• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.97-114
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• 2016

Lithium batteries based on elemental sulfur as the cathode-active material capture great attraction due to the high theoretical capacity, easy availability, low cost and non-toxicity of sulfur. Although lithium/sulfur (Li/S) primary cells were known much earlier, the interest in developing Li/S secondary batteries that can deliver high energy and high power was actively pursued since early 1990’s. A lot of technical challenges including the low conductivity of sulfur, dissolution of sulfur-reduction products in the electrolyte leading to their migration away from the cathode, and deposition of solid reaction products on cathode matrix had to be tackled to realize a high and stable performance from rechargeable Li/S cells. This article presents briefly an overview of the studies pertaining to the different aspects of Li/S batteries including those that deal with the sulfur electrode, electrolytes, lithium anode and configuration of the batteries.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.183-196
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• 2017

The research efforts directed at advancing water electrolysis technology continue to intensify together with the increasing interest in hydrogen as an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels. Among the various water electrolysis systems reported to date, systems employing a solid polymer electrolyte membrane are known to display both improved safety and efficiency as a result of enhanced separation of products: hydrogen and oxygen. Conducting water electrolysis in an alkaline medium lowers the system cost by allowing non-platinum group metals to be used as catalysts for the complex multi-electron transfer reactions involved in water electrolysis, namely the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER, respectively). We briefly review the anion exchange membranes (AEMs) and electrocatalysts developed and applied thus far in alkaline AEM water electrolysis (AEMWE) devices. Testing the developed components in AEMWE cells is a key step in maximizing the device performance since cell performance depends strongly on the structure of the electrodes containing the HER and OER catalysts and the polymer membrane under specific cell operating conditions. In this review, we discuss the properties of reported AEMs that have been used to fabricate membrane-electrode assemblies for AEMWE cells, including membranes based on polysulfone, poly(2,6-dimethyl-p-phylene) oxide, polybenzimidazole, and inorganic composite materials. The activities and stabilities of tertiary metal oxides, metal carbon composites, and ultra-low Pt-loading electrodes toward OER and HER in AEMWE cells are also described.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2019

Electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) which are fabricated using carbon based electrodes have been emerging at an alarming rate to fulfill the energy demand in the present day world. Activated charcoal has been accepted as a very suitable candidate for electrodes but its cost is higher than natural graphite. Present study is about fabrication of EDLCs using composite electrodes with activated charcoal and Sri Lankan natural graphite as well as a gel polymer electrolyte which is identified as a suitable substitute for liquid electrolytes. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Cyclic Voltammetry and Galvanostatic Charge Discharge test were done to evaluate the performance of the fabricated EDLCs. Amount of activated charcoal and natural graphite plays a noticeable role on the capacity. 50 graphite : 40 AC : 10 PVdF showed the optimum single electrode specific capacity value of 15 F/g. Capacity is determined by the cycling rate as well as the potential window within which cycling is being done. Continuous cycling resulted an average single electrode specific capacity variation of 48 F/g - 16 F/g. Capacity fading was higher at the beginning. Later, it dropped noticeably. Initial discharge capacity drop under Galvanostatic Charge Discharge test was slightly fast but reached near stable upon continuous charge discharge process. It can be concluded that initially some agitation is required to reach the maturity. However, the results can be considered as encouraging to initiate studies on EDLCs using Sri Lankan natural graphite.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.440-447
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• 2006

Solid polymer electrolyte(SPE) membrane with electrodes embedded on both faces offer unique possibilities for the electrochemical cells like water electrolyzer with fuel cell. The Nafion 117 membrane was used as the SPE, and $Pt(NH_3)_4Cl_2$ and $NaBH_4$ as the electrocatalysts and reducing agent, respectively. The 'impregnation-reduction(I-R) method' has been investigated as a tool for the preparation of electrocatalysts for water electrolyzer by varying the concentration of reducing agent and reduction time at fixed concentration of platinum salt, 5 mmol/L. Pt-SPE electrocatalysts prepared by non-equilibrium I-R method showed the lowest cell voltage of 2.17 V at reduction time, 90 min and with concentration of reducing agent 0.8 mol/L and the cell voltage with those by equilibrium I-R method was 2.42 V at reduction time, 60 min and with concentration of reducing agent 0.8 mol/L. The cell voltage were obtained at a current density $1\;A/cm^2$ and $80^{\circ}C$. In water electrolysis, hydrogen production efficiency by Pt-SPE electrocatalyst is 68.2% in case of non-equilibrium I-R method and 61.2% at equilibrium I-R method.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.214-214
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• 2003

