• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.382-386
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• 2011

Microbial fuel cells (MFC), devices that use bacteria as a catalyst to generate electricity, can utilize a variety of organic wastes as electron donors. The current generated may differ depending on the organic matter concentrations used, when other conditions, such as oxidant supply, proton transfer, internal resistance and so on, are not limiting factors. In these studies, a single-cathode type MFC (SCMFC) and dual-cathode type MFC (DCMFC) were used to ascertain the current's improvement through an increase in the contact area between the anode and the cathode compartments, because the cathode reaction is one of the most serious limiting factors in an MFC. Also an MFC was conducted to explore whether an improvement in electricity generation resulted from oxidizing the carbon sources and nitrates. About 250 mg $L^{-1}$ sodium acetate was fed to an anode compartment with a flow rate of 0.326 mL $min^{-1}$ by continuous mode. The current generated from the DCMFC was higher than the value produced from MFC with a single cathode. COD removal of dual-cathode MFC was also higher than that of single-cathode MFC. The nitrate didn't affect current generation at 2 mM, but when 4 and 8 mM nitrate was supplied, the current in the single-cathode and dual-cathode MFC was decreased by 98% from $5.97{\pm}0.13$ to $0.23{\pm}0.03$ mA and $8.40{\pm}0.23$ to $0.20{\pm}0.01$ mA, respectively. These results demonstrate that increasing of contact area of the anode and cathode can raise current generation by an improvement in the cathode reaction.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.697-707
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• 2007

Cytochrome $cbb_3$ oxidase is a member of the heme-copper oxidase superfamily that catalyses the reduction of molecular oxygen to the water and conserves the liberated energy in the form of a proton gradient. Comparison of the amino acid sequences of subunit I from different classes of heme-copper oxidases showed that transmembrane helix VIII and the loop between transmembrane helices IX and X contain five highly conserved polar residues; Ser333, Ser340, Thr350, Asn390 and Thr394. To determine the relationship between these conserved amino acids and the activity and assembly of the $cbb_3$ oxidase in Rhodobacter capsulatus, each of these five conserved amino acids was substituted for alanine by site-directed mutagenesis. The effects of these mutations on catalytic activity were determined using a NADI plate assay and by measurements of the rate of oxygen consumption. The consequence of these mutations for the structural integrity of the $cbb_3$ oxidase was determined by SDS-PAGE analysis of chromatophore membranes followed by TMBZ staining. The results indicate that the Asn390Ala mutation led to a complete loss of enzyme activity and that the Ser333Ala mutation decreased the activity significantly. The remaining mutants cause a partial loss of catalytic activity. All of the mutant enzymes, except Asn390Ala, were apparently correctly assembled and stable in the membrane of the R. capsulatus.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.77.1-77.1
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• 2010

Durability problems of gas diffusion layer(GDL) is one of the important issues for accomplishing commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC). GDL is strongly related to the performance of PEMFC because one of the main function of GDL is to work as a path of fuel, air and water. When the GDL is degraded, it causes water balance problems such as the flooding phenomenon. Thus, investigating the durability characteristics of the GDL is important and understanding the GDL degradation process is needed. In this study, the GDLs are degraded by carbon corrosion stress method which is the electrochemical degradation mode. To determine the effects of carbon corrosion of the GDL, 1.45 V of potential is imposed for 96 hours. In this manner, in the previous research, the structure between the substrate and the MPL is weaken. Further investigations are needed to clarify this phenomenon. Therefore, in this study, the carbon corrosion stress method is carried out with GDLs which have various MPL penetration levels and the effects of the MPL penetration level on the characteristics change of the GDL are analyzed. The changes in characteristics are measured with various properties of GDL such as weight, thickness and static contact angle. The degraded GDL shows loss of their properties.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.239-242
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• 2005

