly, indicating that the permeation performance through the membrane is cletemunecl mainly by its hydrophilicity-, Electrostatic interaction between the charged membrane and ionic solute molecules, that is. Donnan exclusion was observed to be attributed to salt rejection to a great deal of extent, and molecular sieve mechanism was effective [or the separation of the salt solution under a similar electrostatic circumstance of solutes.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2008

Many researches for effects of different flow configurations on performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell have extensively been done but the effects of flow direction at the same flow channel shape should be considered for optimal operation of fuel cell as well. In this paper a numerical computational methode for simulating entire reactive flow fields including anode and cathode flow has been developed and the effects of different flow direction at parallel flow was studied. Pressure drop along the flow channel and density distribution of reactant and products and water transport, ion conductivity across the membrane and I-V performance are compared in terms of flow directions(co-flow or counter-flow) using above numerical simulation method. The results show that the performance under counter-flow condition is superior to that under co-flow condition due to higher reactant and water transport resulting to higher ion conductivity of membrane.