Water desalination accounts for around 80% of the overall water use in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Nevertheless, the current desalination methods demonstrate considerable energy consumption and result in substantial expenses. Capacitive Deionization (CDI) is generally recognized as a very promising method for desalination. Furthermore, apart from the CDI's minimal energy demands, which surpass those of reverse osmosis in some situations, further energy conservation may be achieved by reclaiming a portion of the initial energy input. The harvested energy may be used to energize novel CDI cells, stored in other energy storage devices such as supercapacitors, or employed in any other manner. However, the broad adoption of CDI is hindered by the restricted scalability of the electrode material. Carbon derivatives are often used for the production of capacitive deionization electrode materials because of their excellent conductivity, chemical stability, and large surface area. Graphene stands out among carbon compounds owing to its exceptional electrical conductivity and surface area in comparison to other carbon materials. During the last five years, Dr. Alhseinat's team at KU has performed tests on several composites using graphene for capacitive deionization (CDI) [1-3]. Table 1 displays the experimental work conducted in our laboratory with electrodes made from graphene. Although graphene-based composites have shown a promising capacity to remove up to 65.1 mg g−1 in laboratory settings, their ability to be produced on a wide scale presents a substantial hurdle for their use in capacitive deionization (CDI) operations. During this presentation, Dr. Alhseinat will provide a concise overview of the basic principles of CDI and thereafter delve into the specific significance of the electrode material in determining CDI performance. Subsequently, an in-depth evaluation will be conducted to examine the benefits and limitations associated with the use of 2D materials, such as graphene and MXenes.

• 1. Vijay S Wadi, Yazan Ibrahim, Abdul F Arangadi, Alibi Kilybay, Musthafa O Mavukkandy, Emad Alhseinat, Shadi W Hasan, Three‐dimensional graphene/MWCNT-MnO2 nanocomposites for high‐performance capacitive deionization (CDI) application, Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Volume 914, 1 June 2022, 116318.
• 2. M Abi Jaoude, Emad Alhseinat, K Polychronopoulou, G Bharath, Ismail Farouq Fahmi Darawsheh, Shoaib Anwer, Mark A Baker, Steven J Hinder, Fawzi Banat, Morphology- dependent electrochemical performance of MnO2 nanostructures on graphene towards efficient capacitive deionization, Electrochimica Acta (2020), 330.
• 3. [3]Muthukumaraswamy Rangaraj Vengatesan, Emad Alhseinat, Abdul Fahim Arangadi, Shoaib Anwer, Yasun Y Kannangara, Jang-Kun Song, Fawzi Banat, Ag-doped sepiolite intercalated graphene nanostructure for hybrid capacitive deionization system, Separation and Purification Technology (2019), 229.

Table 1: KU developed graphene composites for CDI application