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Electrode materials are a crucial component for achieving high desalination performance via capacitive deionization (CDI). In the present work, we have successfully fabricated a manganese dioxide (MnO2)/activated carbon (AC) composite electrode using an anodic electrodeposition technique. Surface characterization confirms the presence of electrodeposited MnO2 on the AC surface with an amorphous structure and improved wetting behavior. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements indicate that the MnO2/AC composite electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance (77.6 F g–1 at 5 mV s–1), rate capability, and excellent cycling reversibility for capacitive charge storage. Furthermore, the salt electrosorption capacity is investigated using batch mode experiments at a working voltage of 1.0 V in a 0.01 M NaCl solution. The MnO2/AC composite electrode presents a superior electrosorption capacity of 9.3 mg g–1, which is approximately 1.6-fold higher than that of the pure AC electrode (5.7 mg g–1). This significant improvement can be attributed to the mixed capacitive-Faradaic process, corresponding to the combination of the double-layer charging of the high specific surface area (625 m2 g–1) and the pseudocapacitive redox reaction of MnO2. Therefore, the electrodeposited MnO2/AC composite is a potential electrode material for high-performance CDI.

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• This study quantifies the nexus as energy intensity and greenhouse gas potential.• Baseline water stress and return flow ratio are identified as water risks.• Source water accessibility significantly contributes to variations in the nexus.• Water risks have little impact on the nexus of wastewater systems.• Study on the nexus is suggested to be conducted at regional levels. A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C TThe importance of the interdependence between water and energy, also known as the water-energy nexus, is well recognized. The water-energy nexus is typically characterized in resource use efficiency terms such as energy intensity. This study aims to explore the quantitative results of the nexus in terms of energy intensity and environmental impacts (mainly greenhouse gas emissions) on existing water systems within urban water cycles. We also characterized the influence of water risks on the water-energy nexus, including baseline water stress (a water quantity indicator) and return flow ratio (a water quality indicator). For the 20 regions and 4 countries surveyed (including regions with low to extremely high water risks that are geographically located in Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America), their energy intensities were positively related to the water risks. Regions with higher water risks were observed to have relatively higher energy and GHG intensities associated with their water supply systems. This mainly reflected the major influence of source water accessibility on the nexus, particularly for regions requiring energy-intensive imported or groundwater supplies, or desalination. Regions that use tertiary treatment (for water reclamation or environmental protection) for their wastewater treatment systems also had relatively higher energy and GHG emission intensities, but the intensities seemed to be independent from the water risks. On-site energy recovery (e.g., biogas or waste heat) in the wastewater treatment systems offered a great opportunity for reducing overall energy demand and its associated environmental impacts. Future policy making for the water and energy sectors should carefully consider the waterenergy nexus at the regional or local level to achieve maximum environmental and economic benefits. The results from this study can provide a better understanding of the water-energy nexus and informative recommendations for future policy directions for the effective management of water and energy.

Grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations are employed to study the selective electrosorption of ions from a mixture of symmetric and asymmetric electrolytes confined in pores and results are compared to experimental observations obtained via cyclic voltammetry and batch electrosorption equilibrium experiments. GCMC simulations have the advantage over other Monte Carlo methods to unambiguously quantify the total number of ions in the pore solution. The exclusion parameter and selectivity factor are used to evaluate the selective capacity of pores toward different ionic species under various conditions. The number of coions inside the pore solution is determined by the proportion of different counterions present in the double-layer region. Because of the competitive effects resulting from asymmetries in charge and size associated with different ions, the electrosorption selectivity of small monovalent over large divalent counterions first decreases with increasing surface charge, passes through a minimum, and then increases with further increase in surface charge. At low and moderate surface charge densities, the fact that large divalent counterions preferentially screen the surface charge has a strong effect on pore occupancy; whereas at a very high surface charge density, size-exclusion effects dominate and determine the accessibility of different ions into the pores. Therefore, electrosorption selectivity of ions from a mixture of electrolytes could, in principle, be achieved via tuning the electrical double-layer formation inside the pores through the regulation of surface charge tailored for different ion characteristics. The findings of this work provide important information relevant to ion selectivity during separation processes and energy storage in supercapacitors.

An international workshop identified how pore structures and unique properties that emerge at nano- to sub-nano- size domains can improve the energy efficiency and selectivity of electroseparation or electrocatalytic processes for treating water.

Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) composite-derived carbon exhibiting large surface area and high micropore volume is demonstrated to be a promising electrode material for the capacitive deionization (CDI) application. However, some inherent serious issues (e.g., low electrical conductivity, narrow pore size, relatively low pore volume, etc.) are still observed for nitrogen-doped porous carbon particles, which restrict their CDI performance. To solve the above-mentioned problems, herein, we prepared gold-nanoparticle-embedded ZIF-8-derived nitrogen-doped carbon calcined at 800 °C (Au@NC800) and PEDOT doped-NC-800 (NC800-PEDOT). The newly generated NC800-PEDOT and Au@NC800 electrodes exhibited notably increased conductivity, and they also achieved high electrosorption capacities of 16.18 mg g-1 and 14.31 mg g-1, respectively, which were much higher than that of NC800 (8.36 mg g-1). Au@NC800 and NC800-PEDOT can be promisingly applicable as highly efficient CDI electrode materials.