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Exceptional Water Desalination Performance with Anion‐Selective Electrodes
Author(s) -
Arulrajan Antony C.,
Ramasamy Deepika L.,
Sillanpää Mika,
der Wal Albert,
Biesheuvel P. Maarten,
Porada Slawomir,
Dykstra Jouke E.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201806937
Subject(s) - capacitive deionization , electrode , materials science , desalination , membrane , activated carbon , triethoxysilane , chemical engineering , porosity , carbon fibers , inorganic chemistry , surface modification , ion , nanotechnology , adsorption , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , composite number , engineering
Capacitive deionization (CDI) typically uses one porous carbon electrode that is cation adsorbing and one that is anion adsorbing. In 2016, Smith and Dmello proposed an innovative CDI cell design based on two cation‐selective electrodes and a single anion‐selective membrane, and thereafter this design was experimentally validated by various authors. In this design, anions pass through the membrane once, and desalinated water is continuously produced. In the present work, this idea is extended, and it is experimentally shown that also a choice for anion‐selective electrodes, in combination with a cation‐selective membrane, leads to a functional cell design that continuously desalinates water. Anion‐selective electrodes are obtained by chemical modification of the carbon electrode with (3‐aminopropyl)triethoxysilane. After chemical modification, the activated carbon electrode shows a substantial reduction of the total pore volume and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, but nevertheless maintains excellent CDI performance, which is for the first time that a low‐porosity carbon electrode is demonstrated as a promising material for CDI.