• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.533-539
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• 2010

Ni-YSZ supported button cells were prepared by spray-coating YSZ and screen-printing YSZ-LSM powder as an electrolyte and oxygen electrode on Ni-YSZ cermet disks. In order to identify the polarization loss mechanism in high temperature electrolysis current-voltage characteristics coupled with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were investigated as a function of temperature, current load, and the humidity. The effects of the different current collectors of platinum and silver for oxygen electrodes were compared. With Ag current collector two polarization losses were distinguished. The high frequency component was attributed to the Ni-YSZ cermet which was less susceptible to temperature variation but increasing in loss with humidity. The lower frequency component was attributed to the LSM electrode. Platinum current collector led to a much lower polarization loss.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2017

We reviewed the electrical properties of SOFC anode manufactured using spherical Ni and nano YSZ powder. When core-shell is fabricated by using submicron Ni as core and nano-sized YSZ as shell for SOFC anode, the electrical conductivity of the $0.2{\mu}m$ Ni-YSZ core-shell was 3 times higher than that of $1.0{\mu}m$ NiO or $1.0{\mu}m$ Ni-YSZ. Hydrogen selectivity was similar at $800^{\circ}C$, but hydrogen selectivity and methane conversion rate under $750^{\circ}C$ was 10~25% higher, Power density was more than 2 times, ASR was about 1/3, when exposed to $H_2$ atmosphere at $750^{\circ}C$ for a long time, Ni particles did not have any growth or cut off conduction path.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.470-475
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• 2012

$La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_3$(LSM,$0{\leq}x{\leq}0.5$) powders as the air electrode for solid oxide fuel cell were synthesized by a glycine-nitrate combustion process. The powders were then examined by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The as-formed powders were composed of very fine ash particles linked together in chains. X-ray maps of the LSM powders milled for 1.5 h showed that the metallic elements are homogeneously distributed inside each grain and in the different grains. The powder XRD patterns of the LSM with x < 0.3 showed a rhombohedral phase; the phase changes to the cubic phase at higher compositions($x{\geq}0.3$) calcined in air at $1200^{\circ}C$ for 4 h. Also, the SEM micrographs showed that the average grain size decreases as Sr content increases. Composite air electrodes made of 50/50 vol% of the resulting LSM powders and yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ) powders were prepared by colloidal deposition technique. The electrodes were studied by ac impedance spectroscopy in order to improve the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC). Reproducible impedance spectra were confirmed using the improved cell, which consisted of LSM-YSZ/YSZ. The composite electrode of LSM and YSZ was found to yield a lower cathodic resistivity than that of the non-composite one. Also, the addition of YSZ to the $La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_3$ ($0.1{\leq}x{\leq}0.2$) electrode led to a pronounced, large decrease in the cathodic resistivity of the LSM-YSZ composite electrodes.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.361-364
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• 2009

KEPRI has studied planar type SOFC stacks using anode-supported single cells and kW class co-generation systems for residential power generation. A 1kW class SOFC system consisted of a hot box part, a cold BOP part and a water reservoir. A hot box part contains a SOFC stack made up of 48 cells with $10{\times}10cm^2$ area and ferritic stainless steel interconnectors, a fuel reformer, a catalytic combustor and heat exchangers. Thermal management and insulation system were especially designed for self-sustainable operation. A cold BOP part was composed of blowers, pumps, a water trap and system control units. When a 1kW class SOFC system was operated at $750^{\circ}C$ with hydrogen, the stack power was 1.2kW at 30 A and 1.6kW at 50A. Turning off an electric furnace, the SOFC system was operated using hydrogen and city gas without any external heat source. Under self-sustainable operation conditions, the stack power was about 1.3kW with hydrogen and 1.2kW with city gas respectively. The system also recuperated heat of about 1.1kW by making hot water. Recently KEPRI developed stacks using $15{\times}15cm^2$ cells and tested them. KEPRI will develop a 5 kW class CHP system using $15{\times}15cm^2$ stacks by 2010.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.12
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• pp.710-714
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• 2007

LSGM$(La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}Ga_{0.8}Mg_{0.2}O_{3-{\delta}})$ is the very promising electrolyte material for lower-temperature operation of SOFCs, especially when realized in anode-supported cells. But it is notorious for reacting with other cell components and resulting in the highly resistive reaction phases detrimental to cell performance. LDC$(La_{0.4}Ce_{0.6}O_{1.8})$, which is known to keep the interfacial stability between LSGM electrolyte and anode, was adopted in the anode-supported cell, and its effect on the interfacial reactivity and electrochemical performance of the cell was investigated. No severe interfacial reaction and corresponding resistive secondary phase was found in the cell with LDC buffer layer, and this is due to its ability to sustain the La chemical potential in LSGM. The cell exhibited the open circuit voltage of 0.64V, the maximum power density of 223 $mW/cm^2$, and the ohmic resistance of $0.17{\Omega}cm^2$ at $700^{\circ}C$. These values were much improved compared with those from the cell without any buffer layer, which implies that formation of the resistive reaction phases in LSGM and then deterioration of the cell performance is resulted mainly from the La diffusion from LSGM electrolyte to anode.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.386-392
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• 2018

