• Membrane Journal
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.173-182
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• 2019

Much research has been made for finding new and eco-friendly alternative sources of energy to solve the problems related with the pollution caused by emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide as the use of fossil fuels increases worldwide. Among them, fuel cells draws particular interests as an eco-friendly energy generator because only water is obtained as a by-product. Anion exchange membrane-based alkaline fuel cell (AEMFC) that uses anion exchange membrane as an electrolyte is of increased interest recently because of its advantages in using low-cost metal catalyst unlike the PEMFC (potton exchange membrane fuel cell) due to the high-catalyst activity in alkaline conditions. The main properties required as an anion exchange membrane are high hydroxide conductivity and chemical stability at high pH. Recently we reported a chemically crosslinked poly(2-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) by reacting PPO with N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-1,6-hexanediamine as novel anion exchange membranes. In the current work, we further developed the same crosslinked polymer but having enhanced physicochemical properties, including higher conductivity, increased mechanical and dimensional stabilities by using the PPO with a higher molecular weight and also by increasing the crosslinking density. The obtained polymer membrane also showed a good cell performance.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 추계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.83.1-83.1
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• 2010

A Dead-end mode operation is one of the best way to maximize the gas usage rate. But, some components of fuel cell stack like gas diffusion layer(GDL) or membrane can be damaged in dead-end mode operation. In this study, a Large Scale Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) for a dead-end operation has been developed. The stack is composed with 4 cells which has over 400cm2 of active area. Hydrogen is used as a fuel, and oxygen is used as a oxidant. The dead-end operation performance was evaluated by a long-term dead-end mode operation. The fuel cell stack is operated over 1,500 hours in dead-end mode operating fuel cell test station. And the performance change of the fuel cell stack was investigated.

• Membrane Journal
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.358-366
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• 2017

The most important factor in the performances of polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cells is how fast hydrogen ions can be transported along the water channel formed inside the electrolyte membrane. Since the morphology of the water channel and the diffusivity of the protons are very important factors for the proton transport behavior, various molecular dynamics simulation studies are being carried out to clarify this. The force-field is an important variable parameterizing the movement and interaction of each atom in molecular dynamics simulation. In this study, proton diffusivities of the 3D models of polymer electrolyte membranes were calculated in order to analyze the effects of various types of force-fields on the molecular simulation. It has been found that the charge value determining the non-bonding interaction plays a very important role in the formation of the water channel morphology, and the COMPASS force-field can calculate the accurate proton diffusion behavior. Accordingly, for molecular dynamics simulation of polymer electrolyte membranes, the proper selection of the force-field is very important due to its great effect on the proton diffusion as well as the final molecular structure.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.228-235
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• 2021

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are currently being used in various transport applications such as drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, and automobiles. The power required is different according to the type of use, purpose, and the conditions adjusted using a cell stack. The fuel cell stack is compressed to reduce the size and prevent fuel leakage. The unit cells that make up the cell stack are subjected to compression by clamping force, which makes geometrical changes in the porous media and it impacts on cell performance. In this study, finite elements method (FEM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis for the deformed unit cell considering the effects of clamping force is performed. First, structural analysis using the FEM technique over the deformed gas diffusion layer (GDL) considering compression is carried out, and the resulting porosity changed in the GDL is calculated. The PEMFC model is then verified by a three-dimensional, two-phase fuel cell simulation applying the physical properties and geometry obtained before and after compression. The detailed simulation results showed different concentration distributions of fuel between the original and deformed geometry, resulting in the difference in the distribution of current density is represented at compressed GDL region with low oxygen concentration.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제57권3호
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• pp.413-419
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• 2019

In the recent, as a world demand of energy resources has been transformed from fossil fuels to hydrogen-based clean energy resources, a huge attention has been attracted to increase the performance and decrease a production cost of core materials in fuel cell technology. The utilization of reinforced composite membranes as electrolytes in the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells can reduce the use of high cost perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA), mitigate the cell impedance, and improve the dimensional stability as well as the interfacial stability, giving rise to achieve both an improved performance and a reduction of production costs of the fuel cell devices. In this study, we investigate the effects of physical characteristics and cell performances according to the various ionomer solvents in the solution based manufacturing process of reinforced composite electrolyte membrane.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.687-693
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• 2019

