Hussain Humair, Jilani Asim, Salah Numan, Alshahrie Ahmed, Memić Adnan, Ansari Mohammad Omaish, Dutta Joydeep
Center of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jul 16;14(14):2891. doi: 10.3390/polym14142891.
Freshwater reserves are being polluted every day due to the industrial revolution. Man-made activities have adverse effects upon the ecosystem. It is thus the hour of need to explore newer technologies to save and purify water for the growing human population. Capacitive deionization (CDI) is being considered as an emerging technique for removal of excess ions to produce potable water including desalination. Herein, cost-effective activated carbon incorporated with carbon nanotubes (CNT) was used as a freestanding electrode. Further, the desalination efficiency of the designed electrodes was tuned by varying binder concentration, i.e., polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) in the activated carbon powder and CNT mixture. PVDF concentration of 5, 7.5, 10, and 12.5 wt% was selected to optimize the freestanding electrode formation and further applied for desalination of water. PVDF content affected the surface morphology, specific surface area, and functional groups of the freestanding electrodes. Moreover, the electrical conductivity and specific surface area changed with PVDF concentration, which ultimately affected the desalination capacity using the freestanding electrodes. This study paves the way to produce cost effective carbon-based freestanding electrodes for capacitive deionization and other applications including battery electrodes.
由于工业革命，淡水储备每天都在遭受污染。人类活动对生态系统产生了不利影响。因此，现在迫切需要探索更新的技术，为不断增长的人口节约和净化水资源。电容去离子化（CDI）被认为是一种去除过量离子以生产包括海水淡化在内的饮用水的新兴技术。在此，将具有成本效益的活性炭与碳纳米管（CNT）结合用作独立电极。此外，通过改变粘结剂浓度，即活性炭粉末和碳纳米管混合物中的聚偏二氟乙烯（PVDF），来调节所设计电极的脱盐效率。选择5、7.5、10和12.5 wt%的PVDF浓度来优化独立电极的形成，并进一步用于水的脱盐。PVDF含量影响独立电极的表面形态、比表面积和官能团。此外，电导率和比表面积随PVDF浓度而变化，这最终影响了使用独立电极的脱盐能力。这项研究为生产用于电容去离子化及包括电池电极在内的其他应用的具有成本效益的碳基独立电极铺平了道路。
