Publication

Sustainable Energy Engineering Lab

Journal

Journal

  • 2026
  • Polysulfone MEA with a seamless binder–membrane interface: Improved performance and gas-crossover control
  • Jung Won Lee, JungWoo Choi, Min Joong Kim*, Won-Chul Cho* Chemical Engineering Journal accepted
  • The catalyst-coated membrane (CCM) approach offers a promising way to overcome the limitations of conventional alkaline water electrolysis (AWE), including high interfacial resistance, uneven catalyst distribution, and significant gas crossover. However, Nafion and other polymer binders for CCM often face a trade-off between catalyst-membrane adhesion and electrochemical performance due to their l…
  • 2026
  • Solvent-free mechanochemical conversion of CO2 into mesoporous SiC: a green route to high-performance catalysts
  • Hae In Lee, Myung Won Seo, Dong Hyun Kim, Hyuk Choi, Ju Hyeok Lee, Mi Yoo, Min-Jae Kim, Yong-Sik Ok, Siddheshwar Dadarao Raut, Dong Hyun Lee, Hyun You Kim*, Kyubock Lee*, Won-Chul Cho* RSC Mechanochemistry accepted
  • Silicon carbide (SiC) is a critical material across structural, electronic, and catalytic applications; however, its conventional synthesis via the Acheson process is highly energy-intensive, operating at 2200–2400 °C with low carbon efficiency. Herein, we report a novel, solvent-free mechanochemical synthesis of mesoporous SiC using CO2 as a sustainable carbon feedstock and SiO2/Mg as earth-abund…
  • 2025
  • Thermally Cured Sulfonated para-PBI as Ion Solvating Membrane for Use in Water Electrolysis
  • Asridin Dayan, DongHyun Lee, Kobra Azizi, Lars Nilausen Cleemann, Won-Chul Cho*, Dirk Henkensmeier* Advanced Energy Materials Published
  • A sulfonated para-PBI membrane is thermally cured at 350 °C for 120 minutes. The thus obtained cMS-PBI membrane is insoluble in hot phosphoric acid solution (< 5% soluble fraction), and is free of the known breaking points under alkaline conditions, i.e. no aromatic ether bonds, no quaternary ammonium groups, no N-alkylated neutral or positively charged imidazole groups. Indeed, a 6 months long al…
  • 2024
  • Separators and Membranes for Advanced Alkaline Water Electrolysis
  • Dirk Henkensmeier,* Won-Chul Cho,* Patric Jannasch,* Jelena Stojadinovic,* Qingfeng Li,* David Aili,* and Jens Oluf Jensen* CHEMICAL REVIEWS accepted
  • Traditionally, alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) uses diaphragms to separate anode and cathode and is operated with 5–7 M KOH feed solutions. The ban of asbestos diaphragms led to the development of polymeric diaphragms, which are now the state of the art material. A promising alternative is the ion solvating membrane. Recent developments show that high conductivities can also be obtained in 1 M K…
  • 2020
  • Preparation of boron-carbide-supported iridium nanoclusters for the oxygen evolution reaction
  • Jahowa Islam, Sang-Kyung Kim, Hyun-Seok Cho, Min-Joong Kim, Won-Chul Cho, Chang-Hee Kim Electrochemistry Communications Accepted
  • Reducing the iridium loading for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is one of the main challenges of polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). This study introduces grape-like iridium nanoclusters supported on boron carbide (B4C) which increase iridium utilization compared to a non-supported iridium catalyst. A simple chemical reduction method with NaBH4 as a reducing agent was use…
  • 2020
  • Renewable methanol synthesis from renewable H2 and captured CO2: How can power-to-liquid technology be economically feasible?
  • Boreum Lee, Hyunjun Lee, Dongjun Lim, Boris Brigljević, Wonchul Cho, Hyun-Seok Cho, Chang-Hee Kim, Hankwon Lim Applied Energy Accepted
