Efficiency Enhancement of Electro-Adsorption Desalination Using Iron Oxide Nanoparticle-Incorporated Activated Carbon Nanocomposite.

Ahmed Yasin,Kyubock Lee,Ahmed Mohamed,Howon Ra,Donghyun Kim,Sungmin Yoon

doi:10.3390/mi12101148

Abstract

Capacitive deionization (CDI) technology is currently considered a potential candidate for brackish water desalination. In this study, we designed iron oxide nanoparticle-incorporated activated carbon (AC/Fe2O3) via a facile and cost-effective hydrothermal process. The as-synthesized material was characterized using several techniques and tested as electrodes in CDI applications. We found that the distinctive properties of the AC/Fe2O3 electrode, i.e., high wettability, high surface area, unique structural morphology, and high conductivity, resulted in promising CDI performance. The electrosorptive capacity of the AC/Fe2O3 nanocomposite reached 6.76 mg g−1 in the CDI process, with a high specific capacitance of 1157.5 F g−1 at 10 mV s−1 in a 1 M NaCl electrolyte. This study confirms the potential use of AC/Fe2O3 nanocomposites as viable electrode materials in CDI and other electrochemical applications.

Highlights

With the growth of the population, increasing environmental pollution, and rapid economic development, the demand for affordable clean water is growing rapidly [1].Owing to the high cost, nonrenewable nature, and environmental hazards resulting from traditional purification methods, it is necessary to search for alternative water purification technologies that are cost-effective and eco-friendly [2]
Considering that brackish water is more prevalent in the world than freshwater, it is attractive to use the large resources of brackish water for human consumption, industry, residential use, and agriculture
The incorporation of iron oxide nanoparticles was beneficial for enhancing the specific capacitance as well as the specific surface area of 3D reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which achieved a much higher NaCl uptake during the Capacitive deionization (CDI) process

Summary

Introduction

With the growth of the population, increasing environmental pollution, and rapid economic development, the demand for affordable clean water is growing rapidly [1]. The incorporation of iron oxide nanoparticles was beneficial for enhancing the specific capacitance as well as the specific surface area of 3D rGO, which achieved a much higher NaCl uptake during the CDI process. These achieved results clearly indicated effectiveness of these novel approaches to further improve the performance of iron oxide nanoparticles-based carbon material for CDI application. AC/Fe2 O3 displayed a lowered charge transfer resistance to illustrate the facile electron transfer step at its surface during the studied CDI experiment This present work could provide helpful guidance on developing efficient CDI electrode material for promising performance

Materials and Methods

Characterization

Electrochemical Properties of the Synthesized Electrode

Electrosorptive Capacity Measurement

Results and Discussion

Conclusions