• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.124.2-124.2
• /
• 2010

Generally, a coolant of the nuclear power plant is manufactured by electrolyzing the sea water near the plant for making the sodium hypochlorite(NaOCl), which is used for sterilizing the bacteria and the shellfishes sticking to the drains or the pumps at the outlet of the cooling system due to $8-10^{\circ}C$ warmer temperature than the inlet sea water. During manufacturing the sodium hypochlorite, the hydrogen with the high purity is also produced at the anode side of the electrolyzer. This paper describes a novel power plant system combined with the polymer electrolyte membrane(PEM) fuel cell, the wasted hydrogen from the sea water electrolyzer and the wasted heat of the nuclear power plant. The present status over the exhausted hydrogen at twenty nuclear power plants in Korea was investigated in this study, from which an available power generation is estimated. Furthermore, the economic feasibility of the PEM fuel cell power plant is also evaluated by a current regulations over the power production and exchange using a renewable energy shown in Korea Power Exchange(KRX).

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.569-578
• /
• 2011

The $SiO_2$ membranes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are preapared by electrospinning method. It leads to high porosity and surface area of membrane to accommodate the proton conducting materials. The composite membrane was prepared by impregnating of Nafion ionomer into the pores of electrospun $SiO_2$ membranes. The $SiO_2$:heteropolyacid (HPA) nano-particles as a inorganic proton conductor were prepared by microemulsion process and the particles are added to the Nafion ionomer. The characterization of the membranes was confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), and single cell performance test for PEMFC. The Nafion impregnated electrospun $SiO_2$ membrane showed good thermal stability, satisfactory mechanical properties and high proton conductivity. The addition of the $SiO_2$:HPA nano-particle improved proton conductivity of the composite membrane, which allow further extension for operation temperature in low humidity environments. The composite membrane exhibited a promising properties for the application in high temperature PEMFC.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.403-409
• /
• 2008

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is very interesting power source due to high power density, simple construction and operation at low temperature. But it has problems such as high cost, improvement of performance, effect of temperature and initial start at low temperature. These problems can be approached to be solved by using experiment and mathematical method which are general principles for analysis and optimization of control system for heat and hydrogen detecting management. In this paper, insulation vessel and control system for stable operation of fuel cell at low temperature were developed for experiment. The constant temperature capability and the heating time at sub-zero temperatures with insulation control system were studied by using a heating bar of 60W class. PEMFC stack which was made by 4 cells with $50\;mc^2$ active area in each cell is a thermal source. Times which take to reach constant temperature by the state of insulation vacuum were measured at variable environment temperatures. The test was performed at two conditions: heating mode and cooling mode. Constant temperature capability was better at lower environment temperature and vacuum pressure. The results of this experiment could be used as basis data about stable operation of fuel cell stack in low temperature zone.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.38-46
• /
• 2022

Two different gas diffusion layers having noticeable differences in micro-porous layer's (MPL's) crack were studied as a substrate for the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) with different binder/carbon (B/C) ratios in high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (Ht-PEMFC). As a result, the performance defined as the voltage at 0.2 A/cm² and maximum power density from the single cells using GDEs from H23 C2 and SGL38 BC with different B/C ratios were compared. GDEs from H23 C2 showed a proportional increase of the voltage with the binder content on the other hand GDEs from SGL38 BC displayed a proportional decline of the voltage to the binder content. It was revealed that MPL crack influences the structure of catalyst layer in GDEs as well as affects the RC_athode which is in close connection with the Ht-PEMFC performance.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.149-157
• /
• 2006

Hydrogen as new energy sources is highly efficient and have very low environmental emissions. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is an emerging technology that can meet these demands. Therefore, the preparation of stable polymeric membranes with good proton conductivity and durability are very important for hydrogen production via water electrolysis with PEM at medium temperature above $80^{\circ}C$. Currently Nafion of Dupont and Aciflex of Asahi, etc., solid polymer electrolytes of perfluorosulfonic acid membrane, are the best performing commercially available polymer electrolytes. However, these membrane have several flaws including its high cost, and its limited operational temperature above $80^{\circ}C$. Because of this, significant research efforts have been devoted to the development of newer and cheaper membranes. In order to make up for the weak points and to improve the mechanical characteristics with cross -linking, acid-base complexes were prepared by the combination PSf-co-PPSS-$NH_2$ with PEEK-$SO_3H$. The results showed that the proton conductivity decreased in 17.6% and 40% but tensile strength increased in 78% and 98%, about $20.65\;{\times}\;10^6N/m^2$, in comparison with SBPSf/HPA and SPEEK/HPA complex membrane.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
• /
• 2006.09a
• /
• pp.487-488
• /
• 2006

