• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.131-137
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• 2007

The typical MCFC (molten carbonate fuel cell) anode is made of Ni-10%Cr alloy. The work of this paper is focused concerning long life of anode because Ni-10% Cr anode is suffering from sintering and creep behavior during cell operation. Therefore, Ni-coated Alumina powder($20{\mu}m$) was developed by electroless nickel plating. Optimum condition of electroless nickel coation on $20{\mu}m$ alumina is as follows: pH 11.7, temperature $65{\sim}80^{\circ}C$, powder amount $100cm^2/l$. The deposition rate for Ni-electroless plating was as a function of temperature and activation energy was evaluated by Arrhenius Equation thereby activation energy calculated slope of experimental data as 117.6 kJ/mol, frequency factor(A) was $6.28{\times}10^{18}hr^{-1}$, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.678-685
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• 2011

An Ejector enhances system efficiency, are easily operated, have a mechanically simple structure, and do not require a power supply. Because of these advantages, the ejector has been applied to a variety of industrial fields such as refrigerators, power plants and oil plants. In this work, an ejector was used to safely recycle anode tail gas in a 75-kW Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) system at KEPCO Research Institute. In this system, the ejector is placed at mixing point between the anode tail gas and the cathode tail gas or the fresh air. Commercial ejectors are not designed for the actual operating conditions for our fuel cell system. A new ejector was therefore designed for use beyond conventional operating limits. In the first place, a few sample ejectors were manufacured and the entrainment ratio was measured at a dummy stack. Through this experiment, the optimum ejector was chosen. The 75-kW MCFC system equipped with this optimum ejector was operated successfully.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.283-292
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• 2023

Currently, spray coating has attracted interest in the mass production of anode catalyst layers for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The solvent in the spray ink is a critical factor for the catalyst dispersion in ink, the microstructure of the catalyst layer, and the PEMWE performance. Herein, various pure organic solvents were examined as a substitute for conventional isopropanol-deionized water (IPA-DIW) mixture for ink solvent. Among the polar solvents that exhibited better IrO₂ dispersion over nonpolar solvents, 2-butanol (2-BuOH) was selected as a suitable candidate. The PEMWE single cells were fabricated using 2-BuOH at various ionomer contents, spray nozzle types, and drying temperatures, and their performance was compared to the cells fabricated using a conventional IPA-DIW mixture. The PEMWE single cells with 2-BuOH solvent showed good performances comparable to the conventional IPA-DIW mixture case and highly durable performances under accelerated degradation tests.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 2003

Single cell performance has been investigated and characterized with variables in the fabrication of DMFC anode. The performance was checked as a function of ionomer content which affects ion conductivity in the catalyst layer, and catalyst slurry solvent which determines structure of agglomerates consisting of an ionomer and a catalyst. Anode with total ionomer to catalyst ratio of 0.6 showed the best performance and the lowest polarization resistance. Also, electrochemically effective surface area increased with ionomer content. As solubility of the ionomer decreases with decreasing solvent polarity, the size of agglomerates consisting of a catalyst and an ionomer became larger in the less polar solvent. The anode using DPK $(\varepsilon=12.60)$ as a solvent, which is less polar than generally-used water or alcohol species, showed the maximum performance and the lowest polarization resistance.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2008

DMFC(Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) is one of promising candidates for power sources of small mobile IT devices like notebook, cell phone, and so on. Efficient operation of fuel cell system is very important for long-sustained power supply because of limited fuel tank size. It is necessary to investigate operation characteristics of fuel cell stack for optimal control of DMFC system. The generated voltage was modeled according to various operating condition; methanol concentration, stack temperature, and load current. It is inevitable for methanol solution at anode to cross over to cathode through MEA(membrane electrode assembly), which reduces the system efficiency and increases fuel consumption. In this study, optimal operation conditions are proposed by analyzing stack performance model, cross-over phenomenon, and system efficiency.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1114-1118
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• 2015

