Daniel here,
Real quick note to the REU team: You all are doing some great work! Very excited to see everyone’s posters at the symposium.
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I had previously mentioned that my research focus may need to change. It has.
Concerning the possibility of MCDI energy regeneration via stored chemical potential within the electrode, it has not been apparent to my mentors or myself that there is a reasonable set of steps towards tackling that goal, at least for the short term. As such, I have reverted to focusing my efforts on discovering methods to achieve improved selective removal of ions in-solution using the MCDI configuration.
I have put together a tentative set of steps to achieve this goal and, thankfully, there is a lot more information here to build on.
1. Academic Journal Review
I have been pulling and reviewing journals on the current state of CDI technology and, specifically, ideas that may be up in the air among the experts regarding how selective removal might be achieved. But in addition, I have been looking at available research regarding selective removal unrelated to CDI tech. I’ve been able to harvest some good ideas there and a lot of info that may be critical to my research going forward. I do not expect to stop reviewing available documents for the duration of the project.
2. Material/Chemical Selection
We coat our electrodes with polymers that operate as ion exchange layers, accepting alternatively cations or anions during the CDI adsorption period. I am looking for a material or chemical known to be selective with ions that we may be able to incorporate into the coating or even as an additional layer. I’ve found a promising material, a layered metal-sulfide known as KMS-1. It’s critical that the substance I choose be suitable for the CDI application in addition to it’s isolated properties.
3. Coating Fabrication
Once the material is selected, it will be an entirely different matter determining how to use the material as a coating or how to otherwise incorporate the substance(s) into the MCDI configuration.
4. Testing and Assessment
We will then perform our normal set of tests on the loaded MCDI cell, examining the ionic content in post-processing samples comparing them with the ionic content of the feed solution. And of course, I hope to see improved selectivity between the ions in-solution.
If anyone has insight on ion selectivity or specific information about KMS-1, I welcome discussion.
More to come soon!
-Daniel S. Cana