Amino acids functionalized vascular-like carbon fibers for efficient capacitive deionization

Porous carbons have attracted great attention in capacitive deionization (CDI), benefiting from their high surface areas and abundant adsorption sites. However, the sluggish adsorption rate and poor cycling stability of carbons are still concerns, which are caused by the insufficient ion-accessible networks and the side reactions (the co-ion repulsion and oxidative corrosion). Herein, inspired by the blood vessels in organisms, mesoporous hollow carbon fibers (HCF) were successfully synthesized via a template assisted coaxial electrospinning strategy. Subsequently, the surface charge of HCF was modified by various amino acids (arginine (HCF-Arg) and aspartic acid (HCF-Asp)). Combining structure design and surface modulation, these freestanding HCFs present enhanced desalination rate and stability, in which the hierarchal vasculature facilitates electron/ion transport, and the functionalized surface suppresses the side reactions. Impressively, when HCF-Asp and HCF-Arg serve as cathode and anode respectively, the asymmetric CDI device provides an excellent salt adsorption capacity of 45.6 mg g−1, a fast salt adsorption rate of 14.0 mg g−1 min−1 and a superior cycling stability up to 80 cycles. In short, this work evidenced an integrated strategy to exploiting carbon materials with outstanding capacity and stability for high-performance capacitive deionization.