Voltage-controlled anion exchange membrane enabling selective ion affinities for water desalination and device containing the same

US11820681B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Robert Bosch GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Soo Kim · Cambridge, US
• Jonathan Mailoa · Cambridge, US
• Mordechai KORNBLUTH · Watertown, US
• Georgy Samsonidze · San Francisco, US
• Michael Metzger · Sunnyvale, US
• Saravanan Kuppan · Singapore, SG
• Sondra Hellstrom · East Palo Alto, US
• Boris Kozinsky · Newton, US
• Nathan Craig · Santa Clara, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 11, 2019
• Grant date: Nov 21, 2023
• Expiry date: Feb 10, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02A20/131
• WIPO field: Chemical engineering
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A desalination device includes a container, first and second electrodes, an anion exchange membrane (AEM), and a power source. The container contains saline water that has an elevated concentration of dissolved salts. The AEM separates the container into first and second compartments into which the first and second electrodes, respectively, are arranged. The AEM has a continuous porous structure and a plurality of negatively-charged oxygen functional groups coupled to the porous structure. The power source is configured to selectively apply a voltage to one of the first and second electrodes. The AEM has a selective permeability when the voltage is applied such that cations in the saline water solution have a first diffusion rate d1 therethrough and anions in the saline water solution have a second diffusion rate d2 therethrough. The first diffusion rate d1 is less than the second diffusion rate d2 and greater than or equal to zero.