고체 고분자 전해질에 대한 연구는 1979년 wright와 Armand에 처음 시작된 이래로 지난 20여년간 연구가 계속적으로 지속되고 있다. 전지의 적용되기 위해 전해질이 갖추어야 할 조건중에 이온전도도가 상온에서 10-4 S/cm 이상의 전도도를 나타내야 하지만 지금까지 연구되고 있는 여러 고체 고분자 전해질은 이런 조건을 만족시키지 못하고 있는 실정이다. 본 연구에서는 이런 상온에서의 이온 전도성을 향상시키기 위해 여러 종류의 실리카와 세라믹 계열의 첨가제를 첨가하여 이온전도성의 향상을 꾀하고자 하였다. 본 연구에서는 고체 고분자 전해질의 host polymer로써 분자량 400,000 의 Polyethylene oxide를 사용하였으며 Lithuim salt로는 Lithium (bisperfluroethylsulfonyl)imide(3M)를 기본적으로 사용하였다. 여기에 가소제의 역활로써 (3-cyanopropyl)methylsiloxane cyclics를 첨가하였고 표면그룹이 CH3와 OH기로 이루어진 기능성 나노 실리카를(<11nm)이용하여 함량별 전기 화학적 특성 및 기본 물성을 측정하였다. 기본적으로 이 네 가지 물질을 유기용매 Acetonitril에 잘 용해하여 Solid Casting방법으로 80-100 마이크로의 복합고분자 전해질을 제조하였다. Homogeneous하고 uniform한 필름 제조하기 위해 9$0^{\circ}C$에서 열처리를 24h 동안 실시하였다. 제조되어진 복합고분자전해질은 XRD를 통하여 결정성을 조사하였고 DSC를 이용하여 유리 전이온도 및 결정화도를 조사하였다. 복합고체고분자의 전기화학적 성질을 평가하기 위해 blocking electrode를 제작하여 임피던스 스펙트로 스코피를 이용하여 이온전도성을 측정하였다. 또한 복합 고분자 전해질의 온도의존성에 대해서도 조사하였다. 또한 실제 전지의 작동구간에서의 전해질의 안정성을 확인하기 위해 LSV를 측정하였고. Li metal을 사용하여 non-blocking electrode를 제작하여 복합고분자 전해질과의 계면저항을 측정하였다.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1996.07c
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• pp.1414-1417
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• 1996

The purpose of this study Is to research and develop $V_{6}O_{13}$ composite cathode for lithium thin film battery. $V_{6}O_{13}$ represents a class of cathode active material used in Li rechargeable batteries. In this study, we investigated cyclic voltammetry and charge/discharge characteristics of $V_6O_{13}$/SPE/Li cells. Cyclic voltammogram of $V_{6}O_{13}$/SPE/Li cell at scan rate 1mV/sec showed reduction peaks of 2.25V and 2.4V and oxidation peaks of 2.4V and 2.2V. The discharge curve of $V_{6}O_{13}$/SPE/Li cell showed 4 potential plateaus. The discharge capacity was decreased in the beginning of charge/discharge cycling. After 8th cycling, the discharge capacity was stable. The discharge capacity of 1st cycle and 15th cycle was 290mAh/g and 147mAh/g at $25^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.468-475
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• 2011

[ $LaMeO_3$ ](Me = Cr, Co) powders were prepared using the polymeric precursor method. The effects of the chelating agent and the polymeric additive on the synthesis of the $LaMeO_3$ perovskite were studied. The samples were synthesized using ethylene glycol (EG) as the solvent, acetyl acetone (AcAc) as the chelating agent, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as the polymer additive. The thermal decomposition behavior of the precursor powder was characterized using a thermal analysis (TG-DTA). The crystallization and particle sizes of the $LaMeO_3$ powders were investigated via powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and particle size analyzer, respectively. The as-prepared precursor primarily has $LaMeO_3$ at the optimum condition, i.e. for a molar ratio of both metal-source (a : a) : EG (80a : 80a) : AcAc (8a) inclusive of 1 wt% PVP. When the as-prepared precursor was calcined at $700^{\circ}C$, only a single phase was observed to correspond with the orthorhombic structure of $LaCrO_3$ and the rhombohedral structure of $LaCoO_3$. A solid-electrolyte impedance-metric sensor device composed of $Li_{1.5}Al_{0.5}Ti_{1.5}(PO_4)_3$ as a transducer and $LaMeO_3$ as a receptor has been systematically investigated for the detection of NOx in the range of 20 to 250 ppm at $400^{\circ}C$. The sensor responses were able to divide the component between resistance and capacitance. The impedance-metric sensor for the NO showed higher sensitivity compared with $NO_2$. The responses of the impedance-metric sensor device showed dependence on each value of the NOx concentration.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.181-185
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• 2010

Polyaniline-ionic liquid composite was prepared and investigated its physical and electrochemical properties. The quasi-solidification was presented in imidazolium-based ionic liquid (1-methly-3-propylimidazolium iodide, PMI-I) containing above 30 wt% of polyaniline (emeraldine base), which exhibited around 80% decrease of conductivity compared to pristine ionic liquid, resulting in fibril structure trough ${\pi}-{\pi}$ self-assembled of imidazolium aromatic ring of ionic liquid on polyaniline framework.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2022

Lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted considerable attention as a promising candidate for next-generation power sources due to their high theoretical energy density, low cost, and eco-friendliness. However, the poor electrical conductivity of sulfur and its insoluble discharging products (Li₂S₂/Li₂S), large volume changes, severe self-discharge, and dissolution of lithium polysulfide intermediates result in rapid capacity fading, low Coulombic efficiency, and safety risks, hindering Li-S battery commercial development. In this study, a three-dimensionally (3D) connected hierarchical porous carbon framework (HPCF) derived from waste sunflower seed shells was synthesized as a sulfur host for Li-S batteries via a chemical activation method. The natural 3D connected structure of the HPCF, originating from the raw material, can effectively enhance the conductivity and accessibility of the electrolyte, accelerating the Li⁺/electron transfer. Additionally, the generated micropores of the HPCF, originated from the chemical activation process, can prevent polysulfide dissolution due to the limited space, thereby improving the electrochemical performance and cycling stability. The HPCF/S cell shows a superior capacity retention of 540 mA h g^-1 after 70 cycles at 0.1 C, and an excellent cycling stability at 2 C for 700 cycles. This study provides a potential biomass-derived material for low-cost long-life Li-S batteries.