• Macromolecular Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.101-106
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• 2006

The transport of reactant gas, electrons and protons at the three phase interfaces in the catalytic layers of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) in proton exchange, membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) must be optimized to provide efficient transport to and from the electrochemical reactions in the solid polymer electrolyte. The aim of reducing proton transport loss in the catalytic layer by increasing the volume of the conducting medium can be achieved by filling the voids in the layer with small-sized electrolytes, such as dendrimers. Generation 1.5 and 3.5 polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer electrolytes are well-controlled, nanometer-sized materials with many peripheral ionic exchange, -COOH groups and were used for this purpose in this study. The electrochemically active surface area of the deposited catalyst material was also investigated using cyclic voltammetry, and by analyzing the Pt-H oxidation peak. The performances of the fuel cells with added PAMAM dendrimers were found to be comparable to that of a fuel cell using MEA, although the Pt utilization was reduced by the adsorption of the dendrimers to the catalytic layer.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.178-186
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• 2023

Three activation methods (constant voltage, current cycling, and hydrogen pumping) were applied to investigate the effects on the performance of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) loaded with PtCo/C catalyst. The current cycling protocol took the shortest time to activate the MEA, while the performance after activation was the worst among the all activation methods. The constant voltage method took a moderate activation time and exhibited the best performance after activation. The hydrogen pumping protocol took the longest time to activate the MEA with moderate performance after activation. According to the distribution of relaxation time analysis, the improved performance after the activation mainly comes from the decrease of charge transfer resistance rather than the ionic resistance in the cathode catalyst layer, which suggests that the existence of water on the electrode is the key factor for activation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2005

In the present study, catalytic combustion of hydrogen-air premixture in a millimeter scale monolith coated with Pt catalyst was investigated. As the combustor size decreases, the heat loss increases in proportion with the inverse of the scale of combustion chamber and combustion efficiency decreases in a conventional type of combustor. Combustion reaction assisted by catalyst can reduce the heat loss by decreasing the reaction temperature at which catalytic conversion takes place. Another advantage of catalytic combustion is that ignition is not required. Platinum was coated by incipient wetness method on a millimeter scale monolith with cell size of $1{\times}1mm$. Using this monolith as the core of the reaction chamber, temperatures were recorded at various locations along the flow direction. Burnt gas was passed to a gas chromatography system to measure the hydrogen content after the reaction. The measurements were made at various volume flow rate of the fuel-air premixture. The gas chromatography results showed the reaction was complete at all the test conditions and the reacting species penetrated the laminar boundary layer at the honeycomb and made contact with the catalyst coated surface. At all the measuring locations, the record showed monotonous increase of temperature during the measurement duration. And the temperature profile showed that the peak temperature is reached at the point nearest to the gas inlet and decreasing temperature along the flow direction.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.419-424
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• 2014

Direct ethanol fuel cell has been fabricated with ceramic membrane. A porous silicon carbide (SiC) membrane having approximately 30% porosity has been applied for a direct ethanol proton exchange membrane (DE-PEM) fuel cell. A horizontal type cell having Pt ($18mg/cm^2$) catalyst layer on both side of the ceramic membrane was used for the demonstration test. The ethanol oxidation based-fuel cell stack showed very high voltage (1.289V) and measurable current level (68mA) even though at room temperature.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.232-236
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• 2020

Three-dimensional (3D) multilayered Pt electrodes were fabricated to develop a porous electrode using a pattern-transfer printing process. The Pt thin films were deposited using a transferred sputtering pattern having a 250 nm line width on the substrate, and the uniform line patterns were efficiently transferred using our proposed method. Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) analyses were used to evaluate the porosity of the electrodes. It was possible to distinguish between two resolved maxima at 168 and 227 ℃, which could be described in terms of desorption reactions on the Pt (111) planes. The results of the TPD analysis of the 3D and multilayered Pt electrodes prepared through transfer printing were compared to those of an electrode fabricated through screen printing using a commercial Pt-carbon paste commonly used as porous electrodes. It was confirmed that the 3D multilayered electrodes exhibited a desorption concentration approximately 100 times higher than that of the Pt-carbon composite electrode, and the desorption concentration increased by approximately 0.02 mg/mol per layer. The 3D multilayered electrode effectively functions as a porous electrode and a catalyst.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 1996

