Scientists make first-of-its-kind discovery that could impact drinking water for billions of people: 'Other groups overlooked the potential'

Oceans account for 96.5% of the Earth's water, but the salt content makes it unsuitable for human consumption, which has driven advancements in water desalination processes. 

Research led by Yusuke Yamauchi at Japan's Nagoya University has shown that a new technique using oxygen to improve ion collection in electrodes could take the technology even further, according to TechXplore.

"As the world's population has been increasing, water scarcity will likely become a critical issue," Yamauchi said, per the report. "We were excited to develop a material that outperformed all existing materials, even activated carbon."

The technique of using electrodes for desalination involves removing ions so the resulting deionized water is drinkable. The electrode surface attracts charged ions in seawater, as TechXplore explained, separating useful ions like sodium for potential use in industrial processes. 

These electrodes are commonly a porous carbonaceous type with a carbon and nitrogen base, as described in the report. This creates an increased surface area for collecting ions, but Yamauchi's research tested "heteroatom doping," which introduces atoms to alter the electrode's structure and improve its conductivity and stability.

"We used oxygen for doping, as oxygen creates synergistic effects with nitrogen that increase the adsorption of ions. We found that in the presence of oxygen, the affinity of nitrogen for ions was increased," co-author Yusuke Asakura shared. "Our team was the first to demonstrate this role of it."

Such research is critical to securing drinkable water for people around the globe as populations grow. The changing climate is driving rising temperatures, drought, and extreme weather conditions that can threaten the potable water supply.

According to the World Economic Forum, 2.2 billion people lacked access to clean drinking water in 2022. Projections show that there could be a 40% global shortfall of freshwater resources by 2030, which highlights the need for improved desalination techniques.

The oxygen-doped electrodes provide even more surface area for ion collection, which boosts purification efficiency. This is something that Yamauchi believes has been neglected in other research.

"Other groups overlooked the potential use of oxygen in this process," he said. "That's why we included 'unveiling the neglected role of oxygen doping' in the paper's title."

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This could further desalination efforts worldwide and enhance existing technologies that use similar processes for converting saltwater into consumable water for those in need.

Other projects have made similar advances in wastewater management, where increased surface area and fine-tuned affinities can improve the extraction of valuable resources from polluted supplies. 

The report added that this new technology could even benefit automotive applications, where similar electrodes are a vital part of hydrogen fuel-cell technology.  

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