Scientists in Japan have developed a material that can effectively separate heavy water from normal water at room temperature.
What's more, these results suggest a novel way to selectively remove heavy metals from wastewater, and show that different forms of the same molecule can be used interchangeably.
Isotopologues are molecules that have the same chemical formula, but at least one of their atoms has a different number of neutrons than the parent molecule.
The nucleus of each of the hydrogen atoms contains one proton and no neutrons.
In regular H2O (not heavy water, or D2O), the deuterium (D) is in the form of a proton and a neutron.
Heavy water can be used in nuclear reactors to stop fission chains from breaking down during an accident;
Materials scientist Cheng Gu says that water isotopologues are difficult to separate because of their similar properties.
The copper-based porous coordination polymer (PCP) was discovered by scientists and developed by engineers as a material with a large pore volume and large accessible surface area
A PCP is a porous crystalline material that’s formed from metal nodes connected by organic linkers.
The team tested two different types of PCPs made with different types of linkers.
Although it’s hard to understand why it turns out that if one heats up the linker at 60 oC for two.
The PCP molecule can flip from one cage to another. Movement is blocked when the material is cooled.
When scientists exposed their "dynamic crystals" to vapor containing a mixture of normal, heavy, and semi-heavy water and then slightly warmed it, they absorbed normal water much faster.
The adsorptive separation of water isotopologues in our work is much superior to conventional methods, and we are optimistic that new materials guided by our work will be developed.