An insight on the development of functional carbon electrodes from plastic waste for capacitive deionization towards sustainable water reclamation

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is an emerging electrochemical-based adsorption system that has a high capability for the water reclamation with future potential towards an energy-efficient and cost-effective technique for industrial implementations. However, the higher cost of electrodes and poor performance limit its scale-up, and there is a need to focus on a cost-effective electrode towards economic impacts. Among the various waste resources, plastic sources would be the better precursor for carbonization as the plastic-derived carbon possess enhanced surface properties and high electrochemical stability. Further, the carbonization of plastic products towards electrode minimizes greenhouse gas emissions, maintains environmental sustainability and achieves a dual benefit of circular economy with water reclamation. This paper highlights the overview of CDI, the significance of electrodes in CDI for electrosorption studies, various synthetic routes of plastic-derived carbon, and its properties that help the researchers to focus on zero waste discharge-based CDI process.