• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2023

As a PEMFC (Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) cathode catalyst, Pt-Co/C has recently been widely used because of its improved durability. In a fuel cell, electrodes and electrolytes have a close influence on each other in terms of performance and durability. The effect on the electrochemical durability of the electrolyte membrane when Pt-Co/C was replaced in the Pt/C electrode catalyst was studied. The durability of Pt-Co/C MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly) was higher than that of Pt/C MEA in the electrochemical accelerated degradation process of PEMFC membrane. As a result of analyzing the FER (Fluorine Emission Rate) and hydrogen permeability, it was shown that the degradation rate of the membrane of Pt-Co/C MEA was lower than that of Pt/C MEA. In the OCV (Open Circuit Voltage) holding process, the rate of decrease of the active area of the Pt-Co/C electrode was lower than that of the Pt/C electrode, and the amount of Pt deposited on the membrane was smaller in Pt-Co/C MEA than in Pt/C MEA. Pt inside the polymer membrane deteriorates the membrane by generating radicals, so the degradation rate of the membrane of Pt/C MEA with a high Pt deposition rate was higher than Pt-Co/C MEA. When the Pt-Co/C catalyst was used, the electrode durability was improved, and the amount of Pt deposited on the membrane was also reduced, thereby improving the electrochemical durability of the membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.362-367
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• 2023

Recently, research and development of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) membranes are progressing in the direction of thinning to reduce prices and improve performance. Demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles for commercial vehicles is also increasing, and their durability should be five times greater than those for passenger vehicles. Despite the thinning of the membranes, the durability of the membranes must be increased five times, so the improvement of the durability of the membranes has become more important. Since the acceleration durability evaluation time also needs to be shortened, the protocol using oxygen instead of air in the existing protocol was applied to a 10 ㎛ thin membrane to evaluate durability. The accelerated durability test (Open circuit voltage holding) was terminated at 720 hours. If the air-based department of energy (DOE) protocol was used, a lifespan of 450,000 km of driving hours would be expected, with a durability of about 1,500 hours. During the chemical durability evaluation, the active area of the electrode decreased by 51%, suggesting that catalyst degradation had an effect on membrane durability. Reducing the catalyst degradation rate is expected to increase membrane durability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2024

The durability of the catalyst support has a significant effect on the durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). The accelerated durability evaluation of the catalyst support is performed at a high voltage (1.0 to 1.5 V), and the catalyst and ionomer binder in the catalyst layer are also deteriorated, hindering the evaluation of the durability of the support. The existing protocol (DOE protocol) was improved to find conditions in which the support, which is a durability evaluation target, deteriorates further. A protocol (MDOE) was developed in which the relative humidity was lowered by 35% and the number of voltage changes was reduced. After repeating the 1.0 ↔ 1.5 V voltage change cycle, the catalyst mass activitiy (MA), electrochemical active area (ECSA), electrical double layer capacity (DLC), Pt dissolution and particle growth were analyzed. Reaching 40% reduction in mass activity, the MDOE protocol took only 500 cycles, reducing the number of voltage changes compared to the DOE method and increasing the degradation of the carbon support by 50% compared to the DOE protocol.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.6 s.277
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• pp.425-431
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• 2005

Line Shaped Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) with multilayered structure has been fabricated via direct-writing process. The cell is electrolyte of Ni-YSZ cermet anode, YSZ electrolyte and LSM cathode. They were processed into pastes for the direct writing process. Syringe filled with each electrode and electrolyte paste was loaded into the computer-controlled robe-dispensing machine and the paste was dispensed through cylindrical nozzle of 0.21 mm in diameter under the air pressure of 0.1 tow onto a moving plate with 1.22 mm/s. First of all, the anode paste was dispensed on the PSZ porous substrate, and then the electrolyte paste was dispensed. The anode/electrolyte and the PSZ substrate were co-fired at $1350^{\circ}C$ in air atmosphere for 3 h. The cathode layer was similarly dispensed and sintered at $1200^{\circ}C$ for 1 h. All the electrode/electrolyte lines were visually aligned during the direct writing process. The effective reaction area of fabricated SOFC was $0.03 cm^2$, and the thickness of anode, electrolyte and cathode was 20 $\mu$m, 15 $\mu$m, and 10 $\mu$m, respectively. The single line-shaped SOFC fabricated by direct-writing process exhibited OCV of 0.95 V and maximum power density of $0.35W/cm^2$ at $810^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.50-55
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• 2005

