科研之友
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摘要
Light isotopes separation, such as He-3/He-4, H-2/D-2, H-2/T-2, etc., is crucial for various advanced technologies including isotope labeling, nuclear weapons, cryogenics and power generation. However, their nearly identical chemical properties made the separation challenging. The low productivity of the present isotopes separation approaches hinders the relevant applications. An efficient membrane with high performance for isotopes separation is quite appealing. Based on first-principles calculations, we theoretically demonstrated that highly efficient light isotopes separation, such as He-3/He-4, can be reached in a porous graphene-like carbon nitride material via quantum sieving effect. Under moderate tensile strain, the quantum sieving of the carbon nitride membrane can be effectively tuned in a continuous way, leading to a temperature window with high He-3/He-4 selectivity and permeance acceptable for efficient isotopes harvest in industrial application. This mechanism also holds for separation of other light isotopes, such as H-2/D-2, H-2/T-2. Such tunable quantum sieving opens a promising avenue for light isotopes separation for industrial application.
