• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.216-222
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• 2013

Durability characteristics of Gas Diffusion Layer(GDL) is one of the important issues for accomplishing commercialization of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell(PEMFC). It is strongly related to the performances of PEMFC because one of the main functions of GDL is to work as a path of fuel, air and water. When the GDL does not work on their proposed functions due to the degradation of durability, mass transfer in PEMFC is disturbed and it might cause the flooding phenomenon. Thus, investigating the durability of GDL is important and understanding the GDL degradation process is needed. In this study, electrochemical degradation with carbon corrosion is introduced. The carbon corrosion experiment is carried out with GDLs which have different MPL penetration thicknesses. After the experiment, the amount of degradation of GDL is measured with various properties of GDL such as weight, thickness and performance of the PEMFC. The degraded GDL shows loss of their properties.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2010

Current distribution measurement technique based on a segmented bipolar plate (BP) has been widely adopted to visualize the distribution of current density in a polymer electrolyte membrane. However, a concern is raised how closely the current density of a segmented BP can approach that of a corresponding non-segmented membrane. Therefore, in this paper, the accuracy of the measurement technique is numerically evaluated by applying a three-dimensional, two-phase fuel cell model to a $100\;cm^2$ area fuel cell geometry in which segmented BPs and non-segmented membrane are combined together. The simulation results reveal that the errors between the current densities of the segmented BPs and non-segmented membrane indeed exist, predicting the maximum relative error of 33% near the U-turn regions of the flow-field. The numerical study further illustrates that the erroneous result originates from the BPs segmented non-symmetrically based on the flow channels that allows some currents bypassing flow channels to flow into its neighboring segment. Finally, this paper suggests the optimal way for bipolar plate segmentation that can minimize the deviation of current measured in a segmented BP from that of a corresponding membrane region.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.186-192
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• 2013

In order to reduce the costs and to improve the durability of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), the operating temperature should be decreased while the power density is maintained as much as possible. However, lowering the operating temperature increases the cathode interfacial polarization resistances dramatically, limiting the performance of low-temperature SOFC at especially purely electronic conducting cathode. To improve cathode performance at low temperature, the number of reaction sites for the oxygen reduction should be increased by using a mixed ionic and electronic conducting (MIEC) material. In this study, anode-supported fuel cells with two different thicknesses of the MIEC cathode were fabricated and tested at various operating temperatures. The anode supported cell with $32.5{\mu}m$-thick BSCFZn-LSCF cathode layer showed much lower polarization resistance than that with $3.2{\mu}m$ thick cahtode and higher power density especially at low temperature. The effects of cathode layer thickness on the electrochemical performance are discussed with analysis of impedance spectra.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2012

A lightweight 200W direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack is designed and fabricated to power a small scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The DMFC stack consists of 33-cells in which membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) having an active area of 88 $cm^2$ are sandwiched with lightweight composite bipolar plates. The total stack weight is around 3.485 kg and stack performance is tested under various methanol feed concentrations. The DMFC stack delivers a maximum power of 248 W at 13.2 V and $71.3^{\circ}C$ under methanol feed concentration of 1.2 M. In addition, the voltage of individual cell in the 33-cell stack is measured at various current levels to ensure the stability of DMFC stack operations. The cell voltage distribution data exhibit the maximum cell voltage deviation of 28 mV at 15 A and hence the uniformity of cell voltages is acceptable. These results clearly demonstrate that DMFC technology becomes a potential candidate for small-scale UAV applications.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.412-416
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• 2015

To evaluate the performance and durability of membrane, measurement of hydrogen crossover is needed during PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) operation. In this work, concentration of hydrogen at cathode was analysed by gas chromatograph during operation suppling with air instead of inert gas into the cathode. The hydrogen permeated through membrane reacted with oxygen at cathode and then the concentration of hydrogen was lower than in case inert gas was supplied. Hydrogen concentration decreased as the flow rate of air increased at cathode. Increase of temperature, humidity and pressure of anode gas enhanced the hydrogen concentration at cathode. The hydrogen concentration was about 5.0 ppm at current density of $120mA/cm^2$ during general PEMFC operation.