Novel bisphenol-based wholly aromatic poly(ether sulfone-ketone) copolymer containing pendant sulfonate groups were prepared by direct aromatic nucleophilic substitution polycondensation of 4,4-difluorobenzophenone, 2,2'-disodiumsulfonyl-4,4'-fluorophenylsulfone (40mole% of bisphenol A) and bisphenol A. Polymerization proceeded quantitatively to high molecular weight in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone at $180^{\circ}C$. Organic-inorganic composite membranes were obtained by mixing organic polymers with hydrophilic $SiO_2$ (ca. 20nm) obtained by sol-gel process. The polymer and a series of composite membranes were studied by FT-IR, $^1HNMR$, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal stability. The proton conductivity as a function of temperature decreased as $SiO_2$ content increased, but methanol permeability decreased. The nano composite membranes were found to posse all requisite properties; Ion exchange capacity (1.2meq./g), glass transition temperatures $(164-183\;^{\circ}C)$, and low affinity towards methanol $(4.63-1.08{\times}10^{-7}\;cm^2/S)$.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.196-202
• /
• 2007

The performance characteristics of the polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCS) were investigated under various humidification conditions at steady-state and transient conditions. The PEFC studied in this study was characterized by I-V curves in the potentiostatic mode and EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy). The I-V curves representing steady-state performance were obtained from OCV to 0.25 V, and the dynamic performance responses were obtained at some voltages. The effects of anodic external humidification were measured by varying relative humidity of hydrogen from 20% to 100% while dry air was supplied in the cathode. At the high voltage region, the performance became higher with the increase of the temperature, while at the low voltage region, the performance decreased with the increase of temperature. The EIS showed that ohmic losses were larger at the dry condition of membrane and the effects of mass transport losses increased remarkably when the external and self-humidification were high. The dynamic responses were also monitored by changing the voltage of the PEFC instantly. As the temperature increased, the current reached steady-state earlier. The self-humidification with the generated water delayed the stabilization of the current except for low voltage conditions.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.75-80
• /
• 2012

A sputter-sublimation source was tested for high rate deposition of protective coating of PEMFC(polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell) with high electrical conductivity and anti-corrosion capability by DC biasing of a metal rod immersed in inductively coupled plasma. A SUS(stainless steel) tube, rod were tested for low thermal conductivity materials and copper for high thermal conductivity ones. At 10 mTorr of Ar ICP(inductively coupled plasma) with 2.4 MHz, 300 W, the surface temperature of a SUS rod reached to $1,289^{\circ}C$ with a dc bias of 150 W (-706 V, 0.21 A) in 2 mins. For 10 min of sputter-sublimation, 0.1 gr of SUS rod was sputter-sublimated which is a good evidence of a high rate deposition source. ICP is used for sputter-sublimation of a target material, for substrate pre-treatment, film quality improvement by high energy particle bombardment and reactive deposition.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.276-283
• /
• 2020

Alcohol-based solvents including ethanol (EtOH) and tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) are investigated instead of isopropanol (IPA), which is a common solvent for polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), as an alternative solvent for preparing the catalyst slurry with PTFE binder. As a result, the performance at 0.2 A/㎠ from the single cells from using catalyst slurries based on EtOH and TBA showed very similar value to that from the slurry using IPA, which implies the EtOH and TBA can be used as a solvent for the catalyst slurry. It is also confirmed by the very close values of the total resistance of the membrane electrode assemblies from the slurries using different solvents. In the energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) image, the shape of crack and dispersion of PTFE are changed according to the vapor pressure of the solvent.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.223-229
• /
• 2013

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is a power generation system to convert chemical energy of fuels and oxidants to electricity directly by electrochemical reactions. As a catalyst support for PEMFCs, carbon black has been generally used due to its large surface area and high electrical conductivity. However, under certain circumstances (start up/shut down, fuel starvation, ice formation etc.), carbon supports are subjected to serve corrosion in the presence of water. Therefore, it would be desirable to switch carbon supports to corrosion-resistive support materials such as metal oxide. $TiO_2$ has been attractive as a support with its stability in fuel cell operation atmosphere, low cost, commercial availability, and the ease to control size and structure. However, low electrical conductivity of $TiO_2$ still inhibits its application to catalyst support for PEMFCs. In this paper, to explore feasibility of $TiO_2$ as a catalyst support for PEMFCs, $TiO_2$ nanofibers were synthesized by electrospinning and calcinated at 600, 700, 800 and $900^{\circ}C$. Effects of calcination temperature on crystal structure and electrical conductivity of electrospun $TiO_2$ nanofibers were examined. Electrical conductivity of $TiO_2$ nanofibers increased significantly with increasing calcination temperature from $600^{\circ}C$ to $700^{\circ}C$ and then increased gradually with increasing the calcination temperature from $700^{\circ}C$ to $900^{\circ}C$. It was revealed that the remarkable increase in electrical conductivity could be attributed to phase transition of $TiO_2$ nanofibers from anatase to rutile at the temperature range from $600^{\circ}C$ to $700^{\circ}C$.