Flow-electrode capacitive deionization: A review and new perspectives.

Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI), as a novel electro-driven desalination technology, has attracted growing exploration towards brackish water treatment, hypersaline water treatment, and selective resource recovery in recent years. As a flow-electrode-based electrochemical technology, FCDI has similarities with several other electrochemical technologies such as electrochemical flow capacitors and semi-solid fuel cells, whose performance are closely coupled with the characteristics of the flow-electrodes. In this review, we sort out the potentially parallel mechanisms of electrosorption and electrodialysis in the FCDI desalination process, and make clear the importance of the flowable capacitive electrodes. We then adopt an equivalent circuit model to distinguish the resistances to ion transport and electron transport within the electrodes, and clarify the importance of electronic conductivity on the system performance based on a series of electrochemical tests. Furthermore, we discuss the effects of electrode selection and flow circulation patterns on system performance (energy consumption, salt removal rate), review the current treatment targets and system performance, and then provide an outlook on the research directions in the field to support further applications of FCDI.

Novel Electrochemical Flow Sensor Based on Sensing the Convective-Diffusive Ionic Concentration Layer.

Presented is a novel flow sensor based on electrochemical sensing of the ionic concentration-polarization (CP) layer developed within a microchannel-ion permselective membrane device. To demonstrate the working principle of the electrochemical flow sensor, the effect of advection on the transient and steady-state ionic concentration-polarization (CP) phenomenon in microchannel-Nafion membrane systems is studied. In particular, we focused on the local impedance, measured using an array of electrode pairs embedded at the bottom of the microchannel, as well as the total current across the permselective medium, as two approaches for estimating the flow. We examined both a stepwise application of CP under steady-state flow and a stepwise application of flow under steady-state CP.

Effect of advection on transient ion concentration-polarization phenomenon.

Here, we studied the effect of advection on the transient ion concentration-polarization phenomenon in microchannel-membrane systems. Specifically, the temporal evolution of the depletion layer in a system that supports net flow rates with varying Péclet values was examined. Experiments complemented with simplified analytical one-dimensional semi-infinite modeling and numerical simulations demonstrated either suppression or enhancement of the depletion layer propagation against or with the direction of the net flow, respectively. Of particular interest was the third-species fluorescent dye ion concentration-polarization dynamics which was further explained using two-dimensional numerical simulations that accounted for the device complex geometry.

Ion current rectification in funnel-shaped nanochannels: Hysteresis and inversion effects.

Ion current rectification inversion is observed in a funnel-shaped nanochannel above a threshold voltage roughly corresponding to the under-limiting to over-limiting current transition. Previous experimental studies have examined rectification at either low-voltages (under-limiting current region) for conical nanopores/funnel-shaped nanochannels or at high-voltages (over-limiting region) for straight nanochannels with asymmetric entrances or asymmetric interfacing microchannels. The observed rectification inversion occurs because the system resistance is shifted, beyond a threshold voltage, from being controlled by intra-channel ion concentration-polarization to that controlled by external concentration-polarization. Additionally, strong hysteresis effects, due to residual concentration-polarization, manifest themselves through the dependence of the transient current rectification on voltage scan rate.