Abstract

Activated carbon fibres (ACFs) are successful electrode materials for capacitive deionization (CDI) owing to their excellent electrochemical properties and commercial availability, for example, with knitted or woven morphology patterns. However, the lack of a common and effective analytical framework to analyse the performance of ACFs is hindering further progress in the area. This study establishes an electrochemical impedance-based method to detect and investigate the electrochemical properties of ACF materials without destroying their original weaving patterns. Five commercial ACFs with two distinct patterns and similar specific surface areas were investigated. Data from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are compared to the desalination performance and energy consumption of the ACFs in a CDI cell. The weaving pattern played a role in the electrochemical properties and desalination performance. The volume-salt adsorption capacities in CDI were related to the volume-specific capacities in EIS, however, there was no significant difference between knitted and woven materials. Linked to EIS features, knitted ACFs consume less energy than woven ACFs for removing the same amount of NaCl from water. These results provide ACF researchers with a new, effective, and readily available approach for measuring the electrochemical performance of ACF materials via EIS.

Original languageEnglish
Article number155397
JournalApplied Surface Science
Volume609
Early online date28 Oct 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Mark Reynolds (Chemviron Carbon Cloth Division, UK) for sponsoring the commercial ACFs, and to Rémi Castaing and Diana Lednitzky (Material and Chemical Characterisation Facility MC2, University of Bath) for helping with the BET and SEM analyses, respectively. Tianting Pang thanks the Santander Postgraduate Mobility Award for supporting her in presenting this work at the ICASS 2022 Conference. This project was supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Research Fellowship scheme.

Keywords

  • Activated carbon fibre
  • Capacitive deionization
  • Desalination
  • Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
  • Energy consumption
  • Weaving pattern

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Surfaces, Coatings and Films

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