For the past several years, assistant professor Kyle Smith has proven his growing expertise in the field of water desalination, with a range of research results that could address the immediate need to combat diminishing clean water sources around the world.
Now, with a new publication and new research project funded by the National Science Foundation, he continues to build on his highly praised work to develop new methods of deionizing saltwater.
The paper, “Effect of Conductive Additives on the Transport Properties of Porous Flow-Through Electrodes with Insulative Particles and their Optimization for Faradaic Deionization,” published this week in Water Research, demonstrated promising results for energy-efficient desalination of alternative water resources. Smith’s newest work, spear-headed by his doctoral student Erik Reale, involves deionization devices that can reversibly store and release cations using intercalation materials, a class of materials commonly used for rechargeable batteries. This work in particular addresses the challenge of cycling intercalation materials with fast rates of electron, ion, and fluid transport, features that are difficult to achieve simultaneously in a single system.
Read more at University of Illinois College of Engineering
Photo: Assistant Professor Kyle Smith. CREDIT: University of Illinois.