Electric Field-Enhanced Ion Rejection Rate in Freeze Desalination

Freeze desalination is an appealing method for seawater desalination through freezing seawater. The percentage of ions in the liquid phase, which is termed ion rejection rate, is a critical factor affecting the performance of freeze desalination. Improving the ion rejection rate is an important topic for freeze desalination. In this work, we investigate the effects of electric fields on the ion rejection rate during the freezing of seawater through molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that the ion rejection rate increases with increasing electric field strength. The enhanced ion rejection rate is due to the reduction of the energy barrier at the ice-water interface caused by the electric field, which affects the orientation of water molecules and ion-water interactions. However, the electric field hinders the ice growth rate, which affects the productivity of freeze desalination. Nevertheless, the finding in this work offers a new idea to improve the ion rejection rate. Practically, a trade-off needs to be found to optimize the overall performance of freeze desalination.