Environmental pollution, water scarcity, resource shortage, and fossil fuel reliance have all represented threats to a sustainable future. Separation processes play a pivotal role in improving sustainability in fields such as industrial processes, resource recycling, wastewater treatment, and water desalination, among others. Electrochemical systems have gained increased attention as effective separation platforms, not only in performance but also as a potentially energy-efficient approach. However, the reliance on non-renewable energy sources, such as fossil fuels, for electricity generation limits the advancement toward a fully sustainable separation process. Integration of separation processes with eco-friendly renewable energy sources can increase overall sustainability and decrease carbon footprint. In this review, we provide an overview of electrochemical separations and recent efforts to integrate them with renewable energy sources such as heat and solar energy. We discuss electrochemical separations, including electrosorption and electrodialysis, and research to transition these processes to thermoelectrochemical (TEC) and photoelectrochemical (PEC) platforms. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future prospects in direct integration of renewable energy sources with separation processes.

中文翻译：

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迈向由可再生能源驱动的可持续电化学介导分离


环境污染、水资源短缺、资源短缺和对化石燃料的依赖都对可持续未来构成了威胁。分离过程在提高工业过程、资源回收、废水处理和水淡化等领域的可持续性方面发挥着关键作用。电化学系统作为有效的分离平台越来越受到关注，不仅在性能上，而且作为一种潜在的节能方法。然而，对化石燃料等不可再生能源发电的依赖限制了向完全可持续的分离过程迈进。将分离过程与环保可再生能源相结合可以提高整体可持续性并减少碳足迹。在这篇综述中，我们概述了电化学分离以及最近将它们与可再生能源（如热能和太阳能）相结合的努力。我们讨论了电化学分离，包括电吸附和电渗析，并研究了将这些过程过渡到热电化学 （TEC） 和光电化学 （PEC） 平台的研究。最后，我们讨论了可再生能源与分离工艺直接整合的当前挑战和未来前景。