• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.695-700
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• 2014

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) can generate hydrogen and oxygen from water by electrolysis. But the electrode and polymer electrolyte membrane degrade rapidly during PEM water electrolysis because of high operation voltage over 1.7V. In order to reduce the rate of anode electrode degradation, unsupported $IrO_2$ catalyst was used generally. In this study, Pt/C catalyst for PEMFC was used as a water electrolysis catalyst, and then the degradation of catalyst and membrane were analysed. After water electrolysis reaction in the voltage range from 1.8V to 2.0V, I-V curves, impedance spectra, cyclic voltammograms and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) were measured at PEMFC operation condition. The degradation rate of electrode and membrane increased as the voltage of water electrolysis increased. The hydrogen yield was 88 % during water electrolysis for 1 min at 2.0V, the performance at 0.6V decreased to 49% due to degradation of membrane and electrode assembly.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.125.2-125.2
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• 2010

In this paper, both theoretical and experimental investigations have been performed to examine the effects of key operating parameters on the cell performance of a DMFCs (i.e., methanol feed concentration and operating temperature). For experiment, the membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) were prepared using a conventional MEA fabrication method based on a catalyst coated electrode (CCE) and tested under various cell temperatures and methanol feed concentrations. The polarization curve measurements were conducted using in-house-made $25cm^2$ MEAs. The voltage-current density data were collected under three different cell temperatures ($50^{\circ}C$, $60^{\circ}C$, and $70^{\circ}C$) and four different methanol feed concentrations (1 M, 2 M, 3 M, and 4 M). The experimental data indicate that the measured I-V curves are significantly altered, depending on these conditions. On the other hand, previously developed one-dimensional, two-phase DMFC model is simulated under the same operating conditions used in the experiments. The model predictions compare well with the experimental data over a wide range of these operating conditions, which demonstrates the validity and accuracy of the present DMFC model. Furthermore, both simulation and experimental results exhibit the strong influences of methanol and water crossover rates through the membrane on DMFC performance and I-V curve characteristics.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.179-184
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• 2001

The diffusion layer within MEA(membrane electrode assembly) has been evaluated important factor for improvement of cell performance in DMFC. The diffusion layer in MEA structure leads to the reduction of catalyst loss in active catalysts layer as well as prevention of water-flooding in cathode. Cell performance is directly affected by interior properties of diffusion layer materials. Acetylene Black and $RuO_2$ with large pore size and low porosity compared to Vulcan XC-72R gave better performance caused by vigorous methanol diffusion and water removal. And $RuO_2$ as diffusion layer materials showed different behavior in anode and cathode compartment, that is, diffusion layers in anode and cathode side make methanol diffusion and water removal facilitate, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.456-461
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• 2003

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device in which the energy of a chemical reaction is converted directly into electricity. By combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen from air, electricity is formed, without combustion of any form. Water and heat are the only by-products when hydrogen is used as the fuel source. Fuel cell stack consists of multi-layered unit cells. A unit cell consists of MEA and bipolar plates. The end plate of fuel cell stack should give a uniform distributed pressure to multi unit cell layers so as to reduce the contact resistance and to prevent the leakage of reactant gases and the damage of multi layer components. The current end plate is redundantly large and heavy. It makes the power per unit volume reduced. Topology optimization of end plate is conducted for mass reduction and enhancement of bending rigidity. The evaluation of the current design and the recommendation for the future design is remarked.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.315-323
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• 2021

The air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) stacks, which is widely used in small-sized PEMFC, have a problem in that durability is weaker than that of the water-cooled type. Because the cathode is open to the atmosphere and the structural problem of the air-cooled stack, which is difficult to maintain airtightness, is highly likely to form a hydrogen/air boundary during start-up/shut-down (SU/SD). Through the accelerated durability evaluation of the 20 W air-cooled PEMFC stack, the purpose of this study was to find out the cause of the degradation of the stack and to contribute to the improvement of the durability of the air-cooled PEMFC stack. In this study, it was possible to evaluate durability in a relatively short time by reducing 20-30% of initial performance by repeating SU/SD 1,000 to 1,200 times on an air-cooled PEMFC stack. After disassembling the stack, each cell was divided into two and the performance analysis showed that the electrode degradation was more severe in the anode outlet membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which facilitates air inflow as a whole, than in the inlet MEA. It was shown that the cathode Pt was dissolved/precipitated to deteriorate the polymer ionomer inside the membrane.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.283-291
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• 2023

