• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.523-530
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• 2019

For the low-Pt electrodes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs), the optimization of ionomer content for anode catalyst layers was carried out. A commercial catalyst of 20 wt.% Pt/C was used instead of 50 wt.% Pt/C which is commonly used for PEMFCs. The ionomer content varies from 0.6 to 1.2 based on ionomer to carbon ratio (I/C) and the catalyst layer is formed over the electrolyte by the ultrasonic spray process. Evaluation of the prepared MEA in the unit cell showed that the optimal ionomer content of the air electrode was 0.8 on the I/C basis, while the hydrogen electrode was optimal at the relatively high ionomer content of 1.0. In addition, a large difference in cell performance was observed when the ionomer content of the hydrogen electrode was changed. Increasing the ionomer content from 0.6 to 1.0 by I/C in a hydrogen electrode with 0.05 mg/㎠ platinum loading resulted in more than double cell performance improvements on a 0.6 V. Through the analysis of various electrochemical properties in the single cell, it was assumed that the change in ionomer content of the hydrogen electrode affects the water flow between the hydrogen and air electrodes bounded by the membrane in the cell, which affects the overall performance of the cell. A more specific study will be carried out to understand the water flow mechanism in the future, and this study will show that the optimization process of hydrogen electrode can also be a very important cell design variable for the low-Pt and high-performance MEA.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.132-136
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• 2018

We report the development of a room-temperature hydrogen ($H_2$) gas sensor based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) yarn. To detect $H_2$ gas in room temperature, a highly ordered CNT yarn was placed on a substrate from a spin-capable CNT forest, followed by the deposition of a platinum (Pt) layer on surface of the CNT yarn. To examine the effect of the Pt-layer on the response of the CNT sensor, a comparative sensing performance was characterized on both the Pt deposited and non-deposited CNT yarn at room temperature. The Pt-CNT yarn yielded high response, whereas the non-deposited CNT yarn showed negligible response for $H_2$ detection at room temperature. Pt is a reliable and efficient catalyst that can substantially improve the detection of $H_2$ gas by chemical sensitization via a "spillover" effect. It can be efficiently utilized to increase the sensitivity and selectivity as well as to obtain fast response and recovery times.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.217-217
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• 2011

Recently, demand for thermally stable metal nanoparticles suitable for chemical reactions at high temperatures has increased to the point to require a solution to nanoparticle coalescence. Thermal stability of metal nanoparticles can be achieved by adopting core-shell models and encapsulating supported metal nanoparticles with mesoporous oxides [1,2]. However, to understand the role of metal-support interactions on catalytic activity and for surface analysis of complex structures, we developed a novel catalyst design by coating an ultra-thin layer of titania on Pt supported silica ($SiO_2/Pt@TiO_2$). This structure provides higher metal dispersion (~52% Pt/silica), high thermal stability (~600$^{\circ}C$) and maximization of the interaction between Pt and titania. The high thermal stability of $SiO_2/Pt@TiO_2$ enabled the investigation of CO oxidation studies at high temperatures, including ignition behavior, which is otherwise not possible on bare Pt nanoparticles due to sintering [3]. It was found that this hybrid catalyst exhibited a lower activation energy for CO oxidation because of the metal-support interaction. The concept of an ultra-thin active metal oxide coating on supported nanoparticles opens-up new avenues for synthesis of various hybrid nanocatalysts with combinations of different metals and oxides to investigate important model reactions at high-temperatures and in industrial reactions.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.273-281
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• 2020

Constructing and making highly active and stable nanostructured Pt-based catalysts with ultralow Pt loading are still electrifying for electrochemical applications such as water electrolysis and fuel cells. In this study, MoO₃ ribbons (RBs) of few micrometer in length is successfully synthesized via hydrothermal synthesis. Subsequently, 3-dimentional (3D)-silicate layer for about 10 to 15 nm is introduced via chemical deposition onto the pre-formed MoO₃ RBs; to setup the platform for Pt metaldots (MDs) deposition. In comparison with the bare MoO₃ RBs, the MoO₃-Si has served as a efficient solid-support for stabilizing and accommodating the uniform deposition of sub-2 nm Pt MDs. Such a structural design would effectively assist in improving the electronic conductivity of a fabricated MoO₃-Si-Pt catalyst towards MOR; the interfaced, porous and 3D silicate layer has assisted in an efficient mass transport and quenching the poisonous CO_ads species leading to a significant electrocatalytic performance for MOR in alkaline medium. Uniformly decorated, sub-2 nm sized Pt MDs has synergistically oxidized the MeOH in association with the MoO₃-Si solid-support hence, synergistic catalytic activity has been achieved. Present facile approach can be extended for fabricating variety of highly efficient Metal Oxide-Metal Nanocomposite for energy harvesting applications.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 2012

