• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2016

Sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) random copolymers have merits such as high proton conductivity, relatively low production cost, and thermochemical resistance when applied as polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cells. However, it is difficult to directly employ SPAES copolymers into practical fuel cell membrane applications owing to their low chemical stability and dimensional instability under harsh operation conditions. A plausible solution is to impregnate SPAES copolymers into support films (e.g., electrospun polyimide support) with interconnected pore structures and high thermochemical toughness. In this study, a SPAES copolymer with a swivel group, which induces high free volume for fast ion transport, is chosen as ionomers to prepare pore-filling membranes (PFMs). The feasibility of the resulting membranes is evaluated via membrane characterizations.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.378-378
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• 2009

The ionic liquid-based sulfonated hydrocarbon composite membranes was prepared for use in anhydrous high temperature-polymer electrolyte fuel cells (HT-PEFCs). Ionic liquid behaves like water in the composite membranes under anhydrous condition. However the composite membranes show a low conductivity and high gas permeability as the content of ionic liquid increases due to its high viscosity and content of ionic liquid, respectively. Hence, in order to enhance the proton conductivity and to reduce the gas permeability of the composite membranes with low content of ionic liquids, the acid containing a common ion of ionic liquid was added to the composite membranes. The characterization of composite membranes was carried out using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and impedance spectroscopy. As a result, the composite membranes containing acid showed higher proton conductivity than those with no acid under the un-humidified condition due to a decrease in viscosity. In addition, the proton conductivity of composite membranes increased with increasing mole concentration of acid.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.207-219
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• 2024

Metal-N-C (MNC) catalysts have been anticipated as promising candidates for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to achieve low-cost polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The structure of the M-N_x moiety enabled a high catalytic activity that was not observed in previously reported transition metal nanoparticle-based catalysts. Despite progress in non-precious metal catalysts, the low density of active sites of MNCs, which resulted in lower single-cell performance than Pt/C, needs to be resolved for practical application. This review focused on the recent studies and methodologies aimed to overcome these limitations and develop an inexpensive catalyst with excellent activity and durability in an alkaline environment. It included the possibility of non-precious metals as active materials for ORR catalysts, starting from Co phthalocyanine as ORR catalyst and the development of methodologies (e.g., metal-coordinated N-containing polymers, metal-organic frameworks) to form active sites, M-N_x moieties. Thereafter, the motivation, procedures, and progress of the latest research on the design of catalyst morphology for improved mass transport ability and active site engineering that allowed the promoted ORR kinetics were discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2003

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells(PEFC) have been considered to be a suitable candidate for residential, portable and mobile applications, due to their high efficiency and power density, even at low operating temperature. KIER developed a 5kW class PEFC system for residential application and operated the system for over 1,000 hours. To develop a 5kW PEFC system, performance of a cell was improved through successive tests of single cell of small and large area. Fabrication of three 2,5 kW class stacks, design and fabrication of natural gas reformer, design of auxiliary equipments such as DC/DC converter, DC/AC inverter and humidifying units were carried out along with integration of components, operation and evaluation of total system. During the development period from 1999 to 2001, MEA(membrane electrode assembly) fabrication technologies, design and fabrication technologies for separators, stacking technologies and so on were developed, thereby providing basis for developing stacks of higher efficiency and power density in the future. Experience of development of natural gas reformer opened possibilities to use various kinds of fuels. Main results obtained from the development of a 5kW class PEFC system for residential application are summarized.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.389-398
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• 2017

The most important characteristic of the polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) for fuel cells, the proton conducting ability is mainly influenced by the distribution and morphology of the water channels inside the PEMs. Non-perfluorinated hydrocarbon PEMs are known to have weaker water channels than perfluorinated PEM, Nafion, and thus relatively low proton conducting ability. In this study, we used a mesoscale simulation technique to observe the water channel formation and phase separation behavior of hydrocarbon PEM, sulfonated polyimides, under the humidification condition. It was observed that the water molecules were distributed evenly through the entire hydrophilic region, and clear water clusters were formed only in the sulfonated polyimide having high sulfonation degree. In addition, it was observed that sulfonated polyimides have a difficulty in forming water channel under the low hydrated condition. These results clearly support the theories of the formation of water channels in non-perfluorinated hydrocarbon PEMs, and also well explain the tendency of proton conducting abilities of sulfonated polyimides. Thus, it is confirmed that mesoscale simulation techniques can be very effective in analyzing phase separation behavior and water channel formation in PEMs for fuel cells and elucidating the ion conducting abilities.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.271-271
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• 2006

