ORIGINAL PAPER Electrochemical characterization of electrodialysis cation exchange membrane incorporated with graphite nanoparticle for deionization S. M. Hosseini 1 & M. Chehreh 1 & E. Jashni 1 & J. N. Shen 2 Received: 9 September 2019 /Revised: 5 October 2019 /Accepted: 31 October 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract In this study, nanocomposite polyvinyl chloride-based heterogeneous cation exchange membranes were fabricated by embedding graphite nanoparticles through solution casting technique. The effects of graphite nanoparticle concentrations in the membrane body on the electrochemical properties of blended membranes were investigated. FESEM and SOM images showed uniform distribution of particles and a uniform surface for the fabricated membranes. XRD patterns showed that the crystallinity of membrane enhanced by the increase of graphite nanoparticle dosage. The obtained results imply that increasing the concentration of graphite nanoparticles in the modified membranes has produced a rougher and a more hydrophobic surface. Membrane potential, transport number, selectivity, flux, and water content for the blended membranes were enhanced initially by increase of graphite nanoparticle concentration up to 2 wt% and after that downward trend found. The electrical resistance of the membranes was reduced by the use of graphite nanoparticles obviously. Keywords Cation exchange membrane . Graphite nanoparticles . Nanocomposite . Promoted electrochemical properties . Deionization Introduction Healthy water plays a vital role in human’ s life. Hence, cost- effective technologies should be developed to expand water resources and solve water pollution problems. Membrane wa- ter treatment is expected to play an important role in such areas as drinking water, desalination of saline water and sea- water, and waste-water treatment and reuse, because it is sim- ple in concept and operation and does not include phase changes or chemical additives. And it is easy to scale it up [1]. Among the various types of water desalination, electrodi- alysis is very suitable because of low energy consumption, less need for pre-treatment, ease, and low cost for repair and maintenance [2, 3]. Also, electrodialysis provides more con- trol over the quality of the product than other water desalina- tion process, because the operating factors in electrodialysis directly affect the quality of the product. The direct relation- ship between the operating factors and the quality of the prod- ucts provides the possibility of examining the effects of oper- ational parameters on product quality and predicting the rate of desalination based on operational parameters. Such knowl- edge can optimize the efficiency of electrodialysis by adjusting a number of operational factors [2]. The process of electrodialysis has many uses, such as the desalination of sa- line water and seawater [4, 5], salt production [6], and chem- ical production by the chlor-alkali process [7]. In the process of desalination by electrodialysis, the separation of ions from saline water is done through ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) for the production of freshwater by an electric current. IEMs are charged polymeric films that allow the selective pass of oppositely charged species (counterions), while retaining the like-charged ions (co-ions) and water [8]. In order to improve the performance of the electrodialysis process and possibility to commercialize it, it is essential to improve the overall prop- erties of ion-exchange membranes and reduce costs [3]. So, it is very important to fabricate an ion-exchange membrane with proper properties and price. Various methods exist to improve * S. M. Hosseini s-hosseini@araku.ac.ir * J. N. Shen shenjn@zjut.edu.cn 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,, Arak University, Arak 38156-8-8349, Iran 2 Center for Membrane Separation and Water Science & Technology, Ocean College, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China Ionics https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-019-03334-5