An Investigation of Multiwalled Nanotubes and Their Function in a Supercapacitor Based Ion Filter

Abstract

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India constructed a supercapacitor based water filter to remove metal ions from seawater and groundwater in order to produce drinkable water. Traditional methods of desalination are time consuming and inefficient, and the proposed filter aims to alleviate both problems. The electrodes used in the supercapacitor were made of multi-walled nanotubes coated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles. A Brauner, Emett, Teller (BET) experiment and Cyclic Voltammetry scans were conducted to determine the electrochemical and physical properties of the Fe3O4-multi-walled nanotubes. An Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) analysis was performed to determine the ion removal efficiency of the filter. The BET and Cyclic Voltammetry results indicated that Fe3O4-multi-walled nanotube electrodes had large surface areas and capacitance. These results confirm that Fe3O4-multi-walled nanotubes can be used as an effective adsorbent material for dangerous metal ions. The ICP-OES results indicate that the filter can remove roughly 60% of all metal ions in solution after 15 cycles.