• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2011

The composite membranes comprising of sulfonated polymers as matrix and ionic liquids as ion-conducting medium in replacement of water are studied to investigate the effect of annealing of the sulfonated polymers. The polymeric membranes are prepared on recast Nafion containing the ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ($EMIBF_4$). The composite membranes are characterized by thermogravitational analyses, ion conductivity and small-angle X-ray scattering. The composite membranes annealed at $190^{\circ}C$ for 2 h after the fixed drying step showed better ionic conductivity, but no significant increase in thermal stability. The mean Bragg distance between the ionic clusters, which is reflected in the position of the ionomer peak (small-angle scattering maximum), is larger in the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$ than the non-annealed ones. It might have been explained to be due to the different level of ion-clustering ability of the hydrophilic parts (i.e., sulfonic acid groups) in the non- and annealed polymer matrix. In addition, the ionic conductivity of the membranes shows higher for the annealed composite membranes containing $EMIBF_4$. It can be concluded that the annealing of the composite membranes containing ionic liquids due to an increase in ion-clustering ability is able to bring about the enhancement of ionic conductivity suitable for potential use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) at medium temperatures ($150-200^{\circ}C$) in the absence of external humidification.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.281-286
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• 2000

A series of amorphous polyesters were synthesized from amorphous polyether and sebacoyl chloride. The structure and competition of the obtained aliphatic polyester were confirmed by $^1$H-NMR and FT-IR. The number average molecular weights (M$_{n}$) of the obtained polymer were ranging from 8000 ~ 15000. These polyesters showed no crystallinity and their glass transition temperatures (T$_{g}$) were around -77$^{\circ}C$. For comparison, aliphatic polyesters were also synthesized from poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) with M$_{n}$ of 200, 400, and 1000. As the M$_{n}$ of PEG increased, the melting point of the obtained polyester increased, and the crystallinity of the obtained polyester increased showing 8.8%, 16.2%, and 46.7%, respectively.ively.y.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.395-408
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• 2020

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have gained much attention as eco-friendly energy conversion devices without emission of environmental pollutant. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) that can transfer proton from anode to cathode and also prevent fuel cross-over has been regarded as a key component of PEMFCs. Although perfluorinated polymer membranes such as Nafion® were already commercialized in PEMFCs, their high cost and toxic byproduct generated by degradation have still limited the wide spread of PEMFCs. To overcome these issues, development of hydrocarbon based PEMs have been studied. Incorporation of cross-linked structure into the hydrocarbon based PEM system has been reported to fabricate the PEMs showing both high proton conductivity and outstanding physicochemical stability. This study focused on the various cross-linking strategies to the preparation of cross-linked PEMs based on hydrocarbon polymers with ion conducting groups for application in PEMFCs.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.133-139
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• 2000

Poly(ethylene glycol) with number-average molecular weight (M$_{n}$) of 200 (PEG 200) or 400 (PEG 400) was reacted with various linking agents (CH$_2$Cl$_2$, CH$_2$Br$_2$, CH$_2$I$_2$, Br(CH$_2$)$_3$Br) in the presence of alkali to form of oxyalkylene linked chains. Molecular weights of copolymers were controlled using feed mole ratio of alkali/CH$_2$C1$_2$/PEG. The M$_{n}$ of the polymers measured by end group analysis and that measured by GPC agreed well. Molecuglar weights of polyether copolymers obtained from PEG 200 and PEG 400 were about 500~8500 and 1000~2000, respectively. Polyether copolymers prepared from PEG 400 showed melting points of around 1$0^{\circ}C$. Glass transition temperatures of the copolymers were around -75$^{\circ}C$ and the crystallinity was about 0~25%. The polyether copolymers prepared from PEG 200 had no crystallinity below the M$_{n}$ of 2500. 2500.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.445-449
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• 2012

The activation process of the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) is important for the mass production of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. The conventional activation process for the MEA requires excessive time and hydrogen gas and it might become the barrier for the commercialization of the fuel cell. The conventional activation process is based on hydrolysis of ion conducting membrane. In the study, we suggest the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique as an on-line activation process and the CV activation process consists of two steps : 1) the humidification of the polymer electrolyte membrane and the electrode with 100% RH humidified nitrogen ($N_{2}$) gas, and 2) the removal step of the oxide layer on the surface of the Pt catalyst with CV cycling. The cycling reduces the activation time of the MEA by 2.5 h and use of hydrogen gas by 1/4.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.406-414
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• 2021

