It is necessary to fabricate uniformly dispersed nanoscale catalyst materials with high activity and long-term stability for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent electrochemical characteristics of the oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen oxidation reaction. Platinum is known as the best noble metal catalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells because of its excellent catalytic activity. However, given that Pt is expensive, considerable efforts have been made to reduce the amount of Pt loading for both anode and cathode catalysts. Meanwhile, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method shows excellent uniformity and precise particle size controllability over the three-dimensional structure. The research progress on noble metal ALD, such as Pt, Ru, Pd, and various metal alloys, is presented in this review. ALD technology enables the development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent reactivity and durability.

서로 다른 술폰화 정도에 따라 sulfonated star branched poly(styrene-b-butadiene-b-styrene) triblock copolymer (SSBS)가 합성되었다. 술폰화된 butadiene block은 FT-IR spectroscopy로 확인할 수 있다. 술폰화 정도를 측정 비교하기 위해 서 산-염기 적정을 통하여, ion exchange capacity (IEC)를 계산하였다. 술폰화된 SSEB 전해질막은 높은 water uptake와 proton conductivity를 보였다. 실온에서 25 mol% 술폰화된 SSBS는 0.114 S/cm라는 높은 값을 나타냈으며, 이는 Nafion과 비슷 한 수치였다. 일정한 상대 습도에서 온도의 증가는 현저하게 높은 수소이온전도도를 나타냄을 알 수 있었다. 모든 술폰화된 막 은 Nafion과 비교했을 때 낮은 methanol 투과도를 보여주었다. AFM을 이용하여 술폰화된 전해질막의 구조는 이른바 분리된 나 노구조의 미세상과 ionic channel의 접속으로 이루어졌음을 확인할 수 있었다.

화석연료 사용이 증가하면서 온실가스 및 대기오염가스 등의 환경오염 문제가 심각해졌다. 이를 해결하기 위한 신재생에너지, 친환경적인 대체에너지원을 찾기 위한 많은 연구가 이뤄지고 있다. 연료전지는 전기에너지를 발생하며 부산물로 물만이 생성되는 친환경 에너지 발생장치다. 특히, 전해질로 음이온 교환막을 사용하는 음이온 교환막 연료전지(Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell)는 높은 촉매의 활성으로 양이온 교환막 연료전지(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel cell)와 다르게 저가의 금속 촉매를 사용할 수 있는 장점 때문에 관심이 높아지고 있다. 음이온 교환막으로써 요구되는 주요 특성은 높은 이온(OH-) 전도도 및 높은 pH의 구동조건에서의 안정성이다. 본 연구에서는 PPO계 고분자의 화학적 가교 반응을 이용해 얻어진 가교형 고분자 막의 낮은 기계적인 특성과 치수 안정성을 높이기 위해 보다 높은 분자량을 갖는 고분자 사용과 함께 가교율 증대를 통해 보다 높은 이온 전도도와 기계적인 성질, 높은 화학적인 안정성뿐만 아니라 실제 연료전지 구동조건에서 높은 셀 성능을 갖는 AEMFC용 고분자 전해질 막을 개발했다.

This study investigates the enhancement of the oxygen diffusion rate in the cathode channel of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) by pure oscillating flow, which is the same as the mechanism of human breathe. Three-dimensional numerical simulation, which has the full model of the fuel cell including electrochemical reaction, ion and electronic conduction, mass transfer and thermal variation and so on, is performed to show the phenomena in the channel at the case of a steady state. This model could analysis the oscillating flow as a moving mesh calculation coupled with electrochemical reaction on the catalyst layer, however, it needs a lot of calculation time for each case. The two dimensional numerical simulation has carried on for the study of oscillating flow effect in the cathode channel of PEMFC in order to reduce the calculation time. This study shows the diffusion rate of the oxygen increased and the emission rate of the water vapor increased in the channel by oscillating flow without any forced flow.

