• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.1559-1562
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• 2009

The influence of hot pressing on the pore structures of Nafion membranes was investigated by observing the Nafion before and after hot pressing with $^1H$ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The freezing point depression and chemical shift data of water in the Nafion indicated the presence of two different pore size ranges in Nafion. Hot pressing mainly reduced the sizes and number of the big pores. The reduction of water uptake and proton conductivity after hot pressing was explained by this variation of pore size and number. We demonstrated the potential application of chemical shift data and NMR cryoporometry experiments to measure the relative pore sizes, on a nano scale, and numbers.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.55-63
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• 2023

In this study, the influence of different IEMs (ion exchange membranes) to performance of the hypochlorite electrolysis unit with Cl₂ recovery stream was investigated. More specifically, Nafion 117-a representative cation exchange membrane (CEM)-and aminated polypheylene oxide (APPO)-an anion exchange membrane (AEM)-were installed in the hypochlorite electrolysis unit, and the performance and the energy efficiency of the units were evaluated and compared. Regardless of whether CEM (Nafion 117) or AEM (APPO) was installed, the rate of hypochlorite generation was increased (by up to 24.3% and 22.2% for Nafion 117 and APPO, respectively) compared with the unit without an IEM. On the other hand, the power efficiency and the optimum operation condition of hypochlorite production units seem to depend on the conductivity and stability of the installed IEM. As the result, between Nafion 117 and APPO, higher performance and efficiency were achieved with Nafion 117, due to excellent conductivity and stability of the membrane.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.131-136
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• 2011

Many researchers are recently studying about Electroactive polymer(EAP). But it has a physical limitation, because of property of material. Carbon nanotube(CNT) is known as the promising material which has excellent electro-mechanical characteristics and is mostly defect-free. It is expected that a successful synthesis of CNT and Nafion known as a primary material for IPMC would make a great improvement on its electro-mechanic feature. This study focuses on the method of synthesis of CNT with Nafion which improves electro-mechanical characteristic. To come up with mechanical dispersion with Nafion and Isopropyl Alcohol(IPA), we dispersed Single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs). For a uniformly layer of CNT, we used a spray gun on a hot plate by a simplified method. We fabricated a disperse SWCNT/Nafion composite uniformly. Through the use of the E-beam evaporator to form an uniform electrode layer, we consummated the IPMC actuator. This result shows improving 1.5 times mechanical properties about driving force in IPMC.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.43-48
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• 2002

In this study, high performance electrode catalyst was developed in fabrication of membrane electrode assembly for PEMFCs(Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells). The I-V characteristics were measured to evaluate the influence of Nafion solution and Pt loading amount in the catalyst composition. The electrode characteristics were also investigated with respect to temperature change. The electrode performance was optimized at Nafion 5 wt% and 0.5 mg Pt/$\textrm{cm}^2$ content. The increase in the concentration of Nafion solution resulted in the decrease in electrode performance. At $80^{\circ}C$ of unit cell, I-V characteristics excelled those obtained at lower temperature. There was no difference in performance at low current density, but the improvement of voltage value in higher temperature could be found at high current density.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.307-318
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• 2020

Conventional perfluorinated sulfonic acid membrane, Nafion is widely used for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). It is desired to prevent vanadium ion permeation through a membrane to retain the capacity, and to keep the cell efficiency of a VRFB. Highly proton conductive and chemically stable Nafion membranes, however, suffer from high vanadium permeation, which induce the reduction in charge and discharge capacity by side reactions of vanadium ions. In this study, to resolve the issue, silica nanoparticles, which are functionalized with 3-aminopropyl group (fS) are introduced to enhance the long-term performance of a VRFB by lowering vanadium permeation. It is expected that amine groups on silica nanoparticles are converted to positive ammonium ion, which could deteriorate positively charged vanadium ions' crossover by Gibbs-Donnan effect. There is reduction in proton conductivity may due to acid-base complexation between fS and Nafion side chains, but ion selectivity of proton to vanadium ion is enhanced by introducing fS to Nafion membranes. With the composite membranes of Nafion and fS, VRFBs maintain their discharge capacity up to 80% at a high current density of 150 mA/㎠ during 200 cycles.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.26-29
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• 1993

