Clean water free of bacteria is precious for public health. About 14% of the total population in the U.S. access drinking water from self-supplied sources. Drinking undisinfected water may cause diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, or even death. In recent years, electrochemical disinfection has become a more feasible approach because of its versatile reactions, high inactivation efficiency, and low cost. Conventional electrochemical disinfection usually requires adjustable and accurate electrical output, as well as expensive and complex equipment, which is not suitable for point-of-use (POU) scenarios. Herein, we report a coaxial-electrode copper ionization cell (CECIC) with two power sources for efficient water disinfection at POU. Attribute to the assistance of electric field treatment, the CECIC achieves ~6-log inactivation of <i>E. coli</i> with only ~200 μg/L copper in the effluent. A TriboPump is developed by integrating a triboelectric nanogenerator and a manual peristatic pump with the CECIC. The TriboPump simultaneously transport and disinfect water by only manual power, i.e., no need of external energy sources and complex circuits. A smartphone-based workstation is also designed to use the smartphone battery as a power source, and a customized on-the-go (OTG) hardware connected to the phone to realize the desired electrical output for water disinfection. The presented work provides an alternative decentralized water disinfection approach like rural areas and outdoor activities.

Electric-field-enhanced electrochemical water disinfection by novel energy sources

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.