The hydrophobic microenvironment boosting isotope exchange between hydrogen and tritium water

Abstract

In order to enhance hydrogen-water isotope exchange performance, a hydrophobic microenvironment was constructed within the catalyst support and a bimetal catalyst was loaded. The catalyst was superhydrophobic, resulting in a significant improvement in performance. Through the adsorption/desorption performance test of water vapor, it was observed that the hydrophobic microenvironment could increase the diffusion rate of the reactant, while metal doping modification could enhance the concentration of the reactant around the active center. Comparatively, the catalytic performance of the catalyst containing the hydrophobic microenvironment was superior to that of the normal hydrophobic catalysts, even when the hydrophobicity was slightly diminished.

Keywords

• Microenvironment
• Tritium
• Hydrogen-water isotope exchange
• Hydrophobic catalyst