고분자 전해질형 연료전지에서는 수소이온의 이온전도성 저하를 방지하기 위하여 외부에서 가습하여 주는 방식이 일반적이지만, 가습에 소요되는 부품을 일부라도 제거할 경우 연료전지의 효율은 높이고 제작단가도 경감할 수 있다. 이를 위하여 저가습 및 무가습 실험을 수행하였으며, 정확한 data의 수집과 시험장비의 자동제어를 위하여 National Instrument사의 compact field point (cFP)를 사용하였다. 무가습 실험 중 stack의 안정성 측면을 고려하기 위하여 수소연료가 부족하거나 갑작스런 voltage drop이 발생할 경우 LabVIEW logic에 의한 stack 보호용 자동차단 시스템을 구현하였다. Humidifier와 heater의 온도를 조절하여 공급유체의 상대습도 및 온도를 각각 조절하였으며, 이에 필요한 이론적 온도는 Antoine equation을 사용하여 산정하였다. Anode와 cathode 양측 $100\%$ 가습 경우를 기준으로 가습량을 조절하면서 실험을 수행하였으며 성능 차이를 그래프로 도시하여 양측의 변화에 대한 영향을 볼 수 있도록 하였다. Stack의 온도가 $70^{\circ}C$이고 양측 무가습일 경우에 성능 측정이 불가능하여 stack의 온도를 저온에서부터 변화시키면서 무가습 성능을 실시간으로 측정하여 보았다 일반적으로 hydronium ion은 anode측에서 cathode측으로 계속 이동하여야 전기를 생성할 수 있으므로 cathode측 무가습이 anode측 무가습보다 성능이 더 잘 나오는 것으로 예측하였으나 이와 반대되는 경향의 실험 결과를 얻었다. Anode측 무가습과 cathode측 무가습의 standard deviation은 anode 무가습일 경우가 크게 발생하였고 양측 무가습일 경우는 stack의 온도가 높을수록 크게 관찰되었다. 이와 같은 현상은 공기중의 상대습도와 back diffusion등에 영향을 받을 수 있으므로 각종 변수들의 영향을 분리하여 관찰할 수 있는 실험을 수행중에 있다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.326-329
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• 2005

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) should be sufficiently hydrated with proper water management to maintain a good ionic conductivity and performance of a PEM fuel cell. However. cathode flooding resulting from excess water can impede the transport of reactants and hence deteriorate the fuel cell performance. For the PEM fuel cell to be commercially viable as vehicle or portable applications, the flooding on the cathode side should be minimized during the fuel cell operation. In this study, visualization technique was applied to understand the cathode flooding phenomena on the cathode side of a PEM fuel cell. To this end. a transparent PEM unit fuel cell wi th an act ive area of $25cm^2$ was designed and manufactured to allow for the visualization of cathode channel with performance characteristics. Two-phase flow resulting from the electro-chemical reaction of fuel cell was investigated experimentally. The images photographed by CCD camera with cell operating temperatures $(30\~50^{\circ}C)$ were presented. Results indicated that the flooding on the cathode side first occurs near the exit of cathode channel. As the operating temperature of fuel cell increases. it was found that liquid water droplets tend to evaporate easily and it can have an influence on lowering the flooding level. It is expected that this study can effectively contribute to the detailed researches on modeling water transport of an operating PEM fuel cell including two-phase flow phenomena.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.33-36
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• 2008

The transient behavior of a passive air breathing direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) operated on vapor-feeding mode is studied in this paper. It generally takes 30 minutes after starting for the cell response to come to its steady-state and the response is sometimes unstable. A mathematical dynamic one-dimensional model for simulating transient response of the DMFC is presented. In this model a DMFC is decomposed into its subsystems using lumped model and divided into five layers, namely the anodic diffusion layer, the anodic catalyst layer, the proton exchange membrane (PEM), the cathodic catalyst layer and the cathodic diffusion layer. All layers are considered to have finite thickness, and within every one of them a set of differential-algebraic governing equations are given to represent multi-components mass balance, such as methanol, water, oxygen and carbon dioxide, charge balance, the electrochemical reaction and mass transport phenomena. A one-dimensional, isothermal and mass transport model is developed that captures the coupling between water generation and transport, oxygen consumption and natural convection. The single cell is supplied by pure methanol vapor from a methanol reservoir at the anode, and the oxygen is supplied via natural air-breathing at the cathode. The water is not supplied from external source because the cell uses the water created at the cathode using water back diffusion through nafion membrane. As a result of simulation strong effects of water transport were found out. The model analysis provides several conclusions. The performance drop after peak point is caused by insufficiency of water at the anode. The excess water at the cathode makes performance recovery impossible. The undesired crossover of the reactant methanol through the PEM causes overpotential at the cathode and limits the feeding methanol concentration.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.141-145
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• 2007

