The study of capacitive deionization behavior of a carbon nanotube electrode from the perspective of charge efficiency

In this work, the capacitive deionization (CDI) performance of a single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) electrode has been studied from the point view of charge efficiency theory. It is revealed here that the charge efficiency of a CNT electrode is strongly dependent upon the cell voltage and solution concentration. Either the high cell voltage or the low ionic strength results in a high charge efficiency, implying that CDI is expected to be a promising technique for an aqueous solution with low ionic strength. Additionally, it is found that the high decay constant and high electrical double-layer capacity are beneficial to enhance electrosorption performance.