High-Energy X-ray Diffraction to Understand Desalination Batteries

Improving water desalination required immediate attention. Desalination batteries (DB) provide a low-cost and energy-efficient method to (selectively) remove ions from water using faradaic electrodes. Because DBs are at their infancy, improved understanding is necessary towards their practical implementation. This proposal aims to further the understanding of ion intercalation and degradation phenomena observed in manganese oxide-based DB electrodes by utilizing operando high-energy X-ray diffraction mapping of flow-by reactors. We will investigate Li and Na manganese oxide ((Li/Na0.88)Mn2O4) as intercalation electrodes in both baseline ((Li/Na2SO4) and realistic (synthetic seawater) salt water environments. The results will provide novel information regarding the intercalation mechanism of ions into DB electrodes and their degradation both at the atomic and the full electrode scale towards rational improvements of DBs.