Shuttle-like Porous Carbon Rods from Carbonized Metal–Organic Frameworks for High-Performance Capacitive Deionization

One of the most challenging issues in developing capacitive deionization (CDI) technologies is the rational design and synthesis of active electrode materials with favorable morphologies and high surface areas. Here, for the first time, shuttle-like porous carbon rods (sPCRs) were prepared through a high temperature pyrolysis step and a subsequent etching step by using rod-like metal–organic frameworks, MIL-88 (Fe), as the precursor. The correlation between the carbonization temperature of sPCRs and their electrosorption performance was investigated, and it was found that, owing to their unique shuttle-like rod structure and high specific surface area, sPCRs obtained at 900 °C exhibit a superior electrosorption capacity of 16.2 mg g−1 with excellent cycling stability, showing that sPCRs could be a promising electrode material for highly efficient CDI.