High Electrosorption Capacity Electrodes for Capacitive Deionization
Kelsey B. Hatzell1, Etsuro Iwama2, Barbara Daffos2, Pierre-Louis Taberna2, Theo Tzedakis2, Alexei Gogotsi3 , Patrice Simon2, Yury Gogotsi1
1 A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, Materials Science and Engineering Department, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
2 Université Paul Sabatier, CIRIMAT UMR CNRS 5085, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France
3 Materials Research Centre, 03680 Kiev, Ukraine
Abstract
In water stressed regions across the globe, the rate of abstraction from deep aquifers often exceeds the rate of recharge. This leads to water shortages that are sometimes irreversible. In order to address these water shortages, researchers are looking to the most abundant of source water present on earth, seawater. However, to transform seawater into clean drinking water requires a range of energy intensive processes. Such processes include Reverse Osmosis, UV disinfection and Thermal Distillation. The most promising of these technologies is Reverse Osmosis, which can achieve 1.8 kWh/m3 in current commercial plants [1]. Nevertheless, this technology is fundamentally hindered by membrane fouling and slow water transport [2]. Thus, there has been a movement toward technologies that do not use membranes, and toward technologies that remove the minority component (salt) rather than the majority component (water) [3].
Capacitive Deionization (CDI) is the process of removing ions from brackish/seawater by applying a potential between two electrodes, adsorbing ion on the surface, and producing clean water. Carbon materials are favorable as electrode materials in CDI systems because they exhibit high electric conductivity (~100 S m-1), specific surface area (up to 2000 m2 g-1), and high electrochemical stability. Herein, we report the use of spherical activated carbon beads (BET SSA 1219 m2 g-1) as the active material for electrodes for a capacitive deionization system. In a 0.15 M solution of NaCl at 10 mV s-1 the electrodes demonstrate a capacitance of 58 F/g which is on par with recently reported electrode capacitances. These results indicate that with further optimization, the spherical geometry of the particles may yield enhanced electrosorption capacity for CDI.
References:
1. Elimelech, M.; Phillip, W.A. The Future of seawater desalination: Energy, technology, and the environment. Science 2011, 333-712-717.
2. Wang, Evelyn and Karnik, Rohit. Graphene Cleans up water. Nature Nanotechnology, 2012.
3. Porada, S., Weinstein, L., Dash, R., Van Der Wal, A., Bryjak, M., Gogotsi, Y., & Biesheuvel, P. M. Water desalination using capacitive deionization with microporous carbon electrodes. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 4(3), 1194-1199, 2012.
The 224th ECS Meeting in San Francisco, California | October 27 – November 1, 2013
The 224th Electrochemical Society ECS Meeting was held in the heart of San Francisco, at the meeting headquarters hotel, the Hilton San Francisco (333 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA 94102). ECS bridges the gaps among academia, research, and engineering—bringing together scientists from around the world for the exchange of technical information...
MXenes potential applications include sensors, wound healing materials, and drug delivery systems. A recent study explored how different synthesis methods affect the safety and performance of MXenes. By comparing etching conditions and intercalation strategies, researchers discovered that fine-tuning the surface chemistry of MXenes plays a crucial role in improving biocompatibility. These results provide practical guidelines for developing safer MXenes and bring the field one step closer to real biomedical applications.
Exellent news, our joint patent application with Drexel University on highly porous MAX phase precursor for MXene synthesis published. Congratulations and thanks to all team involved!
Last Call! Have you submitted your abstract for IEEE NAP-2025 yet? Join us at the International Symposium on "The MXene Frontier: Transformative Nanomaterials Shaping the Future" – the largest MXene-focused conference in Europe this year! Final Submission Deadline: May 15, 2025. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to showcase your research and engage with world leaders in the MXene field!
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Congratulations and thank you to our collaborators from TU Wien and CEST for very interesting work and making it published! In this work, an upscalable electrochemical MXene synthesis is presented. Yields of up to 60% electrochemical MXene (EC-MXene) with no byproducts from a single exfoliation cycle are achieved.
Congratulations to all collaborators with this interesting joint work!
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MRC and Carbon-Ukraine team visited the 3rd International MXene conference held at Drexel University on August 5-8, 2024. Conference brought together the best reserchers and leading experts on MXene field. 
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