The present article describes a novel method of preparing the sulfonated polysulfone-based PEMs for DMFC, which are excellent in film quality, proton conductivity, methanol impermeability and mechanical properties. No depression in film quality or difficulty in film preparation is observed, even though sulfonated group of the PEMs are kept as high as 70 mol %. Allyl-terminated cooligo-PESs containing the organic sulfonate groups were solvent-cast into films and then thermally treated for cross-linking. Cross-linked sulfonated polysulfone-based PEMs gave unprecedented reduction of methanol cross-over and high ionic conductivity through in-situ thermal polymerization and cross-linking of telechelic sulfonated sulfone oligomers during a membrane preparation.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.563-567
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• 2009

The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) with the advantages of low-operating temperature, high current density, low cost and volume, fast start-up ability, and suitability for discontinuous operation becomes the most reasonable and attractive power system for transportation vehicle and micro-grid power plant in a household. 200W PEM-type FCs system was integrated by this study, then the electrical characteristics and diagnosis of the fuel cell were analyzed with variations on mass flow rate and stack temperature. The ranges of the variations are 1~8L/min on $H_2$ volume and $20{\sim}70^{\circ}C$ on stack temperature.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.310-315
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• 2012

A simple drying process was developed for the preparation of a Pt/Nafion self-humidifying membrane to be used for a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Platinum (II) bis (acetylacetonate), $Pt(acac)_2$ was sublimed, penetrated into the surface of a Nafion film and then reduced to Pt nanoparticles simultaneously without any support of a reducing agent in a glass reactor at $180^{\circ}C$ for 15 min. The process was carried out in $N_2$ atmosphere to prevent the oxidation of Pt nanoparticles at high temperature. The morphology and distribution of the Pt nanoparticles were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and we found that the average Pt particle size was ca. 3.7 nm, the penetration depth was ca. $17{\mu}m$. Almost all Pt nanoparticles were formed just beneath the surface and the number density decreased rapidly as the penetration depth increased. To estimate water absorption characteristics of the Nafion membranes, water uptake at an isothermal condition was measured by dynamic vapor sorption (DVS), and it was found that water uptake of the Pt/Nafion membrane was higher than that of the neat Nafion membrane.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.227-236
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• 2019

In this work, preparation and characterizations of hybrid membranes containing sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPES) and sulfonated poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (SPVdF-co-HFP) (20, 30 or 40 wt%) were carried out. The structure of hybrid membranes was confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The prepared SPAES/SPVdF-30 membrane exhibits higher ionic conductivity of 68.9 mS/cm at $90^{\circ}C$ and 100% RH. Besides, the other studies showed that the hybrid membrane has good oxidation stability, thermal stability, and mechanical stability. Thus, we believe that the prepared hybrid membrane is suitable for the development of membranes for fuel cell applications.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.373-373
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• 2009

Relative humidity, membrane conductivity and water activity are critical parameters of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for high performance and reliability. These parameters are closely related with temperature. Moreover, the ideal values of these parameters are not always identical along the channels. Therefore, the cooling channel design and its operating condition should be well optimized along the all location of the channels. In the present study, we have performed a numerical investigation on the effects of cooling channels on performance of a PEMFC. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved with the energy equation including heat generated by the electrochemical reactions in the fuel cell. The present numerical model includes the gas diffusion layers (GDL) and serpentine channels for both anode and cathode gas flows, as well as cooling channels. To accurately predict the water transport across the membrane, the distribution of water content in the membrane is calculated by solving a nonlinear differential equation with a nonlinear coefficient, i.e., the water diffusivity which is a function of water content as well as temperature. Main emphasis is placed on the heat transfer between the solid bipolar plate and coolant flow. The present results show that local current density is affected by cooling channels due to the change of the oxygen concentration and the membrane conductivity as well as the water content. It is also found that the relative humidity is influenced by the generated water and the gas temperature and thus it affects the distribution of fuel concentration and the conductivity of the membrane, ultimately fuel cell performance. Unit-cell experiments are also carried out to validate the numerical models. The performance curves between the models and experiments show reasonable results.