Intensifying electrified flow-through water treatment technologies via local environment modification

Highlights

● Modifying local environment can intensify the performance of flow-through electrodes.

● Reaction rate and selectivity can be improved by local environment modification.

● Modifications include spatial confinement, enhanced local field, and periodic vortex.

● Near-complete removal of low-concentration emerging contaminants can be realized.

● Electrified flow-through systems are promising for fit-for-purpose water treatment.

Abstract

Removing high-risk and persistent contaminants from water is challenging, because they typically exist at low concentrations in complex water matrices. Electrified flow-through technologies are viable to overcome the limitations induced by mass transport for efficient contaminant removal. Modifying the local environment of the flow-through electrodes offers opportunities to further improve the reaction kinetics and selectivity for achieving near-complete removal of these contaminants from water. Here, we present state-of-the-art local environment modification approaches that can be incorporated into electrified flow-through technologies to intensify water treatment. We first show methods of nanospace incorporation, local geometry adjustment, and microporous structure optimization that can induce spatial confinement, enhanced local electric field, and microperiodic vortex, respectively, for local environment modification. We then discuss why local environment modification can complement the flow-through electrodes for improving the reaction rate and selectivity. Finally, we outline appropriate scenarios of intensifying electrified flow-through technologies through local environment modification for fit-for-purpose water treatment applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Point-of-use water treatment / Electrified membrane / Advection-enhanced mass transport / Water decontamination and disinfection / Emerging contaminants

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Zheng-Yang Huo is an Assistant Professor at Renmin University of China (RUC). He has been awarded the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Commission, the Young Talent Support Project from the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, and the Outstanding Scholar from RUC. He received his B.S. degree in environmental science from Tongji University in 2014, and his Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering from Tsinghua University in 2019. Before joining RUC, he worked as a research professor at Sungkyunkwan University, funded by the Korea Research Fellowship. Dr. Huo’s research vision is to develop sustainable environmental applications for decentralized applications. He has published 40 papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals, including first and corresponding author papers in Nature Water, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Environmental Science & Technology, and Water Research, with >1500 citations and an H-index of 21. Dr. Huo has received funding from the Chinese National NSF Project and the Chinese National Key R&D Program. He is a Youth Editorial Board Member of the Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

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Xiaoxiong Wang is currently an Assistant Professor at Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University (Tsinghua SIGS). He received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2013 and Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2018. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University in 2022. He then became an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Ocean Engineering and the Center of Double Helix of Tsinghua SIGS in 2023. His research focuses on reactive electrified membranes and flow-through electrodes for water treatment, resource recovery, and renewable energy production. He has published over 40 journal papers with nearly 2000 citations (H-index of 22), including first- and corresponding-authored papers on Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Water, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Environmental Science & Technology, and Water Research. He received numerous awards, representative among which include National Distinguished Young Scholar of China in 2023; Outstanding Graduate of School of Environment at Tsinghua University in 2018; and National Scholarship of China for graduate students in 2016

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Xia Huang is a Professor at School of Environment of Tsinghua University, titled the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and the Special Expert of Ministry of Education. Now she is a Director of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control. Her research interests focus on novel wastewater treatment processes coupled with biological, membrane and electrochemical technologies for water, energy and resource recovery. Till now, she has published 5 books, more than 400 journal papers. She is currently the Distinguished Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA) and was Ex-Chair of the IWA Specialist Group on Membrane Technology. She serves as an Editor of Water Research X, and Executive Associate Editor-in-Chief of Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. She was awarded 2009 Environ. Sci. Technol. Best Paper and 2018 Environ. Sci.: Wat. Res. & Technol. Best Paper, the 2nd Class of the State Science and Technology Progress Award thrice from Chinese Government

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Menachem Elimelech is the Sterling Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University. His research focuses on membrane-based technologies at the water-energy nexus, materials for next-generation desalination and water purification membranes, and environmental applications of nanomaterials. Professor Elimelech was the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his research contributions. Notable among these awards are the 2005 Clarke Prize for excellence in water research; election to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2006; Eni Prize for ‘Protection of the Environment’ in 2015; and election to the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017, the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2021, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2022. Professor Elimelech has advised 49 Ph.D. students and 45 postdoctoral researchers, many of whom hold leading positions in academia and industry. In recognition of his excellence in teaching and mentoring, he received the W.M. Keck Foundation Engineering Teaching Excellence Award in 1994, the Yale University Graduate Mentoring Award in 2004, and the Yale University Postdoctoral Mentoring Prize in 2012

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Conflict of Interests

Zheng-Yang Huo is a youth editorial board member, Xia Huang is an editorial board member, and Menachem Elimelech is an advisory board member of Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering. The authors declare that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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