title: Enhancing capacitive deionization performance of electrospun activated carbon nanofibers by coupling with carbon nanotubes.
abstract: Capacitive deionization (CDI) is an alternative, effective and environmentally friendly technology for desalination of brackish water. The performance of the CDI device is highly determined by the electrode materials. In this paper, a composite of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in activated carbon nanofiber (ACF) was prepared by a direct co-electrospinning way and subsequent CO2 activation. The introduction of CNTs can greatly improve the conductivity while the CO2-mediated activation can render the final product with high porosity. As such, the hybrid structure can provide an excellent storage space and pathways for ion adsorption and conduction. When evaluated as electrode materials for CDI, the as-prepared CNT/ACF composites with higher electrical conductivity and mesopore ratios exhibited higher electrosorption capacity and good regeneration performance in comparison with the pure ACF.
authors.affiliation: Carbon Research Laboratory, Liaoning Key Lab for Energy Materials and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Fine Chemical, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Carbon Research Laboratory, Liaoning Key Lab for Energy Materials and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Fine Chemical, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China; Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Carbon Research Laboratory, Liaoning Key Lab for Energy Materials and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Fine Chemical, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Carbon Research Laboratory, Liaoning Key Lab for Energy Materials and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Fine Chemical, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Senpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Carbon Research Laboratory, Liaoning Key Lab for Energy Materials and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Fine Chemical, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. Electronic address: jqiu@dlut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jieshan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004566:Electrodes; D004595:Electroplating / Q000379:methods*; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D012965:Sodium Chloride
keywords: CNTs; Capacitive deionization; Carbon nanofibers; Electrospinning