Increasing the salt adsorption capacity (SAC) and durability of electrode materials for hybrid capacitive deionization (HCDI) remain grand challenges. Herein, highly electro-adsorptive and durable vanadium disulfide (VS2) electrode material obtained by a surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method is reported. The distinct three-dimensional flower-like architecture and ultrathin thickness of VS2 nanosheets play a vital role in boosting HCDI performance by exposing a large number of accessible adsorption sites and facilitating the mass transfer of sodium ions. When used in the HCDI system, the flower-like VS2 electrode delivers a high salt adsorption capacity of 72 mg g-1 in 500 mg L-1 NaCl solution at 1.6 V, outperforming the bulk VS2 counterpart with a relatively increased thickness of nanosheets. Moreover, after 10 h of cycling test, the SAC of the flower-like VS2-based HCDI system remains at 93 % of the initial value, showing excellent operation stability. This surfactant-assisted morphology engineering of VS2 nanosheets with ultrathin thickness and unique three-dimensional architecture provides new insight into designing layered electrode materials for efficient HCDI.
Keywords: Desalination; Flower-like VS(2); Hybrid capacitive deionization; Na(+) intercalation; VS(2) nanosheets; Water purification.
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