BCN nanosheets templated by g-C3N4 for high performance capacitive deionization

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 6; no. 30; pp. 14644 - 14650
• Main Authors: Wang, Shiyong, Wang, Gang, Wu, Tingting, Zhang, Yunqi, Zhan, Fei, Wang, Yuwei, Wang, Jigang, Fu, Yu, Qiu, Jieshan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 2018
• Subjects: Adsorption; Boric acid; Boron; Boron nitride; Carbon nitride; Charge transfer; Deionization; Diffusion rate; electric potential difference; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Ion diffusion; Ions; Nanosheets; Nitrogen; Porosity; Pyrolysis; Saline water; Sodium chloride; surface area; synergism; Synergistic effect
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/c8ta04058c

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is an emerging technology for removing charged ions from saline water and has attracted much attention in recent years. Developing a new electrode material with a reasonable structure is of great significance for obtaining high CDI performance. Herein, two-dimensional (2D) boron carbon nitride (BCN) nanosheets were fabricated using a new approach, which uses g-C3N4 as both the template and the nitrogen source, boric acid as the boron source and a subsequent pyrolysis process. The as-prepared BCN nanosheets show a pore structure with a high specific surface area and were investigated as CDI electrode materials for the first time. Moreover, the high heteroatom content, with a potential synergistic effect of N and B atoms, results in fast ion diffusion and good charge transfer ability. The BCN nanosheets demonstrate a high salt adsorption capacity of 13.6 mg g−1 at 1.4 V applied voltage when the initial NaCl concentration is 500 mg L−1. The BCN electrodes also exhibited better cyclic stability over 15 adsorption–desorption cycles. These results indicate that BCN nanosheets should be practicable candidates for high performance CDI electrode materials.