• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.537-541
• /
• 2010

Pt-Sn with various ratios was supported on carbon black after pretreatment in an acidic solution by a reduction method. The Pt/Sn ratio was controlled by varying the concentration of each component in the solution, and the influence of the composition on the electrocatalytic activities was investigated. The crystallinity of the synthesized materials was investigated by XRD (X-ray Diffraction), and the oxidation states of both the platinum and tin were determined by XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)-EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy) was utilized to examine the morphology and composition of the synthesized electrode, and the particle size of the Pt-Sn was analyzed by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy). The electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction was evaluated in a 0.5 M $H_2SO_4$ solution using a rotating disk electrode system. The activity and stability were found to be strongly dependent on the electrode composition (Pt/Sn ratio). The catalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation were also measured using cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a mixture of 0.5 M $H_2SO_4$ and 0.5 M $CH_3OH$ aqueous solution. The addition of proper amount of Sn was found to significantly improve both catalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.269-278
• /
• 2005

In order to produce only a pH-controlled solution without discharging any unwanted solution, this work has developed a continuous electrolytic system with a pH-adjustment reservoir being placed before an ion exchange membrane-equipped electrolyzer, where as a target solution was fed into the pH-adjustment reservoir, some portion of the solution in the pH-adjustment reservoir was circulated through the cathodic or anodic chamber of the electrolyzer depending on the type of the ion exchange membrane used, and some other portion of the solution in the pH-adjustment reservoir was discharged from the electrolytic system through the other counter chamber with its pH being controlled. The internal circulation of the pH-adjustment reservoir solution through the anodic chamber in the case of using a cation exchange membrane and that through the cathodic chamber in the case of using an anion exchange membrane could make the solution discharged from the other counter chamber effectively acidic and basic, respectively. The phenomena of the pH being controlled in the system could be explained by the electro-migration of the ion species in the solution through the ion exchange membrane under a cell potential difference between anode and cathode and its consequently-occurring non-charge equilibriums and electrolytic water- split reactions in the anodic and cathodic chambers.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.234-240
• /
• 2008

This work demonstrates the preparation of proton conducting crosslinked polymer electrolyte membranes by blending polystrene-b-poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PS-b-PHEA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) at 1 : 1 wt ratio. The PHEA block of the diblock copolymer was crosslinked with PVA using sulfosuccinic acid (SA) via the esterification reaction between -OH of membrane and -COOH of SA, as confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Ion exchange capacity (IEC) continuously increased from 0.14 to 0.91 meq/g with increasing concentrations of SA, due to the increasing portion of charged groups in the membrane. In contrast, the water uptake increased up to 20.0 wt% of SA concentration above which it decreased monotonically. The membrane also exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 0.024 S/cm at 20.0 wt% of SA concentration. The maximum behavior of water uptake and proton conductivity is considered to be due to competitive effect between the increase of ionic sites and the crosslinking reaction according to the SA concentration.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.153-160
• /
• 2009

Vertical electrokintic-flushing remediation equipment was developed for the remediation of a radioactive soil near nuclear facilities. An optimum reagent was selected to decontaminate the radioactive soil near nuclear facilities with the developed vertical electrokintic-flushing remediation equipment, and the optimum remediation conditions were established to obtain a higher remediation efficiency. Namely, acetic acid was selected as an optimum reagent due to its higher remediation efficiency. When the electrokinetic remediation and the electrokinetic-flushing remediation results were compared, the removal efficiency of 4.6% and the soil waste solution volume of 1.5 times were increased in the electrokinetic remediation. When the potential gradient within an electrokinetic soil cell was increased by two times (4.0 V/cm), the removal efficiencies of $Co^{2+}$ and $Cs^+$ were increased by about 4.3%($Co^{2+}$ : 98.9%, $Cs^+$ : 96.7%). Also, when the reagent concentration was increased from 0.01M to 0.05M, the removal efficiency of $Co^{2+}$ was increased but that of $Cs^+$ was decreased. Therefore, the optimum remediation conditions were that the acetic concentration was $0.01M{\sim}0.05M$, the potential gredient was 4 V/cm, the injection of reagent 2.4ml/g, and the remediation period was 20days.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.157-160
• /
• 2008

The generation of high-purity hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels is essential for efficient operation of fuel cell. In general, most feasible strategies to generate hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels consist of a reforming step to generate a mixture of $H_2$, CO, $CO_2$ and $H_2O$ (steam) followed by water gas shift (WGS) and CO clean-up steps. The WGS reaction that shifts CO to $CO_2$ and simultaneously produces another mole of $H_2$ was carried out in a two-stage catalytic conversion process involving a high temperature shift (HTS) and a low temperature shift (LTS). In a typical operation, gas emerges from the reformer is taken through a high temperature shift catalyst to reduce the CO concentration to about 3~5%. The HTS reactor was designed and tested in this study to produce hydrogen-rich gas with CO to a range of 2~4%. The iron based catalysts (G-3C) was used for the HTS to convert the most of CO in the effluent from the partial oxidation (POX) to $H_2$ and $CO_2$ at a relatively high rate. Parametric screening studies were carried out for variations of the following variables: reaction temperature, steam flow rate, components ratio ($H_2/CO$), and reforming gas flow rate.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.16 no.8
• /
• pp.5728-5735
• /
• 2015

