Flowing electrodes in aqueous media – ElectroFluid

Water being an electronically insulating material, electronic conduction between two electrodes immerged in water is solely possible by directly wiring the two electrodes. Such a wiring can be obtained by dispersing electrically conductive particles that are connected and which form a so-called percolated network. The ability to conduct electrons in an aqueous media under flow opens new strategies in the area of energy management or water desalinisation. Here, we propose to study two new concepts of flowing electrodes having a high conductive area while easily flowing. A first route is to take benefit of low percolation threshold of polydisperse dispersions of anisotropic particles under shear. We will use nanoparticles for this study in order to achieve a high specific area while maintaining a high-conductivity and low-viscosity system. A second one is to encapsulate large amount of active particles in a polymer network shaped as beads. In that way, we aim at decoupling the formation of a material having a high active surface and its ability to flow. Such a divided material should flow more easily that the corresponding dispersion of conductive particles since it can deform under stress and presents a smaller friction area. Optimized formulations will be then confronted to one of the applications in a dedicated and homemade flow cell. For this project, we will focus on the flow capacitive deionization process. Ions can adsorb onto the surface of the active material when set under an electrical potential.