Fuel cells are known as eco - friendly energy facilities that can use heat energy and electric energy at the same time. Fuel cells are classified according to the temperature and material used, and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is relatively high temperature ($700-800^{\circ}C$). SOFC requires a hot box consisting of a high temperature stack, a reformer, a burner, and the heat exchangers in order to use energy efficiently. The hot box needs to maintain heat insulation performance at high temperature to reduce heat loss. However, Fibrous insulation, which is widely used, needs to be improved because it has a disadvantage that the thermal conductivity is rapidly increased due to the increase of temperature. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop a thermal insulation, which is applied to multiple layers insulation (MLI) technic, that can be used under SOFC operating conditions and prevent a drastic drop in thermal conductivity at high temperature. The developed insulation is consist of a thermally conductive material, a spacer, and a reflective plate. The thermal conductivity of the insulation was measured by in the thermal conductivity measuring device at high temperature range. As a result, it was confirmed that the developed layers insulation have an good thermal conductivity (0.116 W/mK) than fibrous insulation (0.24 W/mK) as a radiation shielding effect at a high temperature of 1,173 K.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.10
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• pp.589-595
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• 2007

Physical properties of sputtered YSZ thin film electrolytes on anode thin film by spray pyrolisis has been investigated to realize the porous electrode and dense electrolyte multilayer structure for micro solid oxide fuel cells. It is shown that for better crystallinity and density, YSZ need to be deposited at an elevated temperature. However, if pure NiO anode was used for high temperature deposition, massive defects such as spalling and delamination were induced due to high thermal expansion mismatch. By changing anode to NiOCGO composite, defects were significantly reduced even at high deposition temperature. Further research on realization of full cells by processing hybridization and cell performance characterization will be performed in near future.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.193-198
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• 2007

KIER has been developing the anode supported flat tubular SOFC stack for the intermediate temperature $(700{\sim}800^{\circ}C)$ operation. for this purpose, we have first fabricated anode supported flat tubular cells by the optimization between the current collecting method and the induction brazing process. After that we designed the compact fuel & air manifold by adopting the simulation technique to uniformly supply fuel & air gas and the unique seal & insulation method to make the more compact stack. For making stack, the prepared anode-supported flat tubular cells with effective electrode area of $90cm^2$ of connected in series with 12 modules, in which one module consists of two cells connected in parallel. The performance of stack in 3 % humidified $H_2$ and air at $800^{\circ}C$ shows maximum power of 507 W. Through these experiments, we obtained basic & advanced technology of the anode-supported flat tubular cell and established the proprietary concept of the anode-supported flat tubular SOFC stack in KIER.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.17-18
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• 2007

Solid oxide fuel cells are clean, pollution-free technology for the electrochemical generation of electricity at high efficiency. Specially, the polarization resistance between electrolyte and electrode of SOFC unit cell is of importance, because it is desirable to develop SOFC operating at intermediate temperature below $800^{\circ}C$. The LSCF cathode prepared using modified oxalate method was investigated with different electrolyte. A precursor was prepared with oxalic acid, ethanol and $NH_4OH$ solution. The LSCF precursor was prepared at $80^{\circ}C$, and pH control was 2, 6, 8, 9 and 10. The precursor powder was calcined at $800^{\circ}C$, $1000^{\circ}C$ and $1200^{\circ}C$ for 4hrs. The crystal of LSCF powders show single phase at pH 2, 6, 8 and 9, and the average particle size was about $3{\mu}m$. The LSCF cathode with heat treatment at $1200^{\circ}C$ showed a plot of electric conductivity versus temperature. Unit cell prepared from the LSCF cathode, buffer layer between cathode and electrolyte and the LSGM, YSZ, ScSZ and CeSZ electrolyte. Also interface reaction between LSCF, buffer layer and electrolyte were measured by EPMA and the polarization resistance for unit cell with cycle measure using a Solatron 1260 analyzer.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.10 s.281
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• pp.665-671
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• 2005

LSGM is known to show very serious interfacial reaction with other unit cell components, such as electrode, electrode functional or buffering layers. Especially, the formation of very resistive LaSr$Ga_{3}$$O_{7}$ phase at the interface of an anode and an electrolyte is the most problematic one in LSGM-based SOFCs. In this study, we investigated the interfacial reactions in LSGM-based SOFCs under different unit cell configurations. According to the microstructural analysis on the interfacial layer between an electrolyte and its neighboring component, serious interfacial reaction zone was observed. From the electrical and electrochemical characterization of the cell, we found such an interfacial reaction zone not only increased the internal ohmic resistance but also decreased the OCV(Open Cell Voltage) of the unit cell, and thus consequently deteriorated the unit cell performance.