Patent ID: 8518253

Claim:
An electrochemical device, comprising: an electrochemical cell comprising: a composite cation-exchange member comprising a first conductive base and a cation-exchange material in physical contact with the first conductive base; a composite anion-exchange member comprising a second conductive base and an anion-exchange material in physical contact with the second conductive base; and a compartment between the composite cation-exchange and anion-exchange members, the compartment comprising an inlet for introducing a feed stream, and an outlet for exiting of an output stream out of the compartment; and a control device configured to: transmit an electrical current through the composite cation-exchange and anion-exchange members at a regeneration stage in a manner that the first conductive base loses electrons and the second conductive base gains electrons; and discharge the electrical current through the first and second conductive bases at a deionization stage, and cause cations in the feed stream to adsorb on the cation-exchange material and anions in the feed stream to adsorb on the anion-exchange materials, wherein, each of the first and second conductive bases comprises a conductive substrate and a conductive high-surface-area portion which has a surface area of 100 to 5000 m 2 /g as measured by nitrogen adsorption BET method; the cation-exchange material is coated on the conductive high-surface-area portion of the first conductive base and the anion-exchange material is coated on the conductive high-surface-area portion of the second conductive base; and a contact interface of the cation-exchange or anion-exchange materials with the conductive high-surface-area portions is greater than 70 percent of the surface area of the conductive high-surface-area portions.