Exploring Anthracite‐Derived Microporous Activated Carbon for Efficient and Sustainable Electrochemical Desalination in Capacitive Deionization Cell
Yassine Seffar, Adil Sghiouri Idrissi, Jones Alami, Mouad Dahbi
Abstract
Abstract Capacitive deionization (CDI) is an effective method for removing salt from brackish water. In this work, we systematically investigated the effect of temperature and impregnation route on the synthesis of activated carbon from natural anthracite, and its impact on salt removal efficiency (η), salt adsorption capacity (SAC), charge efficiency (Λ), and energy consumption in a symmetric CDI cell. Furthermore, the physical properties of the resulting activated carbon samples were identified by several analysis techniques including X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N 2 sorption‐desorption. In addition, the desalination performances of the electrodes material were assessed by single capacitive deionization (CDI) cell using batch mode in a 50 ppm of NaCl solution at 1.2 V. The sample synthesis with solid impregnation at 900 °C demonstrated a superior performance compared to other activated carbon samples, with a high specific surface area of 3909 m 2 . g −1 , good salt adsorption capacity at 11.15 mg . g −1 and low energy consumption at 185.45 kJ . mol −1 . Notably, the good salt adsorption capacity (SAC) is a direct result of the high surface area, which is achieved through a high proportion of micropores generated during the activation process.