Efficiency Enhancement of Electro-Adsorption Desalination Using Iron Oxide Nanoparticle-Incorporated Activated Carbon Nanocomposite

Abstract

Capacitive deionization (CDI) technology is currently considered a potential candidate for brackish water desalination. In this study, we designed iron oxide nanoparticle-incorporated activated carbon (AC/Fe2O3) via a facile and cost-effective hydrothermal process. The as-synthesized material was characterized using several techniques and tested as electrodes in CDI applications. We found that the distinctive properties of the AC/Fe2O3 electrode, i.e., high wettability, high surface area, unique structural morphology, and high conductivity, resulted in promising CDI performance. The electrosorptive capacity of the AC/Fe2O3 nanocomposite reached 6.76 mg g−1 in the CDI process, with a high specific capacitance of 1157.5 F g−1 at 10 mV s−1 in a 1 M NaCl electrolyte. This study confirms the potential use of AC/Fe2O3 nanocomposites as viable electrode materials in CDI and other electrochemical applications.

Water defluoridation using Al/Fe/Ti ternary metal oxide-loaded activated carbon by capacitive deionization

“…The specific capacitance C (F g −1 ) is evaluated using eqn (2). 41 where I (A) is the current read by the equipment, is the area of the closed CV curve, Δ V is the voltage difference for the potential window, R is the potential scan rate (V s −1 ), and m is the mass of the active material deposited on the electrode (g).…”

Fabrication of Activated Carbon Decorated with ZnO Nanorod-Based Electrodes for Desalination of Brackish Water Using Capacitive Deionization Technology

“…Currently, to improve the CDI cell performance and overcome the disadvantages founded for AC electrodes, nanostructured metal oxides (MOs) have been applied as additives to carbon-based electrodes, achieving an improvement in the desalination performance [ 16 , 17 ]. For instance, ZnO, TiO 2 , SnO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 , and MnO 2 have been widely employed as promising materials for desalination processes owing to their capability to store more electronic charge, high stability, and low toxicity [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Among the metal oxides mentioned above, nanostructured ZnO stands out from the other metal oxides due to its unique chemical and physical features, easy fabrication, lower cost, and high capacitance performance [ 22 ].…”