SBIR Phase I: Improved Electrodes for Capacitive Deionization

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发用于电容去离子的改进的单片碳电极。电容式去离子技术是目前发展起来的一种净化海水和半咸淡井水的新技术。施加恒定电压，可溶盐被收集在多孔碳电极表面，从而净化水供人类消费或工业生产。不幸的是，目前的碳气凝胶电极非常昂贵，而且它们的离子储存能力相对较低。问题是碳气凝胶电极只有很小的孔，这阻碍了离子通过材料的完整和快速传输。一种结合大孔（中孔）和小孔（微孔）的单片碳电极的方法比碳气凝胶电极的生产工艺更容易和更便宜。中孔的好处是，它们允许液体穿透碳，容易进入高表面积的微孔。这大大提高了盐的吸收率和电极的有用容量。在第一阶段，TDA将开发具有正确孔径分布的单片多孔碳电极，用于电容去离子。在第二阶段，生产规模将扩大，碳电极将在商业电容去离子系统中进行测试。商业应用：廉价的介孔碳电极可用于人类消费的电容去离子净化水和工业过程，如锅炉饲料。这些碳电极也可用于电能存储，如无容性能量存储。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project will develop improved monolithic carbon electrodes for capacitive deionization. Capacitive deionization is a new technology being developed for the purification of ocean and brackish well water. A constant voltage is applied and soluble salts are collected on the surface of porous carbon electrodes, thus purifying the water for human consumption or industrial processes. Unfortunately, the current carbon aerogel electrodes are very expensive and their ionstorage capacity is relatively low. The problem is that the carbon aerogel electrodes only have small pores, which prevents complete and rapid ion transport through the material.A route to monolithic carbon electrodes with a combination of large (mesopores) and small pores (micropores) that is much easier and less expensive than the carbon aerogel electrode production process has been developed. The benefit of the mesopores is that they allow the liquid to penetrate the carbon for easy access to the high surface area micropores. This greatly increases the rate of salt uptake and the useful capacity of the electrodes. In Phase I TDA will develop monolithic porous carbon electrodes with the correct pore size distribution for use in capacitive deionization. In Phase II the production will be scaled up and the carbon electrodes will be tested in commercial capacitive deionization systems.Commercial Applications:Inexpensive mesoporous carbon electrodes could be used in capacitive deionization topurify water for human consumption and for industrial processes such as boiler feed.These carbon electrodes may also be useful in electrical energy storage, such as incapacitive energy storage.