Metal-doped amorphous microporous carbon for isotope separation: Pore size modulation and selective deuterium adsorption

Efficient hydrogen isotope separation is crucial for applications in energy production and advanced scientific research, but separation of these poses significant challenges. In this study, we developed amorphous microporous carbon (AMC) derived from a zeolite template and explored hydrogen isotope separation using quantum sieving. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) technique was used to evaluate the selectivity of hydrogen (H₂) and deuterium (D₂) isotope separation. The doping of metal ions, such as Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Cu²⁺, in the porous carbon modulates the physicochemical properties of the pores. The metal-doped carbon samples demonstrated D₂ vs H₂ selectivity (S_D2/H2) of over 10, compared to the pristine carbon's S_D2/H2 of less than 8. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation infers that pore modulation through metal doping enhanced the binding affinity of materials towards D₂ resulting in increased separation selectivity compared to pristine carbon samples. This approach not only boosts separation efficiency but also provides a scalable and cost-effective solution for industrial applications.