Perfluorosulfonate Ionomer는 다음과 같은 화학구조를 갖고 있으며(그림 1) 대표적인 예는 DuPont사의 Nafion이다. Nafion은 불소화합물의 고유한 특성 때문에 내약품성과 내용매성이 뛰어나다. Nafion막의 sulfonic acid기를 EDA로 치환하므로써 이산화탄소 및 메탄의 혼합물 분리에서 이산화탄소의 촉진수송현상을 발견하였으며, 매체의 종류에 따른 촉진수송현상에 대한 영향을 연구하였다. 투과도를 증가시키기 위해서는 이산화탄소의 투과도가 가장 우수한 매체 즉 메탄을 사용해야하나 촉진수송효과는 대신 매우적다. 그리고 선택도를 증가시키기 위해서는 이산화탄소와 운반체인 EDA와의 산-염기의 친화력을 극대화 시킬 수 있는 매체인 물을 사용하여야 한다.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2016

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) using the electrolytes containing various vanadium ions in sulfuric acid as supporting solution are one of the energy storage devices in alternatively charging and discharging operation modes. The positive electrolyte contains $V^{5+}/V^{4+}$ and the negative electrolyte $V^{2+}/V^{3+}$ depending on the operation mode. To prevent the mixing of two solutions, proton exchange membranes are mainly used in VRFBs. Nafion 117 could be the most promising candidate due to the strong oxidative property of $V^{5+}$ ion, but causes high crossover of electroactive species to result in a decrease in coulombic efficiency. In this study, the composite membranes using Nafion ionomer and porous polyethylene substrate were prepared to keep good chemical stability and to decrease the cost of membranes, and were compared to the properties and performance of the commercially available electrolyte membrane, Nafion 117. As a result, the water uptake and ionic conductivity of the composite membranes increased as the thickness of the composite membranes increased, but those of Nafion 117 slightly decreased. The permeability of vanadium ions for the composite membranes significantly decreased compared to that for Nafion 117. In a single cell test for the composite membranes, the voltage efficiency decreased and the coulombic efficiency increased, finally resulting in the similar energy efficiency. In conclusion, the less cost of the composite membranes by decreasing 6.4 wt.% of the amount of perfluorinated sulfonic acid polymer due to the introduction of porous substrate and lower vanadium ion permeability to decrease self-discharge were achieved than Nafion 117.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.690-694
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• 2015

Recently, direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFC) among direct liquid fuel cells is studied actively. Economical hydrocarbon membranes alternative to fluorinated membranes for DFAFC's membrane are receiving attention. In this study, characteristics of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone, sPEEK) and sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone, PAES) membranes were compared with Nafion membrane at DFAFC operation condition. Formic acid crossover current density of hydrocarbon membranes were lower than that of Nafion 211 fluorinated membrane. I-V performance of sPEEK MEA(Membrane and Electrode Assembly) was similar to that of Nafion 211 MEA due to similar membrane resistance each other. sPEEK MEA with low formic acid crossover showed higher stability compared with Nafion 211 MEA.

• New Physics: Sae Mulli
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• v.68 no.11
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• pp.1173-1182
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• 2018

Mesoporous silica allows proper hydration of an ion exchange membrane under low relative humidity due to its strong hydrophilicity and structural characteristic. A mesoporous silica and Nafion composite membrane shows good proton conductivity under low relative humidity. An understanding of ion-channel formation and proton transfer through an ion-channel network in mesoporous silica and Nafion composite membranes is essential for the development and the optimization of ion exchange membranes. In this study, a mesoporous cellular foam $SiO_2/Nafion$ composite membrane is fabricated, and its proton conductivity and performance are measured. Also, the ion-channel distribution is analyzed by using electrostatic force microscopy to measure the surface charge density of the mesoporous cellular foam $SiO_2/Nafion$ composite membrane. The research reveals a few remarkable results. First, the composite membrane shows excellent proton conductivity and performance under low relative humidity. Second, the composite membrane is observed to form ion-channel-rich and ion-channel-poor region locally.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.144-151
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• 2003

IPMC(Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite) is promising candidate material for bio-related actuators mainly due to its biocompatibility and wet and soft properties. The widely used commercialized Nafion film has a few kinds of fixed thicknesses but more various film thicknesses are required for extensive applications. Especially for the enhanced force as an actuator, the thick film is essential. Various Nafion films with thickness of 0.4-1.2mm have been prepared by casting of liquid Nafion. Also, IPMC actuators using casted Nafion films have been fabricated and the basic mechanical properties such as stiffness, displacement and force were measured and analyzed. These results can be used for the optimized design of actuators for different applications.