New Era of Fuel Cells Opened via Exsolution of Nanoparticles
New Era of Fuel Cells Opened via Exsolution of Nanoparticles
  • reporter Kim Min-gyu
  • 승인 2019.05.17 11:21
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▲Prof.Jang Hyun-myung (MSE)
▲Prof.Jang Hyun-myung (MSE)

Fuel cells, receiving spotlight as eco-friendly future energy, has its limits in durability and efficiency. Improving thermal stability and catalytic properties of electrode material of fuel cells to overcome these problems has been regarded as a key mission in commercializing fuel cells.
A Research team led by Professor Jang Hyun-myung (MSE) and Han hyun (MSE, Ph.D. candidate) developed a technology that uses the lattice transformation of thin-films to facilitate the exsolution of nanocatalytic particles, which represent outstanding thermal stability. The study was published in the Nature Communications, an international journal of science and technology. 
So far, the exsolution of nanoparticles has mainly been conducted on bulk materials with multi-crystalline structures. The research team succeeded in exsolution of nanoparticles of the high particle density of more than 1,100/μm2 and small nanoparticles of about 5nm by adjusting the degree of lattice deformation in thin films that have single crystal structures. 
The technology is expected to be a key technology in portable thin-film fuel cells because of its various advantages including high thermal stability, low-temperature for operation and rapid particle generation. It has 3 times higher density and one third nanoparticle size than the nanoparticles exsolution in multi-crystalline bulk. These factors are known to directly affect the efficiency of energy devices.
Meanwhile, this study was conducted with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea’s basic science research project and was conducted with support from Dr. Park Joo-chul and Nam Sang-yeol of the GERI, Dr. Kim Gun-joong and Professor Choi Kyung-man of POSTECH, Professor Stuart Parkin of the Institute of Max Planck, and Professor John Irvine of the University of St. Andrews.