Barely porous organic cages for hydrogen isotope separation


Liu, Ming ORCID: 0000-0003-0008-1480, Zhang, L, Little, MA, Kapil, V, Ceriotti, M, Yang, S, Ding, L, Holden, Dan, Balderas-Xicohténcatl, R, He, Donglin ORCID: 0000-0002-5512-8162 et al (show 6 more authors) (2019) Barely porous organic cages for hydrogen isotope separation. Science, 366 (6465). pp. 613-620. ISSN 0036-8075, 1095-9203

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Abstract

The separation of hydrogen isotopes for applications such as nuclear fusion is a major challenge. Current technologies are energy intensive and inefficient. Nanoporous materials have the potential to separate hydrogen isotopes by kinetic quantum sieving, but high separation selectivity tends to correlate with low adsorption capacity, which can prohibit process scale-up. In this study, we use organic synthesis to modify the internal cavities of cage molecules to produce hybrid materials that are excellent quantum sieves. By combining small-pore and large-pore cages together in a single solid, we produce a material with optimal separation performance that combines an excellent deuterium/hydrogen selectivity (8.0) with a high deuterium uptake (4.7 millimoles per gram).

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, 34 Chemical Sciences, 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 18 Oct 2019 13:33
Last Modified: 25 Apr 2025 04:38
DOI: 10.1126/science.aax7427
Related Websites:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3058292
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