• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.121-128
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• 2019

Supercapacitors are attracting much attention in sensor, military and space applications due to their excellent thermal stability and non-explosion. The ionic liquid is more thermally stable than other electrolytes and can be used as a high temperature electrolyte, but it is not easy to realize a high temperature energy device because the separator shrinks at high temperature. Here, we report a study on electrochemical supercapacitors using a composite electrolyte film that does not require a separator. The composite electrolyte is composed of thermoplastic polyurethane, ionic liquid and fumed silica nanoparticles, and it acts as a separator as well as an electrolyte. The silica nanoparticles at the optimum mass concentration of 4wt% increase the ionic conductivity of the composite electrolyte and shows a low interfacial resistance. The 5 wt% polyurethane in the composite electrolyte exhibits excellent electrochemical properties. At $175^{\circ}C$, the capacitance of the supercapacitor using our free standing composite electrolyte is 220 F/g, which is 25 times higher than that at room temperature. This study has many potential applications in the electrolyte of next generation energy storage devices.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.442-449
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• 2018

Research on High temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) has actively been conducted all over the world. Since the HT-PEMFC can be operated at a high temperature of $120-180^{\circ}C$ using phosphoric acid-doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) electrolyte membrane, it has considerable advantages over conventional PEMFC in terms of operating conditions and system efficiency. However, If the thermal distribution is not uniform in the stack unit, degradation due to local reaction and deterioration of lifetime are difficult to prevent. The thin plate separator reduces the volume of the fuel cell stack and improves heat transfer, consequently, enhancing the cooling effect. In this paper, a large area flow field of thin plate separator for HT-PEMFC is designed and sub-stack is fabricated. We have studied stack performance evaluation under various operating conditions and it has been verified that the proposed design can achieve acceptable stack performance at a wide operating range.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.464-471
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• 2008

The electrolyte separator for thermal battery should be easily handled and loaded a large amount of the molten salt. Ceramic fibers, especially fibrous commercial glass filters were used as an electrolyte separator and the lithium based molten salts were infiltrated into the ceramic filters. The pore structures of the ceramic filter and the melting properties of the lithium salts affected to the electrolyte loading and leakage. During the infiltration, ions of $Li^+$ and $F^-$ in the molten salts were reacted with the glass fiber and caused to be weaken the fiber strength.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.648-652
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• 2009

Ceramic fiber separator is the promising material for thermal battery system because it reduces the production cost and offers the potential to a new application compared to a pellet type electrolyte. The electrolyte separator for thermal battery should be easily handled and loaded a large amount of the molten lithium salt. Ceramic fibers were used as an electrolyte separator and the lithium based molten salts were infiltrated into the ceramic filters. Leakage of molten salt (several lithium salts) leads to short-circuit during the thermal battery operation. In this study, a uniform and fine SiOC mat with fibers ranging from 1 to 3 ${\mu}m$ was obtained by electrospinning of polycarbosilane and pyrolysis. The optimum spinning conditions for obtaining fine diameters of SiOC fiber were controlled by the solution composition and concentration, applied voltage and spinning rate, release rate by porosity. The pore structures of the ceramic filter and the melting properties of the lithium salts affected to the electrolyte loading and leakage. The importance of the fiber size and porosity and their control was discussed and the mechanical properties were also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.467-472
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• 2015

Thermal batteries are primary power sources for military applications requiring high reliability, robustness and long storage life. Conventional electrodes for thermal batteries are prepared by compacting powder mixtures into pellets. Separator is composed of halide mixture, such as LiCl-KCl eutectic salt, blended with MgO to immobilize the molten salt. In order to increase the power density and energy density, the resistance of electrolyte should be reduced because the resistance of electrolyte is predominant in thermal batteries. In this study, wetting behaviors and impregnation weight of molten salts as well as the micro structures of ceramic felt were investigated to be applicable to thin electrolyte. Discharge performances of single cell with the ceramic separator impregnated by molten salt were evaluated also. Zirconia felt with high porosity and large pore outperformed alumina felt in wetting characteristics and molten salt impregnation as well as discharge performances. Based on the results of this study, ceramic felt separator impregnated with molten salt have revealed as an alternative of conventional thick MgO based separator with no conspicuous sign of thermal runaway by short circuit.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.115-120
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• 2015

The mechanical and electrochemical properties of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-coated Rayon separator were characterized using potassium polyacrylate (PAAK)-KOH electrolyte. The supercapacitive properties of activated carbon supercapacitor adopting the Rayon/PEO separator and PAAK-KOH electrolyte was also tested. As the PEO content increased, the mechanical strength increased. Room-temperature ionic conductivity of over $10^{-2}S\;cm^{-1}$ was obtained at the PEO content lower than 5 wt.%, applicable to a supercapacitor. As a result, the specific capacitance at $1000mV\;s^{-1}$ of the activated carbon supercapacitor adopting the Rayon/PEO separator and PAAK-KOH electrolyte was highly stable after 1000th cycle. This was due to high rate-capability provided by the fact that PEO coating could fix the entanglements among fiber filaments of Rayon.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.550-555
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• 2013

A hydrogel electrolyte consisting of potassium poly(acrylate) (PAAK) (3 wt%) in 6 M KOH aqueous solution is coated on poly(acrylonitrile) nonwoven separator to examine high-rate characteristics of activated carbon supercapacitor adopting the separator. The hydrogel is homogeneously coated on the surface pores of the nonwoven separator. The electrolyte uptake of the PAAK hydrogel maintains for 24 days higher than 230% and the coated separator shows slightly lower ionic conductivity ($2.9{\times}10^{-2}Scm^{-1}$) than that ($3.6{\times}10^{-2}Scm^{-1}$) of using 6 M KOH only. The activated carbon supercapacitor adopting the coated separator shows a specific capacitance higher than $27Fg^{-1}$ at $1000mVs^{-1}$ and a retention ratio higher than 97% after the 1000th cycle. This is due to strong interfacial contact of coated hydrogel electrolyte between the activated carbon electrode and the nonwoven separator.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.231-238
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• 2006

The performance of free-breathing polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was studied experimentally and the effect of cathode separator structure on the cell performance was investigated. Cathode separators were used for the cell with $18cm^2$ active area. In channel type, the contact resistance is low, and the nature convection. which is strongly affected by the cross-sectional shape of cathode separator channel, is dominant in a cell performance. The maximum power density with $18cm^2$ active area is $105mW/cm^2$ using the 10mm depth and 2mm width channel. A computational analysis was optimum structure of free-breathing channel type PEMFC for robotic application.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.553-557
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• 2014

Sulfonated polypropylene (S-PP) is prepared by sulfuric acid-acetone aldol condensation reaction of polypropylene (PP) separator to yield hydrophilic separator surface with a moderate amount of $-SO_3H$ groups. Activated carbon supercapacitor is also fabricated adopting the S-PP separator coated with potassium polyacrylate (PAAK) hydrogel polymer electrolyte. As a result, the hydrophilic surface of S-PP separator involves better physical and electrochemical properties such as decrease in contact angle, improvements of wettability, electrolyte uptake, and ionic conductivity to give higher specific capacitance and long cycle-life.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.581-584
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• 2001

For the first time, a totally solid state electric double layer capacitor has been fabricated using an alkaline polymer electrolyte and an activated carbon powder as electrode material. The polymer electrolyte serves both as separator as well as electrode binder. The capacitor has a three-layer structure; electrode-electrolyte-electrode. A cyclic voltammetry and constant current discharge have been used for the determination of the electro chemical performance of capacitors.