Mn2O3 nanoflower decorated electrospun carbon nanofibers for efficient hybrid capacitive deionization

Abstract Developing highly efficient electrochemical desalination techniques with both high salt removal capacity as well as sufficient longterm durability is urgently required in settling the global water crisis. Herein, we developed a high-performance hybrid capacitive deionization (HCDI) through the deployment of freestanding, Mn2O3 nanoflower decorated carbon nanofibers (CNF@Mn2O3) with pseudo-capacitive behavior as the electrode. The CNF@Mn2O3 synthesized via electrospinning and in-situ deposition of Mn2O3 shows both excellent pseudo-capacitive performance and freestanding nanostructure, which enables the CNF@Mn2O3-based HCDI system to exhibit superior desalination performance(27.43 mg∙g−1) as well as long-term stability (14.3% declination for 30 cycles). Such outstanding desalination performance should be ascribed to the high pseudo-capacitance, excellent charge transfer performance, and the freestanding nature of the CNF@Mn2O3. This study is interesting because it exemplifies the importance of designing pseudo-capacitive electrode materials for constructing a high-performance HCDI system, which could cast light on the further development of high-efficiency electrochemical desalination systems.