  • With the growing concern about environmental issues including high CO2 emission, which is the main contributor to global warming resulting in climate change, CO2 utilization technologies have received much attention. Among diverse technologies, renewable methanol synthesis using H2 generated from the water electrolysis and the CO2 captured from various industrial processes as well as the atmospher…
  • 2021
  • Sacrificial species approach to designing robust transition metal phosphide cathodes for alkaline water electrolysis in discontinuous operation
  • Ik-Sun Kim, Hyun-Seok Cho, MinJoong Kim, Hyun-Jung Oh, Sang-Yeon Lee, Yong-Kul Lee, Changsoo Lee, Jae Hun Lee, Won Chul Cho, Sang-Kyung Kim, Jong Hoon Joo, Chang-Hee Kim Journal of Materials Chemistry A Accepted
  • The degradation of amorphous cobalt phosphides (CoPx) as an electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is studied in the discontinuous operation of alkaline water electrolysis cells (AWEs). Although amorphous CoPx shows a 100-fold enhancement in HER activity over nickel, the kinetic current for the HER is decreased after discontinuous operation. Under the off condition, the cathode …
  • 2021
  • Multi-Layered Sintered Porous Transport Layers in Alkaline Water Electrolysis
  • SANG HO YEOM, YOUNG HWA YUN, SEUNGWOOK CHOI, JIHEE KWON, SECHAN LEE, JAE HUN LEE, CHANGSOO LEE, MINJOONG KIM, SANG-KYUNG KIM, SUKKEE UM, CHANG-HEE KIM, WON CHUL CHO, HYUN-SEOK CHO Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society Accepted
  • The porous transport layer (PTL) is essential to effectively remove oxygen and hydrogen gas from the electrode surface at high current density operation conditions. In this study, the effect of PTL with different characteristics such as pore size, pore gradient, interfacial coating was investigated by multi-layered sintered mesh. A water electrolysis single cell of active area of the 34.56 cm 2 wa…
  • 2023
  • Green hydrogen to tackle the power curtailment: Meteorological data-based capacity factor and techno-economic analysis
  • Joungho Park, Kyung Hwan Ryu, Chang-Hee Kim, Won Chul Cho, MinJoong Kim, Jae Hun Lee, Hyun-Seok Cho, Jay H Lee Applied Energy Accpeted
  • Hydrogen production through water electrolysis stands as a potential remedy for the problem of curtailment, which refers to the deliberate downward adjustment of output power below capacity for the purpose of balancing supply and demand. This study demonstrates how comprehensive system modeling can be used to a priori assess the economics of producing green hydrogen from curtailed renewable energy…
  • 2023
  • A study on the effect of TiO2 nanoparticle size on the performance of composite separators in alkaline water electrolysis
  • Muhammad Farjad Ali, Hyun-Seok Cho, Christian Immanuel Bernäcker, Justin Albers, Choi Young-Woo, MinJoong Kim, Jae Hun Lee, Changsoo Lee, Sechan Lee, Won-Chul Cho Journal of Membrane Science Accpeted
  • Composite separators comprising ceramic filler and thermoplastic polymer are widely used in alkaline electrolyzers due to their stability in harsh conditions. The ceramic filler should possess high chemical stability and strong interaction with the polymer binder. TiO2 is a good filler candidate due to its hydrophilicity and potential capabilities. However, the impact of TiO2 size on composite sep…
  • 2022
  • Zirconia Toughened Alumina-Based Separator Membrane for Advanced Alkaline Water Electrolyzer
  • Muhammad Farjad Ali, Hae In Lee, Christian Immanuel Bernäcker, Thomas Weißgärber, Sechan Lee, Sang-Kyung Kim, Won-Chul Cho Polymers Accepted
  • Hydrogen is nowadays considered a favorable and attractive energy carrier fuel to replace other fuels that cause global warming problems. Water electrolysis has attracted the attention of researchers to produce green hydrogen mainly for the accumulation of renewable energy. Hydrogen can be safely used as a bridge to successfully connect the energy demand and supply divisions. An alkaline water ele…

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