Quantum sieving based Hydrogen isotope separation at room temperature using vermiculite laminates

Abstract

The traditional processes used for separation of hydrogen isotopes, is extremely energy intensive as they require cryogenic temperatures. They also suffer from a poor separation factor D2/H2 of 0.71. Achieving room-temperature separation with large separation factors is very important for several applications. Here, we report an efficient room-temperature hydrogen isotope separation with a large separation factor D2/H2 of 2.22 using vermiculite (clay) laminates [1]. For the first time, we achieved an interlayer space of ≈2 Å with deuterium intercalation in vermiculite, a size comparable to the de Broglie wavelength of hydrogen isotopes at room temperature. Between proton and deuteron, the smaller wavelength deuteron easily transports across these interlayer spaces, confirming kinetic quantum sieving [2]. This result shows that 2D laminates with controllable interlayer spacing are highly suitable for realizing quantum sieving effects at room temperature. The scalable and cost-effective nature of these laminates makes them ideal for isotope separation applications.