• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2013

Solid polymer electrolyte films are prepared by ultraviolet radiation in the mixtures of an ionic liquid salt (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, $EMIBF_4$) and solvent (acetonitrile (ACN) or propylene carbonate(PC)), and an oligomer (poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate, PEGDA, 45-60 wt.%). Electrochemical properties of activated carbon supercapacitors adopting the solid polymer electrolyte films as a separator are also examined by cyclic voltammetry and impedance measurement techniques. As a result, the supercapacitor adopting the PEGDA as much as 45 wt.% exhibits a superior capacitance of $46Fg^{-1}$ at $20mVs^{-1}$. It seems that this is due to fast kinetics of ion conduction by sufficient film flexibility, which can be allowed by comparatively weak ultraviolet curing of small anount of the PEGDA.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1693-1697
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• 2013

This study develops a novel method to remove the free cations created during the synthesis of ionic liquid. The cations are removed from the ionic liquid by size-selective adsorption onto chemically surface-modified Zeolite. The porous crystal nano-structure of Zeolite has several electron-rich Al sites to attract cations. While large cations of an ionic liquid cannot access the Zeolite nano-structure, small cations like $Na^+$ have ready access and are adsorbed. This study confirms that: $Na^+$ can be removed from ionic liquid effectively using Zeolite; and, in contrast to the conventional and extensively applied ion exchange resin method or solvent extraction methods, this can be done without changing the nature of the ionic liquid.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2011

The composite membranes comprising of sulfonated polymers as matrix and ionic liquids as ion-conducting medium in replacement of water are studied to investigate the effect of annealing of the sulfonated polymers. The polymeric membranes are prepared on recast Nafion containing the ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ($EMIBF_4$). The composite membranes are characterized by thermogravitational analyses, ion conductivity and small-angle X-ray scattering. The composite membranes annealed at $190^{\circ}C$ for 2 h after the fixed drying step showed better ionic conductivity, but no significant increase in thermal stability. The mean Bragg distance between the ionic clusters, which is reflected in the position of the ionomer peak (small-angle scattering maximum), is larger in the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$ than the non-annealed ones. It might have been explained to be due to the different level of ion-clustering ability of the hydrophilic parts (i.e., sulfonic acid groups) in the non- and annealed polymer matrix. In addition, the ionic conductivity of the membranes shows higher for the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$. It can be concluded that the annealing of the composite membranes containing ionic liquids due to an increase in ion-clustering ability is able to bring about the enhancement of ionic conductivity suitable for potential use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) at medium temperatures ($150-200^{\circ}C$) in the absence of external humidification.