University of California

New York University

Christopher D Sanborn

Shane Ardo

William White

Ronald S Reiter

Eric Schwartz

Joseph M Cardon

Miguel Antonio Modestino

Leanna Schulte

Rohit Bhide

Lawrence A Renna

Daniela Eugenia Blanco

Kevin Tkacz

Jingyuan Liu

A photodialysis device that can desalinate saline streams is described herein. The device can have a desalination rate that is significantly faster than current solar thermal desalination technology. Salt is removed from water by passing ionic current derived from sunlight through this water using dye-sensitized membranes. The device can serve as a distributed, low-cost technology that can efficiently and effectively desalinate low salinity sources of water, which is particularly useful for agriculture and drinking water applications.

Systems and methods for integrated solar photodialysis

Dye-sensitized ion-pumping membranes and methods of preparing said membranes are described herein. A regenerative and reversible photoactive dye is covalently-bonded to membrane or separator for ion-pumping. The photoactive dye-functionalized membranes can be arranged with other ion-exchange membranes, which serve as selective contacts to afford photovoltaic action and therefore form a power-producing membrane that pumps ions for use in driving an ion-exchange or ion-transport process, such as desalination and electrodialysis.

Light-driven ion-pumping membrane systems

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

Christopher D Sanborn