• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.471-480
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• 2017

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) operated at $150^{\circ}C$ was evaluated by a controlling different amount of phosphoric acid (PA) to a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) without humidification of the cells. The effects on MEA performance of the amount of PA in the cathode are investigated. The PA content in the cathodes was optimized for higher catalyst utilization. The highest value of the active electrochemical area is achieved with the optimum amount of PA in the cathode confirmed by in-situ cyclic voltammetry. The current density-voltage experiments (I-V curve) also shows a transient response of cell voltage affected by the amount of PA in the electrodes. Furthermore, this information was compared with the production variables such as hot pressing and vacuum drying to investigate those effect to the electrochemical performances.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2016

Polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) are key components to determine electrochemical fuel cell performances, in addition to electrode materials. The PEMs need to satisfy selective transport behaviors to small molecules including gases and protons; the PEMs have to transport protons as fast as possible, while they should act as hydrogen barriers, since the permeated gas induces the thermal degradation of cathode catalyst, resulting in rapid electrochemical reduction. To date, limited tools have been used to measure how fast hydrogen gas permeates through PEMs (e.g., Constant volume/variable Pressure (time-lag) method). However, most of the measurements are conducted under vacuum where PEMs are fully dried. Otherwise, the obtained hydrogen permeance is easily changeable, which causes the measurement errors to be large. In this study, hydrogen permeation properties through Nafion212 used as a standard PEM are evaluated using an in-situ measurement system in which both temperature and humidity are controlled at the same time.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.842-851
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• 2011

A multi-cell test system with 25 independent cells is used to test different electrode materials simultaneously for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Twenty-five segmented membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) having the same or different Pt-loading are prepared to analyze the performance deviation of cells in the multi-cell test system. Improvements in the multi-cell test system are made by ensuring that the system performs voltage sensing for the cells individually and inserting optimum gaskets between the MEAs and the graphite plates. The cell performances are improved and their deviations are significantly decreased by these modifications. The performance deviations changed according to various cell configurations because the operating conditions of the cells, such as the gas flow and concentration, differed. This cell system can be used to test multiple electrodes simultaneously because it shows relatively uniform performance under the same conditions as well as linear correlation with various catalyst loadings.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.342-349
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• 2000

Hollow fiber membranes were prepared via thermally-induced phase separation process followed by stretching process from isotactic polypropylene and soybean oil system. Various operating parameters were examined in terms of their effects on the structure variation and performances of the membrane, and were optimized. Melt viscosity of the melt sample had influence on the formation of the microfibrils, and addition of nucleating agent increased the nucleation density to enhance the interspherulitic pore formation by stretching. Annealing the membrane at its stretched state relaxed the stress induced by stretching and helped the membrane maintain the stretched structure without shrinking. Solid-liquid Phase separation is more prevalent when the nucleating agent was added, and coagulation bath temperature determined the nucleation density, which affected the pore formation by stretching. In the absence of nucleating agent, nucleation was not effective and liquid-liquid phase separation governed the structure formation, which showed the opposite trend to that of the case with nucleating agent.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.325-343
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• 2023

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have been attracting attention as energy conversion devices that can directly supply methanol liquid fuel without a fuel reforming process. The commercial polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) currently applied to DMFC are perfluorosulfonic acid ionomer-based PEMs, which exhibit high proton conductivity and physicochemical stability during the operation. However, problems such as high methanol permeability and environmental pollutants generated during decomposition require the development of PEMs for DMFCs using novel ionomers. Recently, studies have been reported to develop PEMs using hydrocarbon-based ionomers that exhibit low fuel permeability and high physicochemical stability. This review introduces the following studies on hydrocarbon-based PEMs for DMFC applications: 1) synthesis of grafting copolymers that exhibit distinct hydrophilic/hydrophobic phase-separated structure to improve both proton conductivity and methanol selectivity, 2) introduction of cross-linked structure during PEM fabrication to reduce the methanol permeability and improve dimensional stability, and 3) incorporation of organic/inorganic composites or reinforcing substrates to develop reinforced composite membranes showing improved PEM performances and durability.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.439-446
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• 2023

