• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2012

The prohibitively high cost of Pt catalyst might be the biggest barrier for the commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) of which wide application is expected. Worldwide research efforts for the development of alternative to Pt oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst are made recently. One of the important considerations in the catalyst development is durability issue as well as economic aspect. From this point of view, platinum group metals (PGM) except Pt can be a candidate for replacing Pt catalyst because the material properties and the catalytic activity of PGM are expected to be similar to Pt. In contrast to Ir, Rh and Os to which not so much attention has been paid as an ORR catalyst, Pd that is most similar to Pt in terms of material properties and catalytic activity and Ru that is in the form of chalcogenide have been studied intensively. Activity comparison between non-Pt and Pt oxygen reduction catalysts by half cell test using RDE (rotating disk electrode) or PEMFC MEA (membrane electrode assembly) operation indicates that Pd-based catalysts show the most similar activity to Pt. In this paper we analyze the composition of PGM ORR catalyst in literature to promote the development of non-Pt ORR catalyst.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.955-965
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• 2014

Transport phenomena of reactant and product are directly linked to intrinsic inhomogeneous random configurations of catalyst layer (CL) that consist of ionomer, carbon-supported catalyst (Pt/C), and pores. Hence, electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) of Pt/C is dominated by geometrical morphology of mass transport path. Undoubtedly these ECSAs are key factor of total fuel cell efficiency. In this study, non-deterministic micro-scale CLs were randomly generated by Monte Carlo method and implemented with the percolation process. To ensure valid inference about Pt/C catalyst utilization, 600 samples were chosen as the number of necessary samples with 95% confidence level. Statistic results of 600 samples generated under particular condition (20vol% Pt/C, 30vol% ionomer, 50vol% pore, and 20nm particle diameter) reveal only 18.2%~81.0% of Pt/C can construct ECSAs with mean value of 53.8%. This study indicates that the catalyst utilization in fuel cell CLs cannot be identical notwithstanding the same design condition.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.145-150
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• 2013

Optimal preparation guidelines of a cathode catalyst layer by non-precious metal catalysts were evaluated based on electrochemical performance in single-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Experiments for catalyst loading rate revealed that iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc) can be a promising alternative, comparable to platinum (Pt) and cobalt tetramethoxyphenylporphyrin (CoTMPP), including effects of substrate concentration. Results showed that using an optimal FePc loading of $1mg/cm^2$ was equivalent to a Pt loading of $0.35mg/cm^2$ on the basis of maximum power density. Given higher loading rates or substrate concentrations, FePc proved to be a better alternative for Pt than CoTMPP. Under the optimal loading rate, it was further revealed that 40 wt% of FePc to carbon support allowed for the best power generation. These results suggest that proper control of the non-precious metal catalyst layer and substrate concentration are highly interrelated, and reveal how those combinations promote the economic power generation of single-chamber MFCs.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.383-385
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• 2009

비백금계 코발트 전이금속 촉매를 탄소지지체에 담지한 뒤, 암모니아 분위기에서 $500^{\circ}C$에서 3시간 동안 열처리하는 과정을 통해 코발트 질화물 촉매를 제조했다. 제조된 촉매들의 구조와 형태를 각각 XRD, HE-TEM등을 통해 분석하였고, 전위 측정기를 이용한 CV, LSV 결과로부터 촉매의 전기화학적 산소 환원특성을 분석하여, 기존의 연료전지 양극 촉매로 사용되는 고가의 백금촉매를 대체하기 위한 비백금계로서의 가능성을 확인하였다.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2010

We report Co-tetramethoxyphenylporphyrin on carbon particles (Co-TMPP/C) as a non-Pt catalyst for tri-iodide reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The presence of well-dispersed carbon and cobalt source in the catalyst surface is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. In the C 1s, Co 2p, and N 1s peaks measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the C-N, Co-$N_4$, and N-C are assigned to the component at 285.7, 781.8, and 401 eV, respectively. Especially, the Co-TMPP/C shows improved current density, diffusion coefficient, and charge-transfer resistance in the ${I_3}^-/I^-$ redox reaction compared to conventional catalysts. Furthermore, in the DSSCs performance, the Co-TMPP/C shows increased short circuit current density, higher open circuit voltage, and improved cell efficieny in comparison with Pt/C.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.119-123
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• 2014

