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Capacitive deionization (CDI) with carbon aerogels has been shown to remove various inorganic species from aqueous solutions, though no studies have shown the electrosorption behavior of multisolute systems in which ions compete for limited surface area. Several experiments were conducted to determine the ion removal capacity and selectivity of carbon aerogel electrodes, using both laboratory and natural waters. Although carbon aerogel electrodes have been treated as electrical double-layer capacitors, this study showed that ion sorption followed a Langmuir isotherm, indicating monolayer adsorption. The sorption capacity of carbon aerogel electrodes was approximately 1.0-2.0 x 10(-4) equiv/g aerogel, with ion selectivity being based on ionic hydrated radius. Monovalent ions (e.g., sodium) with smaller hydrated radii were preferentially removed from solution over multivalent ions (e.g., calcium) on a percent or molar basis. Because of the relatively small average pore size (4-9 nm) of the carbon aerogel material, only 14-42 m2/g aerogel surface area was available for ion sorption. Natural organic matter may foul the aerogel surface and limit CDI effectiveness in treating natural waters.

The preparation and characterization of high surface area ruthenium/carbon aerogel composite electrodes for use in electrochemical capacitors is reported. These new materials have been prepared by the chemical vapor impregnation of ruthenium into carbon aerogels to produce a uniform distribution of adherent ≈20 Å nanoparticles on the aerogel surface. The electrochemically oxidized ruthenium particles contribute a pseudocapacitance to the electrode and dramatically improve the energy storage characteristics of the aerogel. These composites have demonstrated specific capacitances in excess of 200 F/g, in comparison to 95 F/g for the untreated aerogel.

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Commercial carbonaceous materials were examined as lithium intercalation anodes in propylene carbonate (carbons) and ethylene carbonate/dimethyl carbonate (graphites) electrolytes. The reversible capacity (180–355 mAh/g) and the irreversible capacity loss (15–200% based on reversible capacity) depend on the type of binder, carbon type, morphology, and phosphorus doping concentration. A carbon‐based binder was chosen for electrode fabrication, producing mechanically and chemically stable electrodes and reproducible results. Several types of graphites had capacity approaching LiC6 . Petroleum fuel green cokes doped with phosphorous gave more than a 20% increase in capacity compared to undoped samples. Electrochemical characteristics are related to scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, x‐ray diffraction, and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller method measurements.

Results of a study on boiling heat transfer of refrigerant R-113 in a small-diameter (2.92 mm) tube are reported. Local heat transfer coefficients are measured for a range of heat flux (8.8–90.75 kW/m2), mass flux (50–300 kg/m2s), and equilibrium mass quality (0–0.9). The measured coefficients are used to evaluate 10 different heat transfer correlations, some of which have been developed specifically for refrigerants. High heat fluxes and low mass fluxes are inherent in small channels, and this combination results in high boiling numbers. In addition, based on a flow pattern map developed from adiabatic experiments with air-water mixtures, it has been shown that small-diameter channels produce a slug flow pattern over a large range of parameters when compared with larger-diameter channels. The effects of high boiling number and slug flow pattern lead to domination by a nucleation mechanism. As a result, the two-phase correlations that predicted this dominance also predicted the data the best when they properly modeled the physical parameters. The correlation of Lazarek and Black (1982) predicted the data very well. It is also shown that a simple form, suggested by Stephan and Abdelsalam (1980) for nucleate pool boiling, correlates the data equally well; both correlations are within a mean deviation of less than 13 percent. Results are applicable to boiling in compact heat exchangers.