This study attempts to verify the applicability of ceramic membrane as a separator by comparing the power generation characteristics in single-chamber MFCs using ceramic membranes to those in the MFCs using nafion membrane. The generated power in MFCs by using acetate as a substrate was more stable than that by using formate, propionate and butyrate, respectively. It was shown that the generated power by using formate substrate in MFCs was unstable and a little higher than that by using acetate, and the power generated by using propionate and butyrate were lower than that by using acetate. In order to find out the Pt catalyst effect, it was compared the power generated in MFCs using Pt-coated carbon cloth as electrode to that power using normal carbon cloth. The power generated in MFCs using Pt-coated carbon cloth as electrode was 1.2 times higher than that using normal carbon cloth. The Pt-coated carbon cloth was about 5 times more expensive than normal carbon cloth. It is suggested that both power generation efficiency and cost together should be considered in selecting electrodes of MFCs. It was found that the ceramic membrane was superior to nafion membrane by comparing to the power generation characteristics obtained. It was shown that average voltage values were $523.67mV{\pm}49.41mV$ by using synthetic wastewater, in MFCs of ceramic membrane as a separator. While average voltage values were $424.09mV{\pm}79.95mV$ by using synthetic wastewater, in MFCs of nafion membrane as a separator. The organic removal efficiency, 41.7% by using ceramic membrane was a little bit higher than 40.8% by using nafion membrane. This research implies ceramic membrane can be a valid alternative to nafion membrane as a separator when considering the power generation and the efficiency of organics removal.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
• /
• v.20 no.7
• /
• pp.46-52
• /
• 2006

The effects of surface treatment on the hydrogen storage properties of a $Mg_2Ni$ alloy particle were investigated by the microvoltammetric technique, in which a carbon-filament microelectrode was manipulated to make electrical contact with the particle in a KOH aqueous solution. It was found that the hydrogen storage properties of $Mg_2Ni$ at room temperature were improved by the surface treatment with a nickel plating solution. The sodium salts(sodium phosphate and sodium dihydrogen citrate) contained in the nickel plating solution made the alloy form an amorphous-like state, resulting in an improved hydrogen charge/discharge capacity at room temperature as high as about 150[mAh/g] from the original value of 17[mAh/g]. Potential-step experiment was carried out to determine the apparent chemical diffusion coefficient of hydrogen atom($D_{app}$) in the alloy. Since the alloy particle we used here was a dense, conductive sphere, the spherical diffusion model was employed for data analysis. $D_{app}$ was found to vary the order between $10^{-8}{\sim}10^{-9}[cm^2/s]$ over the course of hydrogenation and dehydrogenation process.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.294-301
• /
• 2007

To improve oxidative stability of non-fluorinated styrene-based polymer electrolyte membranes, copolymerized membranes were prepared using styrene derivatives such as p-methylstyrene, t-butylstyrene, and ${\alpha}-methylstyrene$ by monomer sorption method. Prepared membrane was characterized by measurement of weight gain ratio, water content, ion-exchange capacity, proton conductivity, and oxidative stability under the accelerated condition. It was found that each step of monomer sorption method including sorption, polymerization and sulfonation could be affected by the properties and the structures of styrenederivatives. Due to difficulty of polymerization, ${\alpha}$-methylstyrene was copolymerized with styrene or p-methylstyrene. Prepared membrane using ${\alpha}-methylstyrene$ and styrene showed higher performance and stability comparing to copolymerized membrane with styrene. However, copolymerized membranes with ${\alpha}-methylstyrene$ did not showed much improved oxidative stability comparing to styrene membrane due to their lower molecular weight. The t-butylstyrene membrane showed a low performance due to substituted bulky-butyl group which prevents sorption and sulfonation reaction. However, copolymerized t-butylstyrene membranes with p-methylstyrene showed good performance and much improved stability than the styrene membranes.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.311-317
• /
• 2007

Proton conducting crosslinked membranes have been prepared by polymer blending, which consist of poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) (PVA-co-PE) and poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) (PSSA-co-PMA) at 50 : 50 wt ratio. Two kinds of PSSA-co-PMA copolymer with 3 : 1 and 1 : 1 the molar ratio of PSSA to PMA wereused as a proton conducting source. The ethylene content of PVA-co-PE was also changed as 0, 27 and 44 mol%. The membranes were thermally crosslinked via the esterification reaction between -OH of PVA and -COOH of PMA, as demonstrated by FT-IR spectroscopy (PVA-co-PE)/(PSSA-co-PMA) membranes with 3 : 1 the molar ratio of PSSA to PMA showed higher ion exchange capacity (IEC), lower water uptake and higher proton conductivity than those with 1 : 1 molar ratio. As the PE concentration increased, the IEC values, water uptake and proton conductivities decreased continuously. These properties were elucidated in terms of competitive effect between the concentration of sulfonic acid, hydrophilicity and the crosslinked structure of membranes.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.57-65
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to compare the water channel morphology and the proton conductivity by changing the number of repeating units of the polymer backbone of PEMs, and to present a criterion for selecting an appropriate polymer model for MD simulation. In the model with the shortest polymer main chain, the movement of the main chain and the sulfonic acid group was observed to be large, but no change in the water channel morphology was found. In addition, due to the nature of the proton transport ability that is most affected by the water channel morphology, the proton conductivity did not show a significant correlation with the length of the polymer backbone. These results provide important information, particularly for the preparation of ionomers for binders. In general, a low molecular weight polymer electrolyte material is used for a binder ionomer. Since the movement of the main chain/sulfonic acid group is improved, it can play a role of enclosing the catalyst layer well. However, there is no change in its proton conducting performance. In conclusion, the preparation of ionomers for binders will require molecular weight and structure design with a focus on physical properties rather than proton transfer performance.