Ceramic membranes are generally used for various industrial processes operating under extreme conditions because of its high thermal and chemical stability. However, due to the trade-off phenomenon of permeability and mechanical strength, preparation of high permeability-high strength membrane is necessary. In this study, the change in characteristics and performances of ceramic membranes was analyzed depending on the type of polymer binder and its mixing ratio. Because the solubility between solvent and polymer binder was higher in PSf (polysulfone) than in PES (polyethersulfone), the viscosity and discharge pressure of the PSf-based dope solution were higher than those of PES-based dope solution. When PSf was used as a polymer binder, ceramic membrane showed high mechanical strength and low water permeability due to the dense structure. On the other hand, in case of PES, the mechanical strength was slightly reduced and the water permeability was increased. It was confirmed that the optimum mixing ratio of the PSf and PES with high water permeability and mechanical strength was 9:1.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2434-2440
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• 2018

A new type of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) with high resonant frequency was developed by using a thin lead zirconate titanate (PZT) as an insulation layer on a floating $10{\mu}m$ silicon membrane. The PZT insulation layer facilitated acoustic impedance matching at active pMUT, leading to a high performance in the acoustic conversion property compared with the transducer using $SiO_2$ insulation layer. The fabricated ultrasonic devices were wirelessly measured by connecting two identical acoustic transducers to two separate ports in a single network analyzer simultaneously. The acoustic wave emitted from a transducer induced a $3.16{\mu}W$ on the other side of the transducer at a distance of 2 cm. The transducer performances in terms of device diameters, PZT thickness, annealings, and different DC polings, etc. were investigated. COMSOL simulation was also performed to predict the device performances prior to fabrication. Based on the COMSOL simulation, the device was fabricated and the results were compared.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2008

The most failure mode of PEM fuel cell is gas crossover caused by pinhole formation in MEAs. The degradation phenomena of MEA with pinholes were evaluated in various accelerated operation condition, such as OCV, low humidity and high partial pressure of oxygen. The performances of MEA with pinholes were almost same before and after normal 144 hours operation($70^{\circ}C$, $640mA/cm^2$, 65%RH $H_2/air$). The results of accelerated operation showed that OCV and low humidity condition more deteriorated MEA than gas crossover owing to pinholes. When oxygen was used as cathode gas, the pinholes of MEA were enlarged due to heat of combustion reaction on Pt catalyst of electrodes. This combustion reaction occurred at pinholes near gas inlet and resulted in local MEA failure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.598-598
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• 2013

The short lifetime of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is the one of the main problems to be solved for commercializing. Especially, the weak adhesion between metal nanoparticles and supports deteriorate the performances of nanocatalysts, therefore, it is considered to be a major failure mechanism. Using force-distance spectroscopy of atomic force microscopy (AFM), we characterized the adhesion between Pt nanoparticles and carbon supports that is crucially related to the durability for membrane fuel cell (MFC) electrode. In our study, force distance curves measured with Pt coated AFM cantilever, mimicking the behavior of corresponding nanoparticles on carbon supports, leads to the adhesion between metal nanoparticles and carbon supports. We found that theadhesion between Pt and HNO3-treated carbon is enhanced by a factor of 4, compared to Pt and bare carbon support, that is consistent with the macroscopic durability test of PEMFC. The higher adhesion between Pt and HNO3-treated carbon can be explained in light of the stronger chemical interaction by C/O functional groups.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.87.1-87.1
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• 2011

For commercial applications, MEA development must be optimized in order to achieve high performance and low cost. There are many factors that affect the performance of MEA. Especially, the optimization of the method for preparing catalyst layer has great effect on the performance of MEA. Various methods have been used to prepare the catalyst layer of MEA. Among them, spraying method has a merit in that catalysis lay can be prepared with very flexible changes in catalyst layer as well as in the solvent composition of catalyst ink. In addition, in order to reduce the time required for manufacturing catalyst layer, an effort has been made to change the nozzle size and injection pressure of spray system. Further, the operation condition of spray system was changed in various ways in an effort to prepare optimum catalyst layer of MEA. Having optimized the operation condition of spraying system, comprehensive and diverse experiments were carried out concerning various factors that affect the performance of MEA. The present research report describes the results of more sub-categorized and more detailed experiments about the important factors (Nafion$^{(R)}$ ionomer, Relative humidity) which have been shown in previous experiments to exert greater effect on the performance of MEA.