Nitrogen-Doped Hollow Mesoporous Carbon Spheres for\nEfficient Water Desalination by Capacitive Deionization

Abstract

Water desalination\nperformance of capacitive deionization (CDI)\nlargely depends on electrode materials properties. Rational design\nand regulation of the structure and composition of electrode materials\nto acquire high CDI performance is of great significance. Herein,\nnitrogen-doped hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (N-HMCSs) were investigated\nas electrode material for CDI application. To understand the effect\nof structure and composition on CDI performance, another two CDI electrode\nmaterials, i.e., hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (HMCSs) and solid\nmesoporous carbon spheres (SMCSs) were prepared for comparison. The\nobtained N-HMCSs possessed unique hollow cavity and excellent nitrogen\ndoping property, resulting in fast ion diffusion, good charge transfers\nability and fine wettability. Compared with HMCSs and SMCSs electrodes,\nN-HMCSs electrode exhibited an improved electrosorption capacity and\nrate, demonstrating the dependence of CDI performance on the synergistic\neffect of hollow structure and nitrogen doping property. N-HMCSs electrode\nalso present excellent cycle stability over 20 adsorption–desorption\ncycles. These results indicate the promising prospect of N-HMCSs for\nCDI application.