Electrochemical devices are constructed for continuous syngas (CO + H₂) production with controlled selectivity between CO₂ and proton reduction reactions. The ratio of CO to H₂, or the faradaic efficiency toward CO generation, was mechanically manipulated by adjusting the space volume between the cathode and the polymer gas separator in the device. In particular, the area added between the cathode and the ion-conducting polymer using 0.5 M KHCO₃ catholyte regulated the solution acidity and proton reduction kinetics in the flow cell. The faradaic efficiency of CO production was controlled as a function of the distance between the polymer separator and cathode in addition to that manipulated by the electrode potential. Further, the electrochemical CO₂ reduction device using Au NPs presented a stable operation for more than 23 h at different H₂:CO production levels, demonstrating the functional stability of the flow cell utilizing the mechanical variable as an important operational factor.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.257-265
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• 2001

Placing a hydrogen conducting, methanol impermeable metallic barrier like palladium (Pd) is a well-known method for preventing methanol crossover through solid polymer electrolyte for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC). Applying a bias potential between the anode and the barrier can further develop this concept so that the hydrogen transfer rate is enhanced. Since hydrogen diffuses in Pd as atomic form while it moves through nafion electrolyte as ion, it has to be reduced or oxidized whenever it passes the interface formed by Pd and the electrolyte. We performed experiments to measure the hydrogen transport through the Pd membrane placed in Nafion electrolyte of hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell (PEMFC). Applying a bias potential between the hydrogen electrode of the cell and the Pd membrane facilitated the hydrogen passage through the Pd membrane. The results show that the cell current measured with the Pd membrane placed reached almost 40 % the value measured with the cell without Pd membrane. It was found that the current flown through the bias path is only a few percent of the cell current.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.553-559
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• 2007

Nanocomposite films were prepared by sol-gel synthesis from vanadium triisopropoxide with $poly((oxyethylene)_9$ methacrylate)-graft-poly(dimethyl siloxane), POEM-g-PDMS, producing in situ growth of vanadium oxide within the continuous ion-conducting POEM domains of micro phase-separated graft copolymer. The formation of vanadium oxide was confirmed by wide angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed the spatially-selective incorporation of vanadium oxide in the POEM domains. Upon the incorporation of vanadium oxide, the domain periodicity of the graft copolymer monotonously increased from 17.2 to 21.0 nm at a vanadium content 14 v%, above which it remained almost invariant. The selective interaction of vanadium oxide with POEM was further verified by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and FT-IR spectroscopy. The nanocomposite films exhibited excellent mechanical properties $(l0^{-5}-10^{-7}dyne/cm^2)$, mostly due to the confinement of vanadium oxide in the POEM chains as well as the interfaces created by the microphase separation of the graft copolymer.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.240-248
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• 2011

All-vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) has been studied actively as one of the most promising electrochemical energy storage systems for a wide range of applications such as electric vehicles, photovoltaic arrays, and excess power generated by electric power plants at night time. Among consisting elements of the VRFB, the ion exchange membrane and the electrode play important roles. In this study, carbon PVC coposite sheets for the VRFB have been developed and electrochemical characteristics investigated. Current collector for VRFB, carbon PVC composite sheets (CPCS), were prepared with G-1028 as a conducting particle, PVC as a polymer, Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) as a plasticizer and fumed Silica (FS) as a dispersion agent. CPCS has been shown to have the characteristics as an excellent current collector for VRFB and electrochemical properties of specific resistivity 0.31 ${\Omega}cm$, which were composed of G-1028 80 wt%, PVC 10 wt%, DBP 5 wt% and FS 5 wt%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.90.2-90.2
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• 2013

Vertically-aligned silicon nanostructure arrays (SNAs) have been drawing much attention due to their useful electrical properties, large surface area, and quantum confinement effect. SNAs are typically fabricated by chemical vapor deposition, reactive ion etching, or wet chemical etching. Recently, metal-assisted chemical etching process, which is relatively simple and cost-effective, in combination with nanosphere lithography was recently demonstrated for vertical SNA fabrication with controlled SNA diameters, lengths, and densities. However, this method exhibits limitations in terms of large-area preparation of unperiodic nanostructures and SNA geometry tuning independent of inter-structure separation. In this work, we introduced the layerby- layer deposition of polyelectrolytes for holding uniformly dispersed polystyrene beads as mask and demonstrated the fabrication of well-dispersed vertical SNAs with controlled geometric parameters on large substrates. Additionally, we present a new means of building in vitro neuronal networks using vertical nanowire arrays. Primary culture of rat hippocampal neurons were deposited on the bare and conducting polymer-coated SNAs and maintained for several weeks while their viability remains for several weeks. Combined with the recently-developed transfection method via nanowire internalization, the patterned vertical nanostructures will contribute to understanding how synaptic connectivity and site-specific perturbation will affect global neuronal network function in an extant in vitro neuronal circuit.