A comprehensive review on flow-electrode capacitive deionization: Design, active material and environmental application

Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) is a special type of CDI, flowable slurry is used as the flow electrode instead of the fixed electrode. Compared to fixed-electrode CDI, FCDI has the advantage of unlimited desalination capacity, continuous desalination, and easy scale upgrade. Thus, FCDI has attracted the interest of many scholars. In this review, we summarize and compare the progress of FCDI researches in terms of the perspective of the design of FCDI cell structure, operating mode of FCDI, the component of flow phase and environmental applications. Finally, some possible problems of the current stage of FCDI technology are presented and the future direction of FCDI is outlined.

Automated summary

This review summarizes the advantages of flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI), focusing on the progress of FCDI research in terms of cell structure design, operating mode, flow phase component, and environmental applications. Possible challenges of current FCDI technology are presented, along with outlining the future direction of FCDI.