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Separating water isotopologues using diffusion-regulatory porous materials

Author

Listed:
  • Yan Su

    (South China University of Technology)

  • Ken-ichi Otake

    (Kyoto University)

  • Jia-Jia Zheng

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Satoshi Horike

    (Kyoto University)

  • Susumu Kitagawa

    (Kyoto University)

  • Cheng Gu

    (South China University of Technology
    South China University of Technology)

Abstract

The discovery of a method to separate isotopologues, molecular entities that differ in only isotopic composition1, is fundamentally and technologically essential but remains challenging2,3. Water isotopologues, which are very important in biological processes, industry, medical care, etc. are among the most difficult isotopologue pairs to separate because of their very similar physicochemical properties and chemical exchange equilibrium. Herein, we report efficient separation of water isotopologues at room temperature by constructing two porous coordination polymers (PCPs, or metal–organic frameworks) in which flip-flop molecular motions within the frameworks provide diffusion-regulatory functionality. Guest traffic is regulated by the local motions of dynamic gates on contracted pore apertures, thereby amplifying the slight differences in the diffusion rates of water isotopologues. Significant temperature-responsive adsorption occurs on both PCPs: H2O vapour is preferentially adsorbed into the PCPs, with substantially increased uptake compared to that of D2O vapour, facilitating kinetics-based vapour separation of H2O/HDO/D2O ternary mixtures with high H2O separation factors of around 210 at room temperature.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan Su & Ken-ichi Otake & Jia-Jia Zheng & Satoshi Horike & Susumu Kitagawa & Cheng Gu, 2022. "Separating water isotopologues using diffusion-regulatory porous materials," Nature, Nature, vol. 611(7935), pages 289-294, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:611:y:2022:i:7935:d:10.1038_s41586-022-05310-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05310-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Ryusuke Futamura & Taku Iiyama & Takahiro Ueda & Patrick A. Bonnaud & François-Xavier Coudert & Ayumi Furuse & Hideki Tanaka & Roland J. -M. Pellenq & Katsumi Kaneko, 2024. "Staggered structural dynamic-mediated selective adsorption of H2O/D2O on flexible graphene oxide nanosheets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Yan Su & Ken-ichi Otake & Jia-Jia Zheng & Ping Wang & Qing Lin & Susumu Kitagawa & Cheng Gu, 2024. "Diffusion-rate sieving of propylene and propane mixtures in a cooperatively dynamic porous crystal," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

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