Recent Advances in Desalination Battery: An Initial Review

Abstract

Desalination is one of the most effective strategies to solve the problem of freshwater shortage, which is one of the most critical challenges facing global development. Recently, the desalination battery has become an emerging desalination technology thanks to its high salt-removal capacity enabled by the high capacity of battery electrodes and low energy consumption mainly rooted from the high energy recovery during the discharge process. To promote the development of the desalination battery, we must understand the recent advances and the remaining issues in the field. Herein, we comprehensively review the development of the concept and the electrode materials for a desalination battery, summarize the performance of a full desalination battery, and propose perspectives and guidelines.

A review of sodium chloride-based electrolytes and materials for electrochemical energy technology

“…So far, approximately a quarter of the world's population is at risk of a shortage of freshwater, and this proportion is exploding every year. 241 The development of high-efficiency and low energy-consumption desalination technology has been recognized as an effective strategy for solving the freshwater crisis. 241 At present, the large-scale desalination technologies 242 include multi-effect distillation, [243][244][245] multi-stage ash distillation, [246][247][248] mechanical vapor compression, [249][250][251] reverse osmosis desalination, [252][253][254] forward osmosis desalination, [255][256][257] membrane distillation [258][259][260] and ion-exchange membrane desalination.…”

“…241 The development of high-efficiency and low energy-consumption desalination technology has been recognized as an effective strategy for solving the freshwater crisis. 241 At present, the large-scale desalination technologies 242 include multi-effect distillation, [243][244][245] multi-stage ash distillation, [246][247][248] mechanical vapor compression, [249][250][251] reverse osmosis desalination, [252][253][254] forward osmosis desalination, [255][256][257] membrane distillation [258][259][260] and ion-exchange membrane desalination. [261][262][263] These methods mainly rely on physical techniques to achieve desalination but all of them require either high energy consumption operation conditions or expensive permeable membranes.…”

“…Some emerging low-energy electrochemical desalination technologies under the inspiration of the energy storage technologies of double electric layer, ion embedding/deembedding or reversible redox reaction, such as CDI and desalination battery, have received much attention. 241,264 CDI technology. In 1960, Blair and Murphy proposed the electrochemical demineralization of water with porous electrodes having a large surface area and the electro-induced ionadsorption desalination theory on porous "inert" electrodes (such as various carbon electrodes) through potential adjustment, which laid the ethical foundation for CDI technology.…”

“…A series of novel and high-efficiency Nastorage (oxides, 286,294-296 phosphates 297-299 and Prussian blue 288,[300][301][302] ) and Cl-storage (Ag/AgCl, 286,303,304 Bi/BiOCl, 287,305 polypyrrole 306 and redox-ploy(silsesquioxane) 307 ) electrode materials have also been developed rapidly. 241 The latest research progress on desalination batteries has been thoroughly summarized in recent reviews, 35,241,242,302 which will not be described in detail here.…”

Desalination Technology in South Korea: A Comprehensive Review of Technology Trends and Future Outlook

“…After the desalination battery was introduced in 2012, it emerged as a next-generation desalination technology [76]. In the past decade, various types of desalination batteries have been developed to enhance desalination capacity, including rocking chair, redox flow, and metal-air desalination batteries [77,78].…”