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have gathered attention as a novel bioenergy technology to simultaneously treat wastewater with less sludge production than the conventional activated sludge system. In two different operations of the MFC and aerobic process, microbial growth was determined by the protein assay method and their biomass yields using real wastewater were compared. The biomass yield on the anode electrode of the MFC was 0.02 g-COD-cell/gCOD-substrate and the anolyte planktonic biomass was 0.14 g-COD-cell/g-COD-substrate. An MFC without anode electrode resulted in the biomass yield of 0.07 ± 0.03 g-COD-cell/g-CODsubstrate, suggesting that oxygen diffusion from the cathode possibly supported the microbial growth. In a comparative test, the biomass yield under aerobic environment was 0.46 ± 0.07 g-COD-cell/g-COD-substrate, which was about 3 times higher than the total biomass value in the MFC operation.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.118-123
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• 2006

Degradation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) that is facilitated by on/off cycles is one of the most important issues for commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. When a PEMFC stack is shut down, residual hydrogen and induce high voltage equivalent to open circuit voltage to the cathode side that might cause sintering of Pt catalyst and facilitate formation of hydrogen peroxide at the anode side that might decompose $Nafionc\'{A}$ membrane. In this study, degradation of PEMFC exposed to repetitive on/off cycles was investigated by measuring i-V characteristics, ac impedance, cyclic voltammograms, gas leak, cross-sectional SEM images, and TEM images. To prevent degradation of PEMFC caused by the residual gases, hydrogen was removed from anode gas channel by gas-purging and by using a dummy resistance, that were found to be a very effective method.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.353-356
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• 2009

A pivotal mechanical balance of plant for 75kW class molten carbonate fuel cells comprise of a catalytic burner and an ejector which has been designed and tested in KEPRI(Korea Electric Power Research Institute). The catalytic burner, which oxidizes residual fuel in the anode tail gas, was operated at several conditions. Some problems arose due to local overheating or auto-ignition, which could limit the catalyst life. The catalytic burner was designed by considering both gas mixing and gas velocity. Test results showed that the temperature distribution is very uniform. In addition, an ejector is a fluid machinery to be utilized for mixing fluids, maintaining vacuum, and transporting them. The ejector is placed at mixing point between the anode off gas and the cathode off gas or the fresh air Several ejectors were designed and tested to form a suction on the fuel tail gas and balance the differential pressures between anode and cathode over a range of operating conditions. The tests showed that the design of the nozzle and throat played an important role in balancing the anode tail and cathode inlet gas pressures. The 75kW MCFC system built in our ejector and catalytic burner was successfully operated from Novembe, 2008 to April, 2009. It recorded the voltage of 104V at the current of 754A and reached the maximum generating power of 78.5kW DC. The results for both stand-alone and integration into another balance of plant are discussed.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1991.07a
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• pp.3-12
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• 1991

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical reaction energy directly into the electrical energy. In a typical fuel cell, gaseous fuel is fed continuously to the anode(negative electrode) compartment and the oxidant(i.e, oxygen from air) is fed continuously to the cathode(positive electrode) compartment; the electrochemical reactions take place at the electrodes to produce an electric current. Many of the operational characteristics of fuel cell systems are superior to those of conventional power generation system because of good efficiency, environmental protection, safty, modularity etc. From those reasons, the fuel cells are considered to be the solution to the future problem of energy conversion. The objective of this paper is to introduce the technical status of fuel cell technologies and our national project for the development of the phosporic acid fuel cell.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.474-476
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• 2006

본 연구에서는 다양한 두께, loading 및 기공 구조를 갖는 MPL을 형성하여 DMFC용 확산층을 제조하였다. 본 실험에서 제조한 확산층의 경우, 두께가 증가하면서 기공이 micro-pore에서 meso-pore 영역으로 옮겨감을 확인할 수 있었으며, 또한 기공구조에 따라 공기 투과도 특성이 변화하는 것을 확인할 수 있었다 각각의 확산층은 서로 다른 운전 조건에서 우수한 성능(흑은 안정적인 성능)을 갖는 것으로 확인되었으며, 이는 용도에 따른 확산층의 적합한 구조 설계가 요구됨을 의미한다.