Table 1. Summary of the structural, elemental, physical, and CDI properties of PCF, CF, and AC.
| PCF | CF | AC | ||
| Source | PMMA-b-PAN | PAN | Commercial | |
| Physical properties | Peak pore size (nm) | 12.7 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| CO2 BET surface area (m2 g−1) |
132.9 ± 2.4 | 57.9 ± 1.1 | 93.8 ± 2.3 | |
| N2 BET surface area (m2 g−1) |
639.9 ± 2.7 | 144.6 ± 0.2 | 1317.0 ± 6.0 | |
| Effective desalination surface area (m2 g−1) |
127.4 | 31.8 | 44.1 | |
| Micropore volume (cm3 g−1) | 0.09 | 0.04 | 0.06 | |
| Meso- and macro-pore volume (cm3 g−1) |
0.32 | 0.03 | 0.30 | |
| Contact angle | (Completely wet) | (Completely wet) | 95° | |
| Elemental Composition | C (atom %) | 81.6 | 83.1 | 91.6 |
| O (atom %) | 5.2 | 6.7 | 8.2 | |
| Graphitic-N (atom %) | 4.9 | 4.5 | 0 | |
| Pyridinic-N (atom %) | 3.9 | 3.1 | 0 | |
| Pyrrolic-N (atom %) | 4.4 | 2.6 | 0 | |
| Electrical properties | Four-probe electrical conductivity (S cm−1) |
0.97 ± 0.06 | 1.02 ± 0.06 | 0.057 ± 0.004 |
| Equivalent series resistance (ohms) |
34.9 | 34.6 | 284.1 | |
| Na+ diffusion coefficient (×10−11 cm2 s−1) |
10.7 | 0.43 | 6.2 | |
| CDI performance | Desalination capacity (mgNaCl gelectrode−1) |
30 | 7.4 | 11 |
| Desalination rate (mgNaCl gelectrode−1 min−1) |
3.0–38 | 0.74 | 1.1 | |
| Coulombic efficiency | 72% | 85% | 47% | |