본 연구에서는 실리카 복합막 기반 고분자 전해질막을 5단 연료전지 스택에 적용하여 성능 평가를 수행하였다. 이를 통하여, 개별 구성 요소의 성능도 중요하지만, 전체적인 관점에서 공급되는 연료의 유량이 스택 성능에 중요한 역할을 하며, 특히 수소의 유량에 크게 의존한다는 사실이 확인하였다. 산소의 유량을 증가시켜도 성능의 변화는 미미한 반면, 수소 의 유량을 증가시키면 성능이 향상되는 것을 확인하였다. 그러나 수소의 유량 증가는 수소와 산소 유량 비율의 불균형을 초 래하여 장기적으로는 스택 성능과 내구성을 저하시키는 문제가 관찰되었다. 이러한 현상을 스택 구성 요소 및 개별 단위 셀 에서도 관찰할 수 있었으며, 따라서 스택 운전 시 각 구성 요소의 성능을 최적화하는 것 외에도 균일한 유량 제어를 위해 유 로 설계 및 운전 조건을 최적화하는 것이 중요하다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 마지막으로 실리카 복합막은 최대 출력 기준 25 W 이상의 성능을 나타내어 실제 연료전지 시스템에 적용하기에 충분한 성능을 갖춘 것으로 판단된다.

Recently developed crosslinked TR (XTR) membranes as an advanced TR material exhibit high permeability and high selectivity stemming from higher rigidity due to a simultaneous and synergetic reaction of crosslinking and thermal rearrangement. The precursor crosslinkable co-HPI precursor can be dissolved in a wide range of commercial solvents indicative of an excellent processibility. Herein, a systematic spinning process, using a newly designed crosslinkable co-HPI precursor to fabricate defect-free XTR-PBOI hollow fiber membranes with inner skin layer will be discussed based on the phase inversion kinetics of nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) method.

In this study, Tröger’s Base (TB) chemistry is exploited to introduce tunable microporosity in commercially available polyimide membranes. Considering that TB is a rigid, V-shaped and bridged alicyclic amine, there have been notable reports on accessing feasibility in TB for gas separation membrane applications. However, this presentation shows a different but much viable preparation approach in comparison to the already reported ones. This approach only requires commercially available monomers with two preparation steps, thus it can accommodate scalable and practical productions. Five different kinds of homopolymers and six copolymers were explored to demonstrate structure-property-performance relationships and to evaluate practical applicability towards industrial level.

전해질막을 사용하는 알칼라인 연료전지는 최근 들어서 시스템 구성이 비슷하고 전해질막의 종류만 다른 기존의 양이온 교환막 연료전지를 대체할 수 있을 것으로 기대를 모으고 있다. 특히, 알칼라인 연료전지에서는 비백금계 저가 촉매가 사용 가능하여 많은 연구들이 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 알칼라인 연료전지 시스템에 적용하기 위한 고성능, 고내 구성 음이온 교환막을 제조하기 위하여, 두 종류의 다공성 지지체인 폴리벤조옥사졸 지지체와 폴리에틸렌 지지체에 Fumion FAA 이오노머를 함침시켜, 기존의 Fumion 시리즈의 막보다 우수한 기계적 강도를 가지면서 높은 이온전도도를 유지할 수 있는 함침막을 제조하고자 하였다. 이를 통하여 최종적으로 지지체-함침막이 성공적으로 제조되었고, 이온 전도도와 기계적 특성이 지지체의 성질에 따라 서로 다른 결과를 보여 주었다. PE 지지체에 Fumion 이오노머를 함침시킨 함침막에서는 우수 한 기계적 특성이 얻어졌지만, 이온전도도는 감소하였으며 특히 높은 온도에서 성능감소가 더욱 증가하였다. 반면에 PBO 지 지체에 Fumion 이오노머를 함침 시킨 경우에는 PBO의 높은 염기성으로 인하여 함침 후에 높은 이온 전도도를 보였지만, Fumion-PE막에 비하여 상대적으로 낮은 기계적 특성을 나타내었다. 결과적으로 지지체-함침막 제조 시 알칼라인 연료전지의 운전조건에 따라 지지체의 특성을 충분히 고려하여 연구를 진행할 필요가 있다는 결론을 얻었다.

Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is green energy technologies to produce electric power using the salinity gradient. The salinity gradient generates chemical potential difference by transport of ions through the membranes. In RED system, anion exchange membrane (AEM) and cation exchange membrane (CEM) play a major role in transporting cation (Na+) and anion (Cl-), respectively. Significant technical issue is how to enhance conductivity and permselectivity of membrane simultaneously in the system. In this study, we characterized influences of cationic functional groups on AEM. We evaluated conductivity and permselectivity of AEM introduced three types of cationic salt functional groups.

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) has been considered as promising technology utilizing blue energy1. However, polymeric thin film composite membranes are insufficient to meet requirements: robustness, high permeability and selectivity. In this study, new type of membrane has been developed consisting of thermally rearranged poly(benzoxazole) (TR-PBO) electrospun membrane as a support layer and ultra-thin polyamide (PA) active layer2. Because TR-PBO has high mechanical strength, it can be used at high hydraulic pressure. This means that high concentrated solution can be used as a draw and, subsequently, high power density can be obtained. The characteristics and performance of the membrane will be presented.

Thermally rearranged polybenzoxazole (TR-PBO) membranes has a excellent gas separation properties due to its high fractional free volume and suitable cavity size.1) Furthermore, thermally rearranged poly(benzoxazole-co-imide) (TR-PBOI) materials show the improved mechanical strength and gas separation properties.2) In this study, TR-PBOI asymmetric hollow fiber membranes was fabricated via NIPS method. In detail, the influence of co-solvent system and polymeric additives with various molecular weight on gas separation performance was observed. For further performance optimization, dope & bore flow rate and coagulation temperature were controlled.3) The characterization on membranes was conducted by FE-SEM, pure and mixed gas permeation test with micro-GC system.

Polymeric materials have been widely used in energy-related applications including fabrication of batteries and fuel cells, pressure retarded osmosis, gas separation and reverse electrodialysis processes. Despite these various versatility, their poor mechanical properties still remain as obstacles for applying to industrial levels. As a way of improving the mechanical properties, Tröger's Base (TB) which is a rigid, V-shaped, and bridged bicyclic amine have been recently introduced. In this work, polyimides incorporating TB units (PI-TBs) were synthesized in-situ polycondensation reaction using dimethoxymethane (DMM). PI-TB membranes were prepared and physicochemical characteristics including mechancial properties were investigated.

The thermally induced phase separation(TIPS) method offers higher reproducibility with lower tendency for defect formation and narrower pore size distribution, rendering the method more suitable for microfiltration(MF) and ultrafiltration(UF) applications. PVDF is widely used in membrane technology due to their excellent chemical resistance and strong mechanical properties. In case of MF and UF applications, the stretching method has been applied for increasing the performance of membrane by extending pore size. In this work, the effects of dope and bore flow rates and dope composition on the tensile strength of membranes was investigated. A design of experiment(DOE) analysis was used to understand the effects of the stretching parameters such as temperature, stretching ratio and holding time on the membrane performance.

Since Loeb and Sourirajan has introduced phase inversion method for membrane fabrication, the phase separation technique became the mainstream of membrane fabrication methods. Phase inversion includes solvent evaporation, vapor induced phase separation, thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) and nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS). Among those, NIPS and TIPS process is widely studied and employed for membrane fabrication. Depending on the membrane fabrication processes such as NIPS and TIPS, corresponding morphology differs from macrovoid structure to spherulitic structure, respectively. In this presentation, comparison of NIPS and TIPS effect on the final membrane morphology and controlling the membrane morphology by tuning the NIPS and TIPS effect will be presented.

Membrane distillation (MD) has been researched as one of the promising seawater desalination processes, because of its advantages such as (1) high energy efficiency, high water flux and less fouling sensitivity. [1] Herein, thermally rearranged (TR) polymer membranes are introduced for MD application. The TR membranes were investigated by SEM, contact angle, CFP and LEPw. TR membranes showed a great MD performance with high water flux and long-term stability.