2019 | China | Pan Bole

Attacking Fresh Water Crisis with Waste Materials and Solar Power: Preparation and Electrosorption Desalination Performance of Peanut Shell Based Activated Carbon and Defect-rich MoS2

Water issue adressed: Too little

To address the fresh water crisis, activated carbon was prepared using waste peanut shell and defect-rich MoS2 was synthesized using hydro-thermal method. The materials were then used as electrode materials for capacitive deionization process. The hybrid electrodes reached a capacity of 8.98mg/g. Moreover, a solar-powered, automated, portable machine was assembled and it successfully processed real sea water (TDS=17g/L) to fresh water (TDS=0.2g/L) within nine cycles of adsorption-desorption processes.

This is how I came up with the idea for this project:

When I went back to my dad's home town, I was shocked by its severe living conditions for lacking of fresh water. When I received a chance to conduct research in a university laboratory, I was attracted by the electrosorption, a cheap way to desalinate that can benefit many people.