As the hydrogen fuel cell market is expanded starting from hydrogen electric vehicle and power generation field, the demand for fuel cells and hydrogen increases recently. Therefore, research works on fuel cell durability and fuel efficiency are required in order to activate the fuel cell market and commercialization. A dead-ended anode system was used in this study to optimize the fuel cell performance and fuel efficiency. The effect of purge condition according to the applied current and hydrogen supply pressure on the fuel cell performance were evaluated. In addition, the influence of water back diffusion on the different electrolyte membrane thickness was analyzed. The accumulated water was purged with a solenoid valve in the case of 3% voltage decrease in the dead-ended anode system. The experiment was performed with the hydrogen supply pressure of 0.1~0.5 bar and purge duration of 0.1~1 second. A maximum fuel efficiency of 98.9% was achieved under the purge duration of 0.1 s and hydrogen supply pressure of 0.1 bar with a NR 211 (25.4 um) membrane. However, the fuel cell performance decreased in a long-term operation due to some frequent flooding. The fuel efficiency and purge interval increased due to decreased back diffusion rates of the water and nitrogen with a NR 212 (50.8 um) membrane.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.118-123
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• 2006

Degradation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) that is facilitated by on/off cycles is one of the most important issues for commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. When a PEMFC stack is shut down, residual hydrogen and induce high voltage equivalent to open circuit voltage to the cathode side that might cause sintering of Pt catalyst and facilitate formation of hydrogen peroxide at the anode side that might decompose $Nafionc\'{A}$ membrane. In this study, degradation of PEMFC exposed to repetitive on/off cycles was investigated by measuring i-V characteristics, ac impedance, cyclic voltammograms, gas leak, cross-sectional SEM images, and TEM images. To prevent degradation of PEMFC caused by the residual gases, hydrogen was removed from anode gas channel by gas-purging and by using a dummy resistance, that were found to be a very effective method.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제14권3호
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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.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.271-279
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• 2014

A 25kW-class polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell system has been developed for the propulsion of a leisure boat. The fuel cell system was designed to satisfy various performance requirements, such as resistance to shock, stability under rolling and pitching oscillations, and durability under salinity condition, for its marine applications. Then, the major components including a 30kW-class PEM fuel cell stack, a DC-DC converter, a seawater cooling system, secondary battery packs, and balance of plants were developed for the fuel cell system. The PEM fuel cell stack employs a unique design structure called an anodic cascade-type stack design in which the anodic cells are divided into several blocks to maximize the fuel utilization without hydrogen recirculation devices. The performance evaluation results showed that the stack generated a maximum power of 31.0kW while maintaining a higher fuel utilization of 99.5% and an electrical efficiency of 56.1%. Combining the 30-kW stack with other components, the 25kW-class fuel cell system boat was fabricated for a leisure. As a result of testing, the fuel cell system reached an electrical efficiency of 48.0% at the maximum power of 25.6kW with stable operability. In the near future, two PEM fuel cell systems will be installed in a 20-m long leisure boat to supply electrical power up to 50kW for propelling the boat and for powering the auxiliary equipments.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.11-25
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• 2009

Fuel cells are expected to be one of the major clean new energy sources in the near future. However, the slow kinetics of electrocatalytic hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and the high loading of Pt for the anode and cathode material are the urgent issues to be addressed since they determine the efficiency and the cost of this energy source. In this review paper, a new approach was developed for designing electrocatalysts for the HOR and ORR in fuel cells. It was found that the electronic properties of Pt could be fine-tuned by the electronic and geometric effects introduced by the substrate alloy metal and the lateral effects of the neighboring metal atoms. The role of substrate was found reflected in a volcano plot for the HOR and ORR as a function of their calculated d-band centers. This paper demonstrated a viable way to designing the electrocatalysts which could successfully alleviate two issue facing the commercializing of the fuel cell-the cost of electrocatalysts and their efficiency.