The physical properties were analyzed for four gas diffusion layers, and gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for the cathode of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell were fabricated through bar coating with three binder to carbon (B/C) ratios. Among them, The GDE from JNT30-A6P showed a significant change in secondary pore volume at a B/C ratio of 0.31, which had the largest pore volume among all GDEs. In the polarization curve, JNT30-A6P GDE showed the best membrane electrode assembly (MEA) performance with a peak power density of 384 mW/cm² at a a B/C ratio of 0.31. From the distribution of relaxation time analysis, the peak 1 corresponding to mass transfer resistance of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was significantly reduced in the JNT30-A6P GDE. This is the result that when the binder content decreased, the volume of the secondary pore increased, and the mass transfer resistance of ORR decreased, which played an essential role in the MEA performance.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2016

Electrospun poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membrane impregnated with Nafion (PES-N) have been developed for high-temperature polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC). The PES-N obtains highly thermal stability up to $430^{\circ}C$, which is higher than that of the commercial Nafion 212. The PES-N membrane shows a good proton conductivity of about $10^{-2}S\;cm^{-1}$ in a temperature range from $75^{\circ}C$ to $120^{\circ}C$. The membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) with the PES-N membrane exhibits a current density of $1.697A\;cm^{-2}$ at $75^{\circ}C$, and $0.813A\;cm^{-2}$ at $110^{\circ}C$ when the applied voltage is 0.6 V, whereas the MEA with the Nafion 212 membrane shows the current density of $0.647Acm^{-2}$ at $110^{\circ}C$. The results suggest that the PES-N can be a good candidate for a polymer electrolyte membrane of the HT-PEMFC.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.449-454
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• 2006

Neutron imaging technique was used to investigate the water distribution and movement in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) at HANARO, KAERI. The Feasibility tests were performed in the first and second exposure rooms at the neutron radiography facility (NRF) at HANARO in order to check the ability of each exposure room, respectively. The feasibility test apparatus was composed of water and pressurized air before making up the actual test apparatus. Due to the low neutron intensity in the second exposure room, the exposure time was too long to investigate the transient phenomena of PEMFC. Although the exposure time was improved to 0.1 sec in the first exposure room, it was difficult to discriminate detail water movement at the channel due to the high noise level. Therefore, the experimental setup must be optimized according to the test conditions. Water discharge characteristics were investigated under different flow field geometries by using feasibility test apparatus and the neutron imaging technique. The water discharge characteristics of a 3-parallel serpentine are superior to those of a 1-parallel serpentine, but water at Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) was not removed, regardless of the flow field type.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.8-18
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• 2012

This paper presents a three-dimensional, transient cold-start polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) model to numerically evaluate the effects of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) design and cell location in a PEFC stack on PEFC cold start behaviors. The cold-start simulations show that the end cell experiences significant heat loss to the sub-freezing ambient and thus finally cold-start failure due to considerable ice filling in the cathode catalyst layer. On the other hand, the middle cells in the stack successfully start from $-30^{\circ}C$ sub-freezing temperature due to rapid cell temperature rise owing to the efficient use of waste heat generated during the cold-start. In addition, the simulation results clearly indicate that the cathode catalyst layer (CL) composition and thickness have an substantial influence on PEFC cold-start behaviors while membrane thickness has limited effect mainly due to inefficient water absorption and transport capability at subzero temperatures.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07d
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• pp.1876-1878
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• 1999

Developed was a 5kW-class polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) system comprised of fuel cell stack, fuel processing, thermal and water management subsystems and ancillary equipments. Several large single cells have been fabricated with different gas flow field patterns and paths, and the gas flow field pattern for the stack has been determined based on the single cell performance of thin film membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The PEMFC stack was consisted of 100 cells with an electrode area of $300cm^2$, having serpentine flow pattern. Fuel processing was developed including an autothermal methanol reformer and two preferential CO oxidation reactors. The fuel processing was combined to PEMFC operation system consisted of air compressor and thermal and water management subsystems. The PEMFC stack showed performance of 5kW under the supply of $H_2$ and air, but its performance was lowered to 3.5kW under the supply of reformed gas.