Nanowire-Modified Three-Dimensional Electrode Enabling Low-Voltage Electroporation for Water Disinfection
Abstract
More than 10% of the people in the world still suffer from inadequate access to clean water. Traditional water disinfection methods (e.g., chlorination and ultraviolet radiation) include concerns about the formation of carcinogenic disinfection byproducts (DBPs), pathogen reactivation, and/or excessive energy consumption. Recently, a nanowire-assisted electroporation–disinfection method was introduced as an alternative. Here, we develop a new copper oxide nanowire (CuONW)-modified three-dimensional copper foam electrode using a facile thermal oxidation approach. An electroporation–disinfection cell (EDC) equipped with two such electrodes has achieved superior disinfection performance (>7 log removal and no detectable bacteria in the effluent). The disinfection mechanism of electroporation guarantees an exceedingly low operation voltage (1 V) and level of energy consumption (25 J L^(–1)) with a short contact time (7 s). The low operation voltage avoids chlorine generation and thus reduces the potential of DBP formation. Because of irreversible electroporation damage on cell membranes, no regrowth and/or reactivation of bacteria occurs during storage after EDC treatment. Water disinfection using EDCs has great potential for practical applications.
Additional Information
© 2016 American Chemical Society. Received: March 1, 2016; Revised: June 22, 2016; Accepted: June 24, 2016; Published: June 24, 2016. This study was supported by Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51138006). The Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality also supported this research. The authors declare no competing financial interest.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - es6b01050_si_001.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 69204
- DOI
- 10.1021/acs.est.6b01050
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20160725-140559224
- 51138006
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality
- Created
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2016-07-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-11Created from EPrint's last_modified field