Nano-Micro Letters, Volume. 17, Issue 1, 026(2025)

Locally Enhanced Flow and Electric Fields Through a Tip Effect for Efficient Flow-Electrode Capacitive Deionization

Ziquan Wang1、†, Xiangfeng Chen1、†, Yuan Zhang1, Jie Ma2, Zhiqun Lin3, Amor Abdelkader4,5, Maria-Magdalena Titirici6, and Libo Deng1、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People’s Republic of China
  • 2Research Center for Environmental Functional Materials, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, People’s Republic of China
  • 3Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117585, Singapore
  • 4Department of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, England BH12 5BB, UK
  • 5Institut de Chimie de Nice, Université Côte d’Azur, UMR CNRS 7272, 28 Av. Valrose, 06108 Nice, France
  • 6Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Rd, London SW7 2AZ, UK
  • show less

    Low-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) is an emerging desalination technology with great potential for removal and/or recycling ions from a range of waters. However, it still suffers from inefficient charge transfer and ion transport kinetics due to weak turbulence and low electric intensity in flow electrodes, both restricted by the current collectors. Herein, a new tip-array current collector (designated as T-CC) was developed to replace the conventional planar current collectors, which intensifies both the charge transfer and ion transport significantly. The effects of tip arrays on flow and electric fields were studied by both computational simulations and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, which revealed the reduction of ion transport barrier, charge transport barrier and internal resistance. With the voltage increased from 1.0 to 1.5 and 2.0 V, the T-CC-based FCDI system (T-FCDI) exhibited average salt removal rates (ASRR) of 0.18, 0.50, and 0.89 μmol cm-2 min-1, respectively, which are 1.82, 2.65, and 2.48 folds higher than that of the conventional serpentine current collectors, and 1.48, 1.67, and 1.49 folds higher than that of the planar current collectors. Meanwhile, with the solid content in flow electrodes increased from 1 to 5 wt%, the ASRR for T-FCDI increased from 0.29 to 0.50 μmol cm-2 min-1, which are 1.70 and 1.67 folds higher than that of the planar current collectors. Additionally, a salt removal efficiency of 99.89% was achieved with T-FCDI and the charge efficiency remained above 95% after 24 h of operation, thus showing its superior long-term stability.

    Tools

    Get Citation

    Copy Citation Text

    Ziquan Wang, Xiangfeng Chen, Yuan Zhang, Jie Ma, Zhiqun Lin, Amor Abdelkader, Maria-Magdalena Titirici, Libo Deng. Locally Enhanced Flow and Electric Fields Through a Tip Effect for Efficient Flow-Electrode Capacitive Deionization[J]. Nano-Micro Letters, 2025, 17(1): 026

    Download Citation

    EndNote(RIS)BibTexPlain Text
    Save article for my favorites
    Paper Information

    Category: Research Articles

    Received: Jun. 11, 2024

    Accepted: Sep. 5, 2024

    Published Online: Feb. 12, 2025

    The Author Email: Deng Libo (Denglb@szu.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.1007/s40820-024-01531-0

    Topics