New fast proton-conducting organic-inorganic nanocomposite membranes were successfully fabricated using polymer matrix obtained through proper oxidation of thiol ligands in (3-Mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTS) and hydrolysis/condensation reaction of (3-glycidoxypropyl) trimethoxysilane (GPTS). The obtained nanocomposite membranes showed relatively hirh proton-conductivity over $10^{-2}S/cm$ at $ 25^{circ}C$. The proton conductivities of the fabricated composite membranes increased up to $3.6{\times}10^{-1}$ S/cm cm by increasing temperature and relative humidity to $70^{circ}C$ and 100 $100RH\%$. The high proton conductivity of the composites Is due to the proton conducting path through the GPTS-derived 'pseudo-polyethylene oxide 'network in which sulfonic acid ligands work as a proton donor.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.524-529
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• 2020

To increase the mechanical durability of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells, a reinforced membrane in which a support is placed in the polymer membrane is used. The support mainly uses e-PTFE, which is hydrophobic and does not transfer ions, which may cause performance degradation. In this study, we investigated the effect of e-PTFE support on PEMFC performance and electrochemical durability. In this study, the reinforced membrane with the support was compared with the single membrane (non-reinforced membrane). Due to the hydrophobicity of the support, the water diffusion coefficient of the reinforced membrane was lower than that of the single membrane. The reinforced membrane had a lower water diffusion coefficient, resulting in higher HFR, which is the membrane migration resistance of ions, than that of a single membrane. Due to the low hydrogen permeability of the support, the OCV of the reinforced membrane was higher than that of the single membrane. The support was shown to reduce the hydrogen permeability, thereby reducing the rate of radical generation, thereby improving the electrochemical durability of the reinforced membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.315-319
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• 2018

Fenton reaction is widely used as a out of cell method for evaluating the membrane electrochemical durability of Proton Exchange Fuel Cell (PEMFC). In this study, we investigated the factors affecting the Fenton reaction. In order to estimate the degree of the reaction, it is necessary to analyze the radicals as a product in the Fenton reaction. However, since the radicals are difficult to analyze, the degree of the reaction was measured by analyzing the concentration of hydrogen peroxide. The activation energy was calculated from the rate of hydrogen peroxide change with temperature. The activation energy was 24.9 kJ/mol at 180 min. The Fenton reaction rate was affected by the iron ion concentration. At $80^{\circ}C$, 200 rpm, and $Fe^{2+}$ 80 ppm, the concentration of hydrogen peroxide was decreased more than 20% even for 1 hour, which shows that frequent solution replacement increases the membrane degradation rate.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.508-513
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• 2021

In order to improve the durability of a proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), it is essential to improve the durability of the polymer membrane. In order to improve the durability of the membrane, an e-PTFE support and a radical scavenger are added. In this study, the chemical durability of the reinforced membrane with ePTFE support and the non-reinforced membrane was compared by Fenton reaction. In the Fenton experiment of the polymer membrane without the addition of a radical scavenger, the absorption rate of hydrogen peroxide solution and iron ions through the cross section of the specimen cut into small pieces was higher in the reinforced membrane, so that the fluorine outflow concentration was higher. According to the type and amount of radical scavenger added, the fluorine outflow concentration of the reinforced membrane has a large difference of more than 3 times, indicating that the effect of the radical scavenger was stronger than that of the support.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 2021

The Fenton reaction is often used to evaluate the chemical durability of polymer membranes of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC). However, due to the violent reaction between hydrogen peroxide and iron ions, it is difficult to compare experimental data because of low reproducibility. In this study, we tried to find the reaction conditions to improve the reproducibility of the durability test of the membrane by the Fenton reaction. The hydrogen peroxide concentration was fixed at 30%, the iron ion concentration, temperature, stirring speed, and sample size were varied, and the fluorine ion concentration of the Nafion polymer membrane deteriorated by radicals was measured. When the iron ion concentration was increased or the membrane sample size was increased, and the reaction temperature was increased to 80 ℃, the experimental deviation increased, so an iron ion concentration of 10 ppm, a temperature of 70 ℃, and a sample size of 0.5 ㎠ were suitable.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.321-326
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• 2022

As the thickness of the polymer membrane of PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) is getting thinner for PEMFC performance and price reduction, research on improving durability has become more important. In the durability evaluation of membranes, the mechanical durability evaluation time is more than twice that of the chemical durability evaluation time, so it is necessary to select the durability evaluation conditions well. In this study, we tried to check how much the mechanical durability evaluation time changes when there is a difference in the inflow gas type and flow rate in the mechanical durability evaluation protocol (Wet/Dry). When nitrogen was used at a flow rate of 2,000 mL/min, the evaluation time increased by 1.25 times compared to when air was used. An increase in the degradation rate of the electrode Pt was the main factor when air was used. When the flow rate was reduced to 800 mL/min, the air and nitrogen evaluation times increased by 1.5 times and 1.2 times, respectively.