{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/117885"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/117885","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Fabrication, characterization, and optimization of porous electrodes for electrochemical desalination","abstract":"Faradaic deionization (FDI) is an emerging technique for the removal of salt ions from water due to Faradaic electrodes, such as those composed of Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), having high ion storage capacity. However, when compared with desalination technologies such as reverse osmosis, FDI is currently limited by impractically high energy consumption and low salt removal. The work in this dissertation is focused on reducing FDI energy consumption per unit salt removed by modifying the electrodes and surrounding desalination system to increase electronic conductivity, ionic conductivity, hydraulic permeability, and active material utilization of PBA electrodes. These modifications range in scale from control over colloidal forces between constituent microscopic particles in the electrode slurry, increasing electrode density, laser-milling of macroscopic ion-conducive patterns into the electrode, flow-through electrode cell design, and construction of an automated recirculating fluid system. Iterations were made as these techniques were developed, with experimental studies testing the reduction of energy consumption over previous designs and leading to the creation of an automated recirculating FDI cell using dense, patterned, highly conductive intercalation electrodes with an eightfold greater electrode area than the initial cell. This novel system can remove more than half the salt from influent with salinity comparable to seawater while achieving a thermodynamic energy efficiency of over 50%, far exceeding the performance of previous FDI systems. Higher removal rates are achievable at the cost of greater energy consumption, however experimental results demonstrate that FDI can be a highly efficient desalination technology. The combination of enhancements at every scale of the system has addressed the most significant practical challenges of FDI and brought the technology closer to viability.","abstract_html":"Faradaic deionization (FDI) is an emerging technique for the removal of salt ions from water due to Faradaic electrodes, such as those composed of Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), having high ion storage capacity. However, when compared with desalination technologies such as reverse osmosis, FDI is currently limited by impractically high energy consumption and low salt removal. The work in this dissertation is focused on reducing FDI energy consumption per unit salt removed by modifying the electrodes and surrounding desalination system to increase electronic conductivity, ionic conductivity, hydraulic permeability, and active material utilization of PBA electrodes. These modifications range in scale from control over colloidal forces between constituent microscopic particles in the electrode slurry, increasing electrode density, laser-milling of macroscopic ion-conducive patterns into the electrode, flow-through electrode cell design, and construction of an automated recirculating fluid system. Iterations were made as these techniques were developed, with experimental studies testing the reduction of energy consumption over previous designs and leading to the creation of an automated recirculating FDI cell using dense, patterned, highly conductive intercalation electrodes with an eightfold greater electrode area than the initial cell. This novel system can remove more than half the salt from influent with salinity comparable to seawater while achieving a thermodynamic energy efficiency of over 50%, far exceeding the performance of previous FDI systems. Higher removal rates are achievable at the cost of greater energy consumption, however experimental results demonstrate that FDI can be a highly efficient desalination technology. The combination of enhancements at every scale of the system has addressed the most significant practical challenges of FDI and brought the technology closer to viability.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Reale, Erik"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Smith, Kyle C","Dillon, Shen","Miljkovic, Nenad","Juarez, Gabriel"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-08","date_published":"2021-08","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:56Z","subjects":["Desalination Porous Electrodes"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2021 Erik Reale"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117885","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Smith, Kyle C","Dillon, Shen","Miljkovic, Nenad","Juarez, Gabriel"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Reale, Erik"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-08","2021-07-16"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Desalination Porous Electrodes"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2021 Erik Reale"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117885"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Faradaic deionization (FDI) is an emerging technique for the removal of salt ions from water due to Faradaic electrodes, such as those composed of Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), having high ion storage capacity. However, when compared with desalination technologies such as reverse osmosis, FDI is currently limited by impractically high energy consumption and low salt removal. The work in this dissertation is focused on reducing FDI energy consumption per unit salt removed by modifying the electrodes and surrounding desalination system to increase electronic conductivity, ionic conductivity, hydraulic permeability, and active material utilization of PBA electrodes. These modifications range in scale from control over colloidal forces between constituent microscopic particles in the electrode slurry, increasing electrode density, laser-milling of macroscopic ion-conducive patterns into the electrode, flow-through electrode cell design, and construction of an automated recirculating fluid system. Iterations were made as these techniques were developed, with experimental studies testing the reduction of energy consumption over previous designs and leading to the creation of an automated recirculating FDI cell using dense, patterned, highly conductive intercalation electrodes with an eightfold greater electrode area than the initial cell. This novel system can remove more than half the salt from influent with salinity comparable to seawater while achieving a thermodynamic energy efficiency of over 50%, far exceeding the performance of previous FDI systems. Higher removal rates are achievable at the cost of greater energy consumption, however experimental results demonstrate that FDI can be a highly efficient desalination technology. The combination of enhancements at every scale of the system has addressed the most significant practical challenges of FDI and brought the technology closer to viability.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2023-08-01","The student, Erik Reale, accepted the attached license on 2021-07-15 at 18:37.","The student, Erik Reale, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-07-16 at 09:24.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-07-16 at 16:39.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16970 on 2023-05-11 at 17:07:19"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Fabrication, characterization, and optimization of porous electrodes for electrochemical desalination"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Smith, Kyle C","Dillon, Shen","Miljkovic, Nenad","Juarez, Gabriel"],"dc:creator":["Reale, Erik"],"dc:date":["2021-08","2021-07-16"],"dc:description":["Faradaic deionization (FDI) is an emerging technique for the removal of salt ions from water due to Faradaic electrodes, such as those composed of Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), having high ion storage capacity. However, when compared with desalination technologies such as reverse osmosis, FDI is currently limited by impractically high energy consumption and low salt removal. The work in this dissertation is focused on reducing FDI energy consumption per unit salt removed by modifying the electrodes and surrounding desalination system to increase electronic conductivity, ionic conductivity, hydraulic permeability, and active material utilization of PBA electrodes. These modifications range in scale from control over colloidal forces between constituent microscopic particles in the electrode slurry, increasing electrode density, laser-milling of macroscopic ion-conducive patterns into the electrode, flow-through electrode cell design, and construction of an automated recirculating fluid system. Iterations were made as these techniques were developed, with experimental studies testing the reduction of energy consumption over previous designs and leading to the creation of an automated recirculating FDI cell using dense, patterned, highly conductive intercalation electrodes with an eightfold greater electrode area than the initial cell. This novel system can remove more than half the salt from influent with salinity comparable to seawater while achieving a thermodynamic energy efficiency of over 50%, far exceeding the performance of previous FDI systems. Higher removal rates are achievable at the cost of greater energy consumption, however experimental results demonstrate that FDI can be a highly efficient desalination technology. The combination of enhancements at every scale of the system has addressed the most significant practical challenges of FDI and brought the technology closer to viability.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2023-08-01","The student, Erik Reale, accepted the attached license on 2021-07-15 at 18:37.","The student, Erik Reale, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-07-16 at 09:24.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-07-16 at 16:39.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16970 on 2023-05-11 at 17:07:19"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117885"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2021 Erik Reale"],"dc:subject":["Desalination Porous Electrodes"],"dc:title":["Fabrication, characterization, and optimization of porous electrodes for electrochemical desalination"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:56Z"}