Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)

Selective capacitive deionization (SCDI) is a promising process for preferentially removing specific ions from waters with complex compositions. The selectivity towards certain species in CDI is most frequently achieved through novel electrode materials with high affinities towards targeted species....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liu, Xun, Rehman, Danyal, Shu, Yufei, Liu, Bei, Wang, Li, Li, Li, Wang, Mengxia, Wang, Kunkun, Han, Qi, Zang, Linlin, Lienhard, John H., Wang, Zhongying
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier BV 2024
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155273
_version_ 1811071776573095936
author Liu, Xun
Rehman, Danyal
Shu, Yufei
Liu, Bei
Wang, Li
Li, Li
Wang, Mengxia
Wang, Kunkun
Han, Qi
Zang, Linlin
Lienhard, John H.
Wang, Zhongying
author_facet Liu, Xun
Rehman, Danyal
Shu, Yufei
Liu, Bei
Wang, Li
Li, Li
Wang, Mengxia
Wang, Kunkun
Han, Qi
Zang, Linlin
Lienhard, John H.
Wang, Zhongying
author_sort Liu, Xun
collection MIT
description Selective capacitive deionization (SCDI) is a promising process for preferentially removing specific ions from waters with complex compositions. The selectivity towards certain species in CDI is most frequently achieved through novel electrode materials with high affinities towards targeted species. In this study, we investigate the selective removal of fluoride ions from groundwater containing concentrated co-existing chloride ions. A carbon nanotube-CeO2 (CNT-CeO2) electrode is employed for the electro-sorption of fluoride ions. Our findings are compelling: when processing a mixed F−/Cl− solution comprising 10 mg/L F− and 100 mg/L Cl−, the CNT-CeO2 electrode is seen to reduce the concentration of F− ions to 1.5 mg/L in just 150 min, amounting to an 85 % F− removal efficiency, while the Cl− removal efficiency remains below 2 %. Importantly, this translates to a F−/Cl− separation factor of up to 4.16 when using the CeO2-based electrodes, which is 40 times higher than that achieved with conventional activated carbon (AC) electrodes. Furthermore, the energy consumption for treating actual groundwater using scaled-up equipment is impressively low at approximately 0.2 kWh/m3. The high affinity of CNT-CeO2 towards fluoride is attributed to the intercalation Faraday capacitance initiated by the reaction between F− with CeO2, as verified by the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). Moreover, EQCM results show a substantial increase in both mass and current as the potential increased beyond 0.8 V vs Ag/AgCl, implying that the current surge is not a result of water splitting but rather the adsorption of F− onto the CNT-CeO2 electrode. The addition of CNTs substantially increases the conductivity of CeO2 electrodes and restricts the aggregation of CeO2, thereby accelerating ion diffusion and promoting selective adsorption characteristics. Importantly, our electro-driven approach demonstrates excellent adsorption–desorption over 20 cycles. This comprehensive study advances the technological development of selective CDI, while providing new insights for fluoride removal in groundwater.
first_indexed 2024-09-23T08:56:02Z
format Article
id mit-1721.1/155273
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
language English
last_indexed 2024-09-23T08:56:02Z
publishDate 2024
publisher Elsevier BV
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1552732024-06-14T05:22:37Z Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI) Liu, Xun Rehman, Danyal Shu, Yufei Liu, Bei Wang, Li Li, Li Wang, Mengxia Wang, Kunkun Han, Qi Zang, Linlin Lienhard, John H. Wang, Zhongying Selective capacitive deionization (SCDI) is a promising process for preferentially removing specific ions from waters with complex compositions. The selectivity towards certain species in CDI is most frequently achieved through novel electrode materials with high affinities towards targeted species. In this study, we investigate the selective removal of fluoride ions from groundwater containing concentrated co-existing chloride ions. A carbon nanotube-CeO2 (CNT-CeO2) electrode is employed for the electro-sorption of fluoride ions. Our findings are compelling: when processing a mixed F−/Cl− solution comprising 10 mg/L F− and 100 mg/L Cl−, the CNT-CeO2 electrode is seen to reduce the concentration of F− ions to 1.5 mg/L in just 150 min, amounting to an 85 % F− removal efficiency, while the Cl− removal efficiency remains below 2 %. Importantly, this translates to a F−/Cl− separation factor of up to 4.16 when using the CeO2-based electrodes, which is 40 times higher than that achieved with conventional activated carbon (AC) electrodes. Furthermore, the energy consumption for treating actual groundwater using scaled-up equipment is impressively low at approximately 0.2 kWh/m3. The high affinity of CNT-CeO2 towards fluoride is attributed to the intercalation Faraday capacitance initiated by the reaction between F− with CeO2, as verified by the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). Moreover, EQCM results show a substantial increase in both mass and current as the potential increased beyond 0.8 V vs Ag/AgCl, implying that the current surge is not a result of water splitting but rather the adsorption of F− onto the CNT-CeO2 electrode. The addition of CNTs substantially increases the conductivity of CeO2 electrodes and restricts the aggregation of CeO2, thereby accelerating ion diffusion and promoting selective adsorption characteristics. Importantly, our electro-driven approach demonstrates excellent adsorption–desorption over 20 cycles. This comprehensive study advances the technological development of selective CDI, while providing new insights for fluoride removal in groundwater. 2024-06-13T20:52:17Z 2024-06-13T20:52:17Z 2024-02 2024-06-13T20:45:33Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1385-8947 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155273 Liu, Xun, Rehman, Danyal, Shu, Yufei, Liu, Bei, Wang, Li et al. 2024. "Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)." Chemical Engineering Journal, 482. en 10.1016/j.cej.2024.149097 Chemical Engineering Journal Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier BV Author
spellingShingle Liu, Xun
Rehman, Danyal
Shu, Yufei
Liu, Bei
Wang, Li
Li, Li
Wang, Mengxia
Wang, Kunkun
Han, Qi
Zang, Linlin
Lienhard, John H.
Wang, Zhongying
Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)
title Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)
title_full Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)
title_fullStr Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)
title_full_unstemmed Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)
title_short Selective fluoride removal from groundwater using CNT-CeO2 electrodes in capacitive deionization (CDI)
title_sort selective fluoride removal from groundwater using cnt ceo2 electrodes in capacitive deionization cdi
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155273
work_keys_str_mv AT liuxun selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT rehmandanyal selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT shuyufei selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT liubei selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT wangli selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT lili selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT wangmengxia selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT wangkunkun selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT hanqi selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT zanglinlin selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT lienhardjohnh selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi
AT wangzhongying selectivefluorideremovalfromgroundwaterusingcntceo2electrodesincapacitivedeionizationcdi