• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.127-131
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• 2016

Polymer electrolyte membrane for unitized regenerative fuel cells requires high proton conductivity, high dimensional stability, low permeability, and low cost. However, DuPont's Nafion which is a commercial polymer electrolyte membrane has high permeability, high cost, and decreasing proton conductivity and dimensional stability over $80^{\circ}C$. To address these problems, sulfonated poly ether ether ketone (sPEEK) which is a low cost hydrocarbon polymer is selected as matrix polymer for the preparation of polymer electrolyte membrane. In addition, composite membrane with improved proton conductivity and dimensional stability is prepared by introducing sulfonated graphene oxide (sGO). The fundamental properties of polymer electrolyte membranes are analyzed by investigating membrane's water content, dimensional stability, proton conductivity, and morphology. The cell test is conducted to consider the possibility of application of sPEEK/sGO composite membrane for an unitized regenerative fuel cell.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2015

Perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomers (PFSAs) have been widely as solid electrolyte materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, since they exhibit excellent chemical durability under their harsh application conditions as well as good proton conductivity. Even PFSA materials, however, suffer from physical failures associated with repeated membrane swelling and deswelling, resulting in fairly reduced electrochemical lifetime. In this study, pore-filling membranes are prepared by impregnating a Nafion ionomer into the pore of a porous PTFE support film and their fundamental characteristics are evaluated. The developed pore-filling membranes exhibit extremely high proton conductivity of about $0.5S\;cm^{-1}@90^{\circ}C$ in liquid water.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.278-281
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• 2009

Proton exchange membrane is the key material for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). Currently widely-used perfluorosulfonic acid membranes have some disadvantages, such as low thermal stability, easy swelling, excessive crossover of methanol and high price etc. Other membranes, including sulfonated polymer, radiation grafted membranes, organic-inorganic hybrids and acid-base blends, do not satisfy the criteria for PEMFC, which set a barrier to the development and commercialization of PEMFC. Pore-filling type proton exchange membrane is a new proton exchange membrane, which is formed by filling porous substrate with electrolytes. Compared with traditional perfluorosulfonic acid membranes, pore-filling type proton exchange membranes have many advantages, such as non- swelling, low methanol permeation, high proton conductivity, low cost and a wide range of materials to choose. In this research, preparation methodology of pore-filling membranes by particularly using all hydrocarbon polymers and fuel cell performances with the membranes are evaluated.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.281-283
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• 2005

Water management in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs) is one of the most challenging issues. Freeze start-up in the automotive applications is also important research topic in the PEMFC field. Transportation of proton and separation of reactant gases are main roles of polymer electrolyte membranes. It has been known that water in the membrane conducts as a vehicle for the proton transportation. At sub-zero temperature, the frozen water blocks the access of reactant gases to the active sites of electrode as well as occurs the physical destruction of fuel cell structures. In this study, property changes of electrolyte membranes in the freeze conditions $(at\;-25^{\circ}C)$ were investigated. For the various amount of water contained membranes, the property changes, especially for the proton conductivity, were observed after several times of freeze/thaw$(-25\~80^{\circ}C)$ cycle.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2003

The preparation method for composite membranes of high temperature operation above $100^{\circ}C$ for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs ) was presented, using perfluorosulfonylfluoride Nafion resin and mordenite, in addition to the physical properties, proton conductivity and single cells performance for it. The composite membranes were fabricated via melting of Nafion resin with various mordenite content. As the increase of mordenite content, at high temperature range, proton conductivity of the composite membrane increased due to the late dehydration rate of existent water in the mordenite. Also, from the result of the current-voltage relationship for single cells under $130^{\circ}C$ operation condition, the composite membrane cell with l0 wt% mordenite content showed better performance than that of the others over the entire current density range. This result indicated that the existent water in the composite membrane with l0 wt% mordenite content was higher than that with the others, thereby maintains its conductivity. Based upon the results of experiments, therefore, a Nafion/mordenite composite membrane prepared by this work is thought to be a satisfactory polymer electrolyte membrane for PEMFC operation above $100^{\circ}C$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1788-1790
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• 2012

