Capacitive deionization of water coolant using hybrid carbon electrodes for high power electronic applications

Water is promising for liquid cooling of high power electronics due to its high heat capacity and thermal conductivity. However, the ionic impurities and contaminants cause corrosions and threaten the device reliability. We explored capacitive deionization (CDI) of water coolant using hybrid carbon electrode consisting of carbon fiber paper (CFP) and vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs). A facile method was developed to transfer VACNTs to CFP by using a polymeric adhesive, which achieved high bonding strength and good electrical conductivity. Moreover, we fabricated a miniaturized test vehicle for CDI measurement to evaluate the performance for such carbon hybrids and demonstrate the effective CDI effect.