Pt has been widely used as catalyst for fuel cell and exhausted gas clean systems due to its high catalytic activity. Recently, there have been researches on fabricating composite materials of Pt as a method of reducing the amount of Pt due to its high price. One of the approaches for saving Pt used as catalyst is a core shell structure consisting of Pt layer on the core of the non-noble metal. In this study, the synthesis of Pt shell was conducted on the surface of $TiO_2$ particle, a non-noble material, by applying ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Anatase $TiO_2$ particles with the average size of 20~30 nm were immersed in the ethanol dissolved with Pt precursor of $H_2PtCl_6{\cdot}6H_2O$ and exposed to UV irradiation with the wavelength of 365 nm. It was confirmed that Pt nano-particles were formed on the surface of $TiO_2$ particles by photochemical reduction of Pt ion from the solution. The morphology of the synthesized Pt@$TiO_2$ nano-composite was examined by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy).

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.37-42
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• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.71-76
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• 2011

Fe-tetramethoxyphenylporphyrin on carbon black (Fe-TMPP/C) is examined and compared with carbon (C) and Pt-coated carbon (Pt/C) for oxygen reduction reaction in a two chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC). The Fe-TMPP/C is prepared by heat treatment and characterized using SEM, TEM, and XPS. The electrochemical properties of catalysts are characterized by voltammerty and single cell measurements. It is found that the power generation in the MFC with Fe-TMPP/C as the cathode is higher than that with Pt/C. The maximum power of the Fe-TMPP/C is 0.12 mW compared with 0.10 mW (Pt/C) and 0.02 mW (C). This high output with the Fe-TMPP/C indicates that MFCs are promising in further practical applications with low cost macrocycles catalysts.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.406-409
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• 2012

Recently, enormous research efforts have been focused on the development of non-precious catalysts to replace Pt for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and to reduce the cost of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In recent years, heteroatom (N, B, and P) doped carbon nanostructures have been received enormous importance as a non-precious electrode materials for oxygen reduction. Doping of foreign atom into carbon is able to modify electronic properties of carbon materials. In this study, nitrogen and boron doped carbon nanostructures were synthesized by using a facile and cost-effective thermal annealing route and prepared nanostructures were used as a non-precious electrocatalysts for the ORR in alkaline electrolyte. The nitrogen doped carbon nanocapsules (NCNCs) exhibited higher activity than that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst, excellent stability and resistance to methanol oxidation. The boron-doped carbon nanostructure (BC) prepared at $900^{\circ}C$ showed higher ORR activity than BCs prepared lower temperature (800, $700^{\circ}C$). The heteroatom doped carbon nanomaterials could be promising candidates as a metal-free catalysts for ORR in the PEMFCs.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.401-410
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• 2016

The $Pt-Sn/Al_2O_3$ catalysts mixed with metal oxides for propane dehydrogenation were studied. $Cu-Mn/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$, $Ni-Mn/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$, $Cu/{\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ was prepared and mixed with $Pt-Sn/Al_2O_3$ to measure the activity for propane dehydrogenation. As standard sample, $Pt-Sn/Al_2O_3$ catalyst mixed with glassbead was adopted. In the case of catalytic activity test after non-reductive pretreatment of catalyst and metal oxide, $Pt-Sn/Al_2O_3$ mixed with $Cu-Mn/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ showed higher conversion of 15% and similar selectivity at $576.5^{\circ}C$, compared to conversion of 8% in standard sample. In the case of catalytic activity test after reductive pretreatment of catalyst and metal oxde, $Cu/{\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ showed higer yield than standard sample. But, increase of yield of most of samples after reductive pretreatment was not significant, so it was found that lattice oxygen of $Cu-Mn/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ is effective to propane dehydrogenation.