Thick film type gas sensors with parallel Pt heaters were fabricated by screen printing process and investigated sensitivities for methane gas. The TR7905 was selected as Pt paste for heater by characterization the properties of TCRs and thick film microstructures. The average resistance of parallel Pt heaters was $1.8{\Omega}$, and the best TCR obtained was $3685\;ppm/^{\circ}C$. On the top of the Pt heaters, a sensing layer added with Pt and Pd as catalyst paste was screen printed and heat treated. The sensitivity of the sensor was 4.3mV/1000ppm for methane. The power consumption of the sensors was 2.12watts.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.97.1-97.1
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• 2011

저온에서 양이온 고분자막을 사용하는 고분자 연료전지의 경우 뛰어난 성능과 다양한 응용분야로 인해 많은 연구와 실증이 이루어지고 있지만 공기극에서의 느린 산소 환원반응으로 인해 백금과 같은 귀금속의 사용이 불가피하고 백금의 제한된 매장량과 높은 가격으로 인해 상용화가 늦어지고 있다. 그래서 많은 연구자들이 합금 촉매 또는 비귀금속 촉매를 이용한 전극 개발에 집중하고 있다. 알칼리 분위기에서 저가의 전이 금속들이 백금과 비슷한 활성을 보이고 고체 음이온 교환막이 개발됨에 따라 최근 알칼리 연료전지가 다시금 큰 주목을 받고 있다. 그러나 고분자 연료전지와는 달리 아직 촉매나 전해질막, 이오노머의 특성 및 메커니즘에 관해 별로 알려진 것이 없다. 본 연구에서는 직접 개발한 세공충진막 형태의 탄화수소계의 음이온 교환막과 비귀금속 공기극 촉매를 이용하여 막전극접합체(MEA)를 개발하였고 촉매 및 이오노머 함량과 같은 전극 조성, 막전극접합체의 제조 및 체결, 가습이나 가스조성 등의 단위전지 운전조건과 같은 다양한 변수에 대해에 최적 조건을 도출하고자 하였다. 공기극 촉매는 Cu-Fe/C를 이용한 상용 촉매를 이용하였고 이오노머의 경우는 탄화수소계의 상용 제품을 사용하였으며 음이온 교환막에 전극층을 형성하기 위해서는 스프레이 공정을 이용하였다. 단위전지를 통해 성능을 확인하였고 임피던스 및 CV를 통해 전기화학적인 특성을 규명하였다. 조건의 최적화를 통해 상당한 성능 향상을 이루었으나 추가적인 성능 향상 및 내구성 확보 등에 대해 계속적인 실험을 진행할 예정이다.

• Clean Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.293-299
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• 2007

Direct coating of catalyst layer on the $Nafion^{(R)}$ membrane has been optimized in the process of fabrication of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) to enhance the performance of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). In this method, the contact resistance at the interface of the catalyst layer and the membrane was found to be low. The effect of catalyst loading, thickness of membrane and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) with or without the presence of micro-porous layer (MPL) on the performance of the MEA was also investigated. The MEA fabricated by the above-mentioned method exhibited a performance of $147\;mW/cm^2$ and $100\;mW/cm^2$ at $80^{\circ}C$ and $60^{\circ}C$, respectively, with the catalysts loading of $4\;mg/cm^2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.615-616
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• 2006

A micro-fuel processor system integrating steam reformer and partial oxidation reactor was manufactured using low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC). A CuO/ZnO/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst and Pt-based catalyst prepared by wet impregnation were used for steam reforming and partial oxidation, respectively. The performance of the LTCC micro-fuel processor was measured at various operating conditions such as the effect of the feed flow rate, the ratio of $H_2O/CH_3OH$, and the operating temperature on the LTCC reformer and CO clean-up system. The catalyst layer was loaded with "Fill and Dry" coating for small volume. The product gas was composed of $70\sim75%$ hydrogen, $20\sim25%$ carbon dioxide, and $1\sim2%$ carbon monoxide at $250\sim300^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.532-537
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• 2011

Thermally stable $TiO_2$/Pt/$SiO_2$ core-shell nanocatalyst has been synthesized by chemical processes. Citrated capped Pt nanoparticles were deposited on amine functionalized silica produced by Stober process. Ultrathin layer of titania was coated on Pt/$SiO_2$ for preventing sintering of the metal nanoparticles at high temperatures. Thermal stability of the metal-oxide hybrid catalyst was demonstrated heating the sample up to $600^{\circ}C$ in air and by investigating the morphology and integrity of the structure by transmission electron spectroscopy. The surface analysis of the constituent elements was performed by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The catalytic activity of the hybrid catalysts was investigated by CO oxidation reaction with oxygen as a model reaction.