Capillarity ion concentration polarization as spontaneous desalting mechanism

Sungmin Park, Yeonsu Jung, Seok Young Son, Inhee Cho, Youngrok Cho, Hyomin Lee (), Ho-Young Kim () and Sung Jae Kim ()
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Sungmin Park: Seoul National University
Yeonsu Jung: Seoul National University
Seok Young Son: Seoul National University
Inhee Cho: Seoul National University
Youngrok Cho: Seoul National University
Hyomin Lee: Seoul National University
Ho-Young Kim: Seoul National University
Sung Jae Kim: Seoul National University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract To overcome a world-wide water shortage problem, numerous desalination methods have been developed with state-of-the-art power efficiency. Here we propose a spontaneous desalting mechanism referred to as the capillarity ion concentration polarization. An ion-depletion zone is spontaneously formed near a nanoporous material by the permselective ion transportation driven by the capillarity of the material, in contrast to electrokinetic ion concentration polarization which achieves the same ion-depletion zone by an external d.c. bias. This capillarity ion concentration polarization device is shown to be capable of desalting an ambient electrolyte more than 90% without any external electrical power sources. Theoretical analysis for both static and transient conditions are conducted to characterize this phenomenon. These results indicate that the capillarity ion concentration polarization system can offer unique and economical approaches for a power-free water purification system.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11223

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11223

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