Nanoparticulate Dielectric Overlayer for Enhanced Electric Fields in a Capacitive Deionization Device

The magnitude and distribution of the electric field between two conducting electrodes of a capacitive deionization (CDI) device plays an important role in governing the desalting capacity. A dielectric coating on these electrodes can polarize under an applied potential to modulate the net electric field and hence the salt adsorption capacity of the device. Using finite element models, we show the extent and nature of electric field modulation, associated with changes in the size, thickness, and permittivity of commonly used nanostructured dielectric coatings such as zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). Experimental data pertaining to the simulation are obtained by coating activated carbon cloth (ACC) with nanoparticles of ZnO and TiO2 and using them as electrodes in a CDI device. The dielectric-coated electrodes displayed faster desalting kinetics of 1.7 and 1.55 mg g(-1) min(-1) and higher unsaturated specific salt adsorption capacities of 5.72 and 5.3 mg g(-1) for ZnO and TiO2, respectively. In contrast, uncoated ACC had a salt adsorption rate and capacity of 1.05 mg g(-1) min(-1) and 3.95 mg g(-1), respectively. The desalting data is analyzed with respect to the electrical parameters of the electrodes extracted from cyclic voltammetry and impedance measurements. Additionally, the obtained results are correlated with the simulation data to ascertain the governing principles for the changes observed and advances that can be achieved through dielectric-based electrode modifications for enhancing the CDI device performance.