Ranjan Dash

Water Desalination Using Capacitive Deionization with Microporous Carbon Electrodes

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a water desalination technology in which salt ions are removed from brackish water by flowing through a spacer channel with porous electrodes on each side. Upon applying a voltage difference between the two electrodes, cations move to and are accumulated in electrostatic double layers inside the negatively charged cathode and the anions are removed by the positively charged anode. One of the key parameters for commercial realization of CDI is the salt adsorption capacity of the electrodes. State-of-the-art electrode materials are based on porous activated carbon particles or carbon aerogels. Here we report the use for CDI of carbide-derived carbon (CDC), a porous material with well-defined and tunable pore sizes in the sub-nanometer range. When comparing electrodes made with CDC with electrodes based on activated carbon, we find a significantly higher salt adsorption capacity in the relevant cell voltage window of 1.2-1.4 V. The measured adsorption capacity for four materials tested negatively correlates with known metrics for pore structure of the carbon powders such as total pore volume and BET-area, but is positively correlated with the volume of pores of sizes <1 nm, suggesting the relevance of these sub-nanometer pores for ion adsorption. The charge efficiency, being the ratio of equilibrium salt adsorption over charge, does not depend much on the type of material, indicating that materials that have been identified for high charge storage capacity can also be highly suitable for CDI. This work shows the potential of materials with well-defined sub-nanometer pore sizes for energy-efficient water desalination.

Double-Layer Capacitance of Carbide Derived Carbons in Sulfuric Acid

Nanoporous carbons obtained by selective leaching of Ti and Al from Ti2AlC, as well as B from B4C, were investigated as electrode materials in electric double-layer capacitors. Cyclic voltammetry tests were conducted in 1 M H2SO4 from 0-250 mV on carbons synthesized at 600, 800, 1000, and 1200°C. Results show that the structure and pore sizes can be tailored and that the optimal synthesis temperature is 1000°C. Specific capacitances for Ti2AlC CDCs and B4C CDCs were 175 and 147 F/g, respectively, compared to multiwall carbon nanotubes and two types of activated carbon, measured herein to be 15, 52, and 125 F/g, respectively.