Investigation of the dynamic behaviour of H₂ and D₂ in a kinetic quantum sieving system
Yang, D; Rochat, S; Krzystyniak, M; et al.Kulak, A; Olivier, J; Ting, VP; Tian, M
Date: 29 February 2024
Article
Journal
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Porous organic cages (POCs) are nanoporous materials composed of discrete
molecular units that feature uniformly distributed functional pores. The intrinsic porosity of these
structures can be tuned accurately at the nanoscale by altering the size of the porous molecules,
particularly to an optimal size of 3.6 Å, to harness the ...
Porous organic cages (POCs) are nanoporous materials composed of discrete
molecular units that feature uniformly distributed functional pores. The intrinsic porosity of these
structures can be tuned accurately at the nanoscale by altering the size of the porous molecules,
particularly to an optimal size of 3.6 Å, to harness the kinetic quantum sieving effect. Previous
research on POCs for isotope separation has predominantly centred on differences in the quantities
of adsorbed isotopes. However, nuclear quantum effects also contribute significantly to the
dynamics of the sorption process, offering additional opportunities for separating H2 and D2 at
practical operational temperatures. In this study, our investigations into H2 and D2 sorption on POC
samples revealed a higher uptake of D2 compared to H2 under identical conditions. We employed
quasielastic neutron scattering to study the diffusion processes of D2 and H2 in the POCs across various temperature and pressure ranges. Additionally, neutron Compton scattering was utilized
to measure the values of the nuclear zero-point energy of individual isotopic species in D2 and H2.
The results indicate that the diffusion coefficient of D2 is approximately one-sixth that of H2 in the
POC due to the nuclear quantum effect. Furthermore, the results reveal that at 77 K, D2 has longer
residence times compared to H2 when moving from pore to pore. Consequently, using the kinetic
difference of H2 and D2 in a porous POC system enables hydrogen isotope separation using a
temperature or pressure swing system at around liquid nitrogen temperatures.
Earth and Environmental Science
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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