• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.283-292
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• 2023

Currently, spray coating has attracted interest in the mass production of anode catalyst layers for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The solvent in the spray ink is a critical factor for the catalyst dispersion in ink, the microstructure of the catalyst layer, and the PEMWE performance. Herein, various pure organic solvents were examined as a substitute for conventional isopropanol-deionized water (IPA-DIW) mixture for ink solvent. Among the polar solvents that exhibited better IrO₂ dispersion over nonpolar solvents, 2-butanol (2-BuOH) was selected as a suitable candidate. The PEMWE single cells were fabricated using 2-BuOH at various ionomer contents, spray nozzle types, and drying temperatures, and their performance was compared to the cells fabricated using a conventional IPA-DIW mixture. The PEMWE single cells with 2-BuOH solvent showed good performances comparable to the conventional IPA-DIW mixture case and highly durable performances under accelerated degradation tests.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.33-34
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• 2012

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.514-523
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• 2021

This study investigated the effect of anode fuel composition on the performance of direct borohydride/hydrogen peroxide fuel cells (DBHPFCs). The effect of sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentrations on fuel cell performance was determined through fuel cell tests. Fuel cell performance increased with an increase in the NaBH₄ concentration, whereas it decreased with an increase in the NaOH concentration. The anode fuel composition was selected as 10 wt% NaBH₄+10 wt% NaOH+80 wt% H₂O based on the fuel viscosity, electrochemical reaction rate, and decomposition reaction rate. DBHPFCs were also tested to analyze the effect of operating temperature and operation time on fuel cell performance. The present results can be used as a reference basis to determine operating conditions of DBHPFCs.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

This work was carried out to improve the performance of anodic electrocatalysts in direct ethanol fuel cell(DEFC). PtRu and $Pt_5Ru_4M$(M= Ni, Sn, Mo and W) electrocatalysts were prepared by using a $NaBH_4$ reduction method. Alloy crystal structure and particle size of electrocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The XRD analysis of the electrocatalysts revealed that the face-centered cubic(fcc) peaks shifted to slightly higher diffraction angles when third metals were added. Average size of the uniform particles was observed to be approximately $3{\sim}3.5\;nm$ from the TEM image. The electrochemical measurements were carried out in the solution 1M $H_2SO_4$ and 1M $C_2H_5OH$ at room temperature. Cyclic-voltammogram results showed that $Pt_5Ru_4W$ electrocatalyst exhibited much higher current density for ethanol oxidation of $2.73\;mA/cm^2$ than PtRu electrocatalyst of $0.73\;mA/cm^2$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.153-156
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• 2009

Low temperature methane steam reforming to produce $H_2$ for fuel cells has been calculated thermodynamically considering both heat loss of the reformer and unreacted $H_2$ in fuel cell stack. According to the thermodynamic equilibrium analysis, it is possible to operate methane steam reforming at low temperatures. A scheme for the low temperature methane steam reforming to produce $H_2$ for fuel cells by burning both unconverted $CH_4$ and $H_2$ to supply the heat for steam methane reforming has been proposed. The calculated value of the heat balance temperature is strongly dependent upon the amount of unreacted $H_2$ and heat loss of the reformer. If unreacted $H_2$ increases, less methane is required because unreacted $H_2$ can be burned to supply the heat. As a consequence, it is suitable to increase the reaction temperature for getting higher $CH_4$ conversion and more $H_2$ for fuel cell stack. If heat loss increases from the reformer, it is necessary to supply more heat for the endothermic methane steam reforming reaction from burning unconverted $CH_4$, resulting in decreasing the reforming temperature. Experimentally, it has been confirmed that low temperature methane steam reforming is possible with stable activity.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.239-246
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• 2001

Fossil fuel such as oil and natural gas has been used and will be no longer supplied enough to demand in the beginning of thisg century. The use of the fuel makes a lot of environmental pollution to threaten human being's health especially in big cities and produces a lot of $CO_{2}$ to make green house effect of the earth. It is the time to use clean fuel such as hydrogen to prevent the expected energy crisis and the pollution. A new engine such as fuel cell can be used instead of the conventional internal combustion engine with 2 to 3 times higher efficiency of the conventional engine. The fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen and produces electric energy and pure water, which is a calm engine without air pollution. In big cities the city buses and the taxies powered by hydrogen fuel cells are suggested to be operated for clean environment. The energy and cost analysis performed for hydrogen and electricity production from wind power and solar cell.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 1998

An energy crisis is expected in near future. Fossil fuel such as oil and natural gas has been used and will be no longer supplied enough to demand in the beginning of coming century. The use of the fuel makes a lot of environmental pollution to threaten human being's health especially in big cities and produces a lot of $CO_2$ to make green house effect of the earth. It is the time to use clean fuel such as hydrogen to prevent the expected energy crisis and the pollution. A new engine such as fuel cell can be used instead of the conventional internal combustion engine with 2 to 3 times higher efficiency of the conventional engine. The fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen and produces electric energy and pure water, which is a calm engine without air pollution. In big cities the city buses and the taxies powered by hydrogen fuel cells are suggested to be operated for clean environment. A model of the total energy system for production, transportation and utilization of hydrogen is calculated.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.209-216
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• 2008

In the present study, a mathematical model has been formulated for the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Modify the concentration polarization equation using concentration coefficient that represents the characteristics of bipolar plate reactant distribution. The model predictions have been compared with experimental results and good agreement has been demonstrated for the cell polarization curves. The effects of operating parameters on the performance of fuel cells have been studied. Increases of operation pressure reduce the effect of temperature on the performance.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.381-387
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• 2020

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.386-392
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• 2013

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks are constructed by stacking several to hundreds of unit cells depending on their power outputs required. Fuel and oxidant are distributed to each cell of a stack through so-called manifolds during its operation. In designing a stack, if the manifold sizes are too small, the fuel and oxidant would be maldistributed among the cells. On the contrary, the volume of the stack would be too large if the manifolds are oversized. In this study, we present a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model with a geometrically simplified flow-field to optimize the size of the manifolds of a stack. The flow-field of the stack was simplified as a straight channel filled with porous media to reduce the number of computational meshes required for CFD simulations. Using the CFD model, we determined the size of the oxidant manifold of a 30 kW-class PEM fuel cell stack that comprises 99 cells. The stack with the optimal manifold size showed a quite uniform distribution of the cell voltages across the entire cells.