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.581-586
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• 2007

Cast DNA/polyethyleneimine (PEI) blend membranes containing different amounts of DNA were prepared using acid-base interaction and characterized with the aim of understanding the polymer electrolyte membrane properties. Two different molecular weights of PEI were used to provide the mechanical strength, while DNA, a polyelectrolyte, was used for the proton transport channel. Proton conductivity was observed for the DNA/PEI membrane and reached approximately $3.0{\times}10^{-3}S/cm$ for a DNA loading of 16 wt% at $80^{\circ}C$. The proton transport phenomena of the DNA/PEI complexes were investigated in terms of the complexation energy using the density functional theory method. In the case of DNA/PEI, a cisoid-type complex was more favorable for both the formation of the complex and the dissociation of hydrogen from the phosphate. Since the main requirement for proton transport in the polymer matrix is to dissociate the hydrogen from its ionic sites, this suggests the significant role played by the basicity of the matrix.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2012

Phosphoric acid-doped poly (2,5-benzimidazole) (DABPBI) was prepared by condensation polymerization of 3,4-diaminobenzoic acid for high temperature proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The membranes were casted directly using a hot-press unit and characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, conductivity measurement, scanning electron microscopy and tensile test. The proton conductivities of DABPBI are observed to be 0.062 and 0.018 $S{\cdot}cm^{-1}$ under 30 and 1% relative humidity, respectively at a temperature of $120^{\circ}C$ which is appreciably higher than that of Nafion 115 under similar conditions. The DABPBI membrane has demonstrated excellent thermo- mechanical properties and proton conductivity suggesting its suitability as a high temperature membrane.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2009

The sulfonated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene-acrylonitrile) (ST-DVB-AN) composite polymer electrolyte membrane based on the original PVC film was successfully synthesized to improve oxidative stability using semi-interpenetrated polymer network (semi-IPN). Weight gain ratio after copolymerization was enhanced by the DVB and AN contents, and the sulfonated membranes were characterized in terms of proton conductivity (k), ion exchange capacity (IEC), and water uptake ($W_U$). The effect of DVB content and AN addition were thoroughly investigated by comparing the resulted properties including oxidative stability. The obtained ST-DVB-AN composited semi-IPN membranes showed relatively high proton conductivity and IEC compared with Nafion117, and greatly improved oxidative stability of the synthesized membrane was obtained. This study demonstrated that a semi-interpenetrated sulfonated ST-DVB-AN composited membrane reinforced by PVC polymer network is a promising candidate as an inexpensive polymer electrolyte membrane for fuel cell applications.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.292-303
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• 2022

An eco-friendly energy conversion device without the emission of pollutants has gained much attention due to the rapid use of fossil fuels inducing carbon dioxide emissions ever since the first industrial revolution in the 18th century. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) that can produce water during the reaction without the emission of carbon dioxide are promising devices for automotive and residential applications. As a key component of PEMFCs, polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) need to have high proton conductivity and physicochemical stability during the operation. Currently, perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based PEMs (PFSA-PEMs) have been commercialized and utilized in PEMFC systems. Although the PFSA-PEMs are found to meet these criteria, there is an ongoing need to improve these further, to be useful in practical PEMFC operation. In addition, the well-known drawbacks of PFSA-PEMs including low glass transition temperature and high gas crossover need to be improved. Therefore, this review focused on recent trends in the development of high-performance PFSA-PEMs in three different ways. First, control of the side chain of PFSA copolymers can effectively improve the proton conductivity and thermal stability by increasing the ion exchange capacity and polymer crystallinity. Second, the development of composite-type PFSA-PEMs is an effective way to improve proton conductivity and physical stability by incorporating organic/inorganic additives. Finally, the incorporation of porous substrates is also a promising way to develop a thin pore-filling membrane showing low membrane resistance and outstanding durability.