Due to their excellent catalytic activity with respect to methanol oxidation on platinum at low temperature, platinum nanosized catalysts have been a topic of great interest for use in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Since pure platinum is readily poisoned by CO, a by-product of methanol electrooxidation, and is extremely expensive, a number of efforts to design and characterize Pt-based alloy nanosized catalysts or Pt nanophase-support composites have been attempted in order to reduce or relieve the CO poisoning effect. In this review paper, we summarize these efforts based upon our recent research results. The Pt-based nanocatalysts were designed by chemical synthesis and thin-film technology, and were characterized by a variety of analyses. According to bifunctional mechanism, it was concluded that good alloy formation with $2^{nd}$ metal (e.g., Ru) as well as the metallic state and optimum portion of Ru element in the anode catalyst contribute to an enhanced catalytic activity for methanol electrooxidation. In addition, we found that the modified electronic properties of platinum in Pt alloy electrodes as well as the surface and bulk structure of Pt alloys with a proper composition could be attributed to a higher catalytic activity for methanol electooxdation. Proton conducting contribution of nanosized electrocatalysts should also be considered to be excellent in methanol electrooxidation (Spillover effect). Finally, we confirmed the ensemble effect, which combined all above effects, in Pt-based nanocatalsyts especially, such as PtRuRhNi and $PtRuWO_{3}$, contribute to an enhanced catalytic activity.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.101-104
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• 2006

Water management is considered to be one of the main issues to be addressed for the performance improvement of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. For good water management, the detailed information on the water distribution inside an operating PEM fuel cell should be available to main an adequate level of hydration in the PEM While avoiding performance decline due to liquid rater flooding. For the PEM fuel cell to be commercially viable as vehicle applications, the flooding on the cathode side should be minimized during the fuel ceil operation. In this study to investigate cathode flooding and its relation with temperature distribution in flow channels, visualization study was performed on the cathode side of a PEM fuel cell. For the direct visualization of temperature field and water transport in cathode flow channels, a transparent cell was designed and manufactured using quartz window. Water transport and its two-phase flow characteristics in flow channels were investigated experimentally. Also, the visualization of temperature distribution In cathode flow channels was made by using IR camera. Results indicated that the temperature rise near the exit of cathode flow channel was found. It is found that this area corresponds to the flooding area from both temperature and flooding visualization results It is expected that this study can effectively contribute to get the detailed data on water transport linked with heat management during the operation of a PEM fuel cell

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.263-263
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• 2013

This work examines the dynamic properties of ice surfaces in vacuum for the temperature range of 140~180 K, which extends over the onset temperatures for ice sublimation and the phase transition from amorphous to crystallization ice. In particular, the study focuses on the transport processes of excess protons and chloride ions in ice and their segregative behavior to the ice surface. These phenomena were studied by conducting experiments with a relatively thick (~100 BL) ice film constructed with a bottom $H_2O$ layer and an upper $D_2O$ layer, with excess hydronium and chloride ions trapped at the $H_2O$/$D_2O$ interface as they were generated by the ionization of hydrogen chloride. The migration of protons, chloride ions, and water molecules to the ice film surface and their H/D exchange reactions were measured as a function of temperature using the methods of low energy sputtering (LES) and Cs+ reactive ion scattering (RIS). Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments monitored the desorption of water and hydrogen chloride from the surface. Our observations indicated that both hydronium and chloride ions migrated from the interfacial layer to segregate to the surface at high temperature. Hydrogen chloride gas desorbs via recombination reaction of hydronium and chloride ions floating on the surface. Surface segregation of these species is driven by thermodynamic potential gradient present near the ice surface, whereas in the bulk, their transport is facilitated by thermal diffusion process. The finding suggests that chlorine activation reactions of hydrogen chloride for polar stratospheric ice particles occur at the surface of ice within a depth of at most a few molecular layers, rather than in the bulk phase.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.1174-1180
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• 2011

Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA)s are replacing traditional integrated circuits for space applications due to their lower development cost as well as reconfigurability. However, they are very sensitive to single event upset (SEU) caused by space radiation environment. In order to mitigate the SEU, on-board computer of STSAT-3 employed a triple modular redundancy(TMR) and scrubbing scheme. Experimental results showed that upset threshold energy was improved from 10.6 MeV to 20.3 MeV when the TMR and the scrubbing were applied to the on-board computer. Combining the experimental results with the orbit simulation results, calculated bit-flip rate of on-board computer is 1.23 bit-flips/day assuming in the worst case of STSAT-3 orbit.