• Carbon letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.326-334
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• 2007

In this study, graphite composites were fabricated by warm press molding method to realize commercialization of PEM fuel cells. Graphite composites have been considered as alternative economic materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells. Graphite powder that enables to provide electrical conductivity was selected as the main substance. The graphite powder was mixed with phenolic resin and the mixture was pressed using a warm press method. First of all, the graphite powder was pulverized with a ball mill for the dense packing of composite. As the ball milling time increases, the average size of particles decreases and the size distribution becomes narrow. This allows for improvement of the uniformity of graphite composite. However, the surface electrical resistivity of graphite composite increases as the ball milling time increases. It is due to that graphite particles with amorphous phase are generated on the surface due to the friction and collision of particles during pulverizing. We found that the contact electrical resistivity of graphite particles increases as the particle size decreases. The contact electrical resistivity of graphite powders was reduced due to high molding pressure by warm press molding. This leads to improvement of the mechanical properties of graphite composite. Hydrogen gas impermeability was measured with the graphite composite, showing a possibility of the application for bipolar plate in fuel cell. And, I-V curves of the graphite composite bipolar plate exhibit a similar performance to the graphite bipolar plate.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.581-586
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• 2007

Cast DNA/polyethyleneimine (PEI) blend membranes containing different amounts of DNA were prepared using acid-base interaction and characterized with the aim of understanding the polymer electrolyte membrane properties. Two different molecular weights of PEI were used to provide the mechanical strength, while DNA, a polyelectrolyte, was used for the proton transport channel. Proton conductivity was observed for the DNA/PEI membrane and reached approximately $3.0{\times}10^{-3}S/cm$ for a DNA loading of 16 wt% at $80^{\circ}C$. The proton transport phenomena of the DNA/PEI complexes were investigated in terms of the complexation energy using the density functional theory method. In the case of DNA/PEI, a cisoid-type complex was more favorable for both the formation of the complex and the dissociation of hydrogen from the phosphate. Since the main requirement for proton transport in the polymer matrix is to dissociate the hydrogen from its ionic sites, this suggests the significant role played by the basicity of the matrix.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 1992

Two unit cells were made and operated with oxygen and air as oxidants After 350 hours operation with oxygen, the open circuit voltage drop of unit cell was 30 mV and internal resistance increased. After 250 hours operation with air, the open circuit voltage drop was 130mV. And the open circuit voltage difference of two cases was 90mV. In order to improve the performance of the unit cell with air, the supplying method of the electrolyte and the mass transfer characteristics of the electrode should be studied.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2009

In present work, we study the hydrogen storage of MWNT decorated with bimetallic Pt and Pd nanosize catalysts by Thermal Vapor Deposition [TVD]. The size of Pt and Pd particles is controlled as 5nm, 3nm, respectively by TVD. Before hydrogen storage measurement, the sample was heated for 1hr at $200^{\circ}C$ in H2 atmosphere. The Hydrogen sto rage of the sample was performed at room temperature and 33~34atm. The hydrogen storage of this composite showed 3.2wt% at 298K and 34atm, for three times. At 4th cycle, hydrogen storage is decreased to 1.5wt%, owing to the aggregation of bimetallic Pt and Pd nano particles.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.259-268
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• 2017

This paper proposes a hydrogen-based social economy derived from fuel cells capable of replacing fossil fuels and resolving global warming, It thus provides an entry for developing economically feasible social configurations to make use of bio-hydrogen production systems. Bio-hydrogen production works from the principle that microorganisms decompose water in the process of converting CO to $CO_2$, thereby producing hydrogen. This study parts from an analysis of an existing 157-ton class NA1 bio-hydrogen reactor that identifies the state of feedstock and reactor conditions. Based on this analysis, we designed a 1-ton class bio-hydrogen reactor process simulator. We carried out thermal analyses of biological heat reactions, sensible heat, and heat radiation in order to calculate the thermal load of each system element. The reactor temperature changes were determined by modeling the feed mixing tank capacity, heat exchange, and heat storage tank. An analysis was carried out to confirm the condition of the feed mixing tank, heat exchanger, heat storage tank capacity as well as the operating conditions of the system so as to maintain the target reactor temperature.