title: A desalination battery.
abstract: Water desalination is an important approach to provide fresh water around the world, although its high energy consumption, and thus high cost, call for new, efficient technology. Here, we demonstrate the novel concept of a "desalination battery", which operates by performing cycles in reverse on our previously reported mixing entropy battery. Rather than generating electricity from salinity differences, as in mixing entropy batteries, desalination batteries use an electrical energy input to extract sodium and chloride ions from seawater and to generate fresh water. The desalination battery is comprised by a Na(2-x)Mn(5)O(10) nanorod positive electrode and Ag/AgCl negative electrode. Here, we demonstrate an energy consumption of 0.29 Wh l(-1) for the removal of 25% salt using this novel desalination battery, which is promising when compared to reverse osmosis (~ 0.2 Wh l(-1)), the most efficient technique presently available.
authors.affiliation: Analytische Chemie - Zentrum für Elektrochemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, D-44780 Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasta
authors.forename: Colin D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wessells
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La Mantia
mesh_terms: D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004566:Electrodes; D017895:Manganese Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D054712:Salinity; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry; D012964:Sodium / Q000737:chemistry; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D017895:Manganese Compounds; D010087:Oxides; D014867:Water; D012834:Silver; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D012964:Sodium; C016552:manganese dioxide