In anion exchange membrane fuel cells, Pd nanoparticles are extensively studied as promising non-Pt catalysts due to their electronic structure similar to Pt. In this study, to fabricate Pd nanoparticles well dispersed on carbon support materials, we propose a synthetic strategy using mixed organic ligands with different chemical structures and functions. Simultaneously to control the Pd particle size and dispersion, a ligand mixture composed of oleylamine(OA) and trioctylphosphine(TOP) is utilized during thermal decomposition of Pd precursors. In the ligand mixture, OA serves mainly as a reducing agent rather than a stabilizer since TOP, which has a bulky structure, more strongly interacts with the Pd metal surface as a stabilizer compared to OA. The specific roles of OA and TOP in the Pd nanoparticle synthesis are studied according to the mixture composition, and the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) activity and durability of highly-dispersed Pd nanocatalysts with different particles sizes are investigated. The results of this study confirm that the Pd nanocatalyst with large particles has high durability compared to the nanocatalyst with small Pd nanoparticles during the accelerated degradation tests although they initially indicated similar ORR performance.

Anion exchange membrane (AEM) with fixed charged cationic groups can selectively transport anionic molecules such as hydroxide anions. The AEM materials have been widely used in the wide range of applications such as polymer electrolyte fuel cells, water electrolysis, and reverse electrodialysis and electrodialysis. Commercially available AEM materials show high electrochemical resistance owing to their chemical architectural features leading to less separated hydrocarbon morphologies. Very low solubility to casting solvents and weak chemical durability to alkaline atmosphere of the AEM materials also makes it difficult to make thin and tough AEM membranes. In this study, AEM materials composed of perfluorinated architectures with improved chemical durability and intrinsically well separated morphologies were developed and evaluated.

고체 알칼리 연료전지에서는 작동 시 물이 생성되어 water flooding 현상이 나타나는 산화극과 반대로 물이 소진되어 water drying 현상이 나타나는 환원 극과의 water balance 가 매우 중요하다. 이번 연구에서는 기존의 상용막(Fuma tech)을 사용하여 막의 양면에 solvent assisted lithography를 통해 서로 엇갈린 라인 패턴을 형성하였다. 양면 패터닝을 통해 오믹저항의 감소와 함께 water back-diffusion을 향상시켰으며, 넓어진 계면에 의해 산화극의 mass transport를 향상시킬 수 있었다. 또한, 환원극에서는 넓어진 계면에 의해 촉매의 활용률이 증가하였고 이러한 복합적인 효과를 통해, 1.0 Wcm-2 라는 고성능을 얻을 수 있었다.

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been studied intensively due to their great potential as a clean and efficient energy conversion device. Especially, considerable attention has been paid to the development of thin polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) for the practical application of PEMFCs. However, thin PEMs normally have poor physicochemical stability. It is well-known that the physicochemical stability of polymer membrane can be improved by cross-linking technology. In this presentation two different types of cross-linked membranes from sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) will be introduced: 1) cross-linked SPAES membranes prepared using flexible perfluoropolyether as a cross-linker. 2) End group cross-linked SPAES membranes prepared via simple thiol-ene click reaction.

In the present work, we synthesize nano-sized ZnO, SnO2, and TiO2 powders by hydrothermal reaction using metal chlorides. We also examine the energy-storage characteristics of the resulting materials to evaluate the potential application of these powders to dye-sensitized solar cells. The control of processing parameters such as pressure, temperature, and the concentration of aqueous solution results in the formation of a variety of powder morphologies with different sizes. Nano-rod, nano-flower, and spherical powders are easily formed with the present method. Heat treatment after the hydrothermal reaction usually increases the size of the powder. At temperatures above 1000oC, a complete collapse of the shape occurs. With regard to the capacity of DSSC materials, the hydrothermally synthesized TiO2 results in the highest current density of 9.1 mA/cm² among the examined oxides. This is attributed to the fine particle size and morphology with large specific surface area.