Abstract
Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) is a promising technique to achieve desalination of low-salinity water resources. The primary requirements for developing and designing materials for MCDI applications are large surface area, high wettability to water, high conductivity, and efficient ion-transport pathways. Herein, we synthesized ionic covalent organic nanosheets (iCONs) containing guanidinium units that carry a positive charge. A series of quaternized polybenzimidazole (QPBI)/iCON (iCON@QPBI) nanocomposite membranes was fabricated using solution casting. The surface, thermal, wettability, and electrochemical properties of the iCON@QPBI nanocomposite membranes were evaluated. The iCON@QPBI anion-exchange membranes achieved a salt adsorption capacity as high as 15.6 mg g−1 and charge efficiency of up to 90%, which are 50% and 20% higher than those of the pristine QPBI membrane, respectively. The performance improvement was attributed to the increased ion-exchange capacity (2.4 mmol g−1), reduced area resistance (5.4 Ω cm2), and enhanced hydrophilicity (water uptake = 32%) of the iCON@QPBI nanocomposite membranes. This was due to the additional quaternary ammonium groups and conductive ion transport networks donated by the iCON materials. The excellent desalination performance of the iCON@polymer nanocomposite membranes demonstrated their potential for use in MCDI applications and alternative electromembrane processes.
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•Covalent organic nanosheets were embedded into membranes for the first time in MCDI.•Ionic covalent organic nanosheets (iCON) were fabricated based on guanidium units.•iCONs were embedded into quaternized polybenzimidazole (QPBI) polymer matrix.•Membranes with iCON loading displayed improved electrochemical properties.•iCON@QPBI membranes produced superior MCDI performance compared with pristine QPBI.