• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.144-147
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.212-214
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.222-227
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• 2006

• Membrane Journal
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.53-56
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• 2004

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) is considered as a candidate technology for applications in stationary, transportation as well as electronic power generation purposes. To develop a high performance direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC), a competent electrolyte membrane is needed. The electrolyte membrane should be durable and methanol crossover must be low. One of the approaches to increase the stability of generally used polymer electrolyte membranes such as Nafion against swelling or thermal degradation is to bond it with an inorganic material physically or chemically. In Noritake Company, we have developed a novel method of reinforcing the polymer electrolyte matrix with inorganic fibers. Methanol crossover values measured were significantly lower than the original polymer electrolyte membranes. These fiber reinforced electrolyte membranes (FREM) were used for DMFC study and stable power output values as high 160 mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$ were measured. The details of the characteristics of the membranes as well as I-V data of fuel cell stacks are detailed in the paper.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2020

It is necessary to fabricate uniformly dispersed nanoscale catalyst materials with high activity and long-term stability for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent electrochemical characteristics of the oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen oxidation reaction. Platinum is known as the best noble metal catalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells because of its excellent catalytic activity. However, given that Pt is expensive, considerable efforts have been made to reduce the amount of Pt loading for both anode and cathode catalysts. Meanwhile, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method shows excellent uniformity and precise particle size controllability over the three-dimensional structure. The research progress on noble metal ALD, such as Pt, Ru, Pd, and various metal alloys, is presented in this review. ALD technology enables the development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent reactivity and durability.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2015

Perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomers (PFSAs) have been widely as solid electrolyte materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, since they exhibit excellent chemical durability under their harsh application conditions as well as good proton conductivity. Even PFSA materials, however, suffer from physical failures associated with repeated membrane swelling and deswelling, resulting in fairly reduced electrochemical lifetime. In this study, pore-filling membranes are prepared by impregnating a Nafion ionomer into the pore of a porous PTFE support film and their fundamental characteristics are evaluated. The developed pore-filling membranes exhibit extremely high proton conductivity of about $0.5S\;cm^{-1}@90^{\circ}C$ in liquid water.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.566-573
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• 2022

In this study, the mechanical properties of the polymer electrolyte membrane according to the temperature were studied. The test specimens of polymer electrolyte membrane were heat treated at 40℃, 60℃, 80℃, 100℃, and 120℃, and then the tensile tests were performed. As results of this study, the residual stress of the polymer electrolyte membrane was removes by the heat treatment and the elastic modulus decreased due to the decrease in internal energy. In addition, in the plastic region, the mechanical properties and crystallization rate of the polymer electrolyte membrane increased in proportion according to increase of the heat treatment temperature.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.427-441
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• 2022

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) serving as a separator that can prevent the permeation of unreacted fuels as well as an electrolyte that selectively transports protons from the anode to the cathode has been considered a key component of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based PEMs, represented by Nafion®, have been commercialized in PEMFC systems due to their high proton conductivity and chemical stability. Nevertheless, these PEMs have several inherent drawbacks including high manufacturing costs by the complex synthetic processes and environmental problems caused by producing the toxic gases. Although numerous studies are underway to address these drawbacks including the development of sulfonated hydrocarbon polymer-based PEMs (SHP-PEMs), which can easily control the polymer structures, further improvement of PEM performances and durability is necessary for practical PEMFC applications. Therefore, this study focused on the various strategies for the development of SHP-PEMs with outstanding performance and durability by 1) introducing cross-linked structures, 2) incorporating organic/inorganic composites, and 3) fabricating reinforced-composite membranes using porous substrates.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.164-172
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• 2019

In this work, we demonstrate a facile process to prepare an electrolyte membrane for the supercapacitor based on a graft copolymer consisting of starch and poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN). The graft copolymer (starch-g-PAN) was synthesized via free radical polymerization initiated by ceric ions. The starch-g-PAN was dissolved in ionic liquid, i.e. 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (EMIM DCA) without any organic solvents at room temperature. The gelation of polymer electrolyte membranes occurred by applying high temperature, i.e. $100^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. The resultant electrolyte membrane was flexible and thus applied to flexible solid supercapacitors. The performance of the supercapacitor based on starch-g-PAN graft copolymer electrolyte reached 21 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g. The cell also showed high cyclic stability with 86% of retention rate within 10,000 cycles. The preparation of starch-g-PAN based polymer electrolyte membrane provides opportunities for facile fabrication of flexible solid supercapacitors with good performance.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.407-420
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• 2016

The fuel cell technology as a green energy source has been actively studied to solve energy shortages and pollution problems. The generating efficiency of fuel cell is high because the electricity is directly produced by using hydrogen and oxygen and the additional power generator is not needed. The key technology is the manufacturing process of polymer electrolyte membranes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system. The Nafion, perfluoro-based polymeric membrane is mainly used as a polymer electrolyte membrane. However, the Nafion is expensive and rapidly decreases the performance of Nafion at high temperature. So, many researchers are lively studying new alternative electrolyte membranes. In this review, through the technology competitiveness evaluation of patents and papers, the frequencies of presentation are filed by country, institution and company. In addition, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, direct methanol fuel cell and alkaline fuel cell are also filed.