The cathode catalyst layer in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) was fabricated with anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template and its structure was characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The SEM analysis showed that the catalyst layer was fabricated the Pt nanowire with uniform shape and size. The BET analysis showed that the volume of pores in range of 20-100 nm was enhanced by AAO template. The electrochemical properties with the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) were evaluated by current-voltage polarization measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results showed that the MEA with AAO template reduced the mass transfer resistance and improved the cell performance by approximately 25% through controlling the structure of catalyst layer.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.58-65
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• 1992

Pt loaded porous carbon Pt/C electrode was prepared by hot pressing process to enhance the electrode performance in PAFC (phosphoric acid fuel cell). By changing the hot pressing conditions and PTFE contents, Pt/C electrodes were prepared and the electrochemical characteristics of oxygen reduction and unit-cell performance were evaluated. The optimum condition of hot press to make electrode is 360$^{\circ}C$ and 10 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$. Maximum performance was obtained at 30 wt% PTFE content in the catalyst layer with 80% utilization of platinum clusters. Unit-cell performance of hot pressed Pt/C electrode was 200 mA/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 700 ㎷ and stable performance was maintained more than 200 hr.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.793-801
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• 1996

The effect of catalysts which was catalyzed by acid($HNO_3$) and base ($NH_4OH$) or not on the surface microst-ructures and consequent dielectric characteristics of the $PbTiO_3$ thin films prepared by sol-gel method were investigated. The result indicated that bse catalyst promoted the phase transformation of perovskite phase while acid catalyst was found to produce most uniform surface microstructure and improved dielectric properties However degradation of properties due to secondary phase formation and non-uniform microstructure at high annealing temperature (>75$0^{\circ}C$) by rapid diffusion of lead was unavoidable in any case as long as $Si_{(100)}$ \ $SiO_2$ \Pt substrate used.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.512-518
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• 2019

To develop a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with lower Pt loading and higher performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), it is an important research issue to understand interfacial structure of Pt/C catalyst and ionomer and design the catalyst layer structure. In this study, we prepared short-side-chain Nafion-based ionomer dispersion using propylene glycol (PG) as a solvent instead of water which is commonly used as a solvent for commercially available ionomers. Cathode catalyst layers with different ionomer content from 20 to 35 wt% were prepared using the ionomer dispersion for the fabrication of four different MEAs, and their fuel cell performance was evaluated. As the ionomer content increased to 35 wt%, the performance of the prepared MEAs increased proportionally, unlike the commercially available water-based ionomer, which exhibited an optimum at about 25 wt%. Small size micelles and slow evaporation of PG in the ionomer dispersion were effective in proton transfer by inducing the formation of a uniformly structured catalyst layer, but the low oxygen permeability problem of the PG-based ionomer film should be resolved to improve the MEA performance.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.667-674
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• 2007

Various types of NOx storage catalysts for NGV's were designed, manufactured, and tested in this work on a model gas test bench. As in most of other studies on NOx storage catalyst, alkaline earth metal barium(Ba) was used as the NOx adsorbing substance. The barium-based experimental catalysts were designed to contain different amounts of Ba and precious metals at various ratios. Reaction tests were performed to investigate the NOx storage capacity and the NOx conversion efficiency of the experimental catalysts. From the results, it was found that when Ba loading of a catalyst was increased, the quantity of NOx stored in the catalyst increased in the high temperature range over 350. With more Ba deposition, the NOx conversion efficiency as well as its peak value increased in the high temperature range, but decreased in the low temperature range. The best of de-NOx catalyst tested in this study was catalyst B, which was loaded with 42.8 g/L of Ba in addition to Pt, Pd and Rh in the ratio of 7:7:1. In the low temperature range under $450^{\circ}C$, the NOx conversion efficiencies of the catalysts were lower when $CH_4$, instead of either $C_3H_6$ or $C_3H_8$, was used as the reductant.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2017

This study aims to examine the influences of substrates/diffusion layers (DL) and oxygen reduction reaction catalysts ($M_{ORR}$) on the performance of $M_{ORR}/IrO_2$/DL-type bifunctional oxygen electrodes for use in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM)-type unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFC). The $M_{ORR}/IrO_2$/DL electrodes were prepared via two sequential steps: anodic electrodeposition of $IrO_2$ on various DLs and fabrication of $M_{ORR}$ layers (Pt, Pd, and Pt-Ru) by spraying on $IrO_2/DL$. Experiments using different DLs, with Pt as the $M_{ORR}$, revealed that the roughness factor of the DL mainly determined the electrode performance for both water electrolyzer (WE) and fuel cell (FC) operations, while the contributions of porosity and substrate material were insignificant. When Pt-Ru was utilized as the $M_{ORR}$ instead of Pt, WE performance was enhanced and the electrode performance was assessed by analyzing round-trip efficiencies (${\varepsilon}_{RT}$) at current densities of 0.2 and $0.4A/cm^2$. As a result, using Pt-Ru instead of Pt alone provided better ${\varepsilon}_{RT}$ at both current densities, while Pd resulted in very low ${\varepsilon}_{RT}$. Improved efficiency was related to the additional catalytic action by Ru toward ORR during WE operation.