Novel PEFC Application for Deuterium Isotope Separation.

Hisayoshi Matsushima,Mikito Ueda,Shota Shibuya,Ryota Ogawa

doi:10.3390/ma10030303

Abstract

The use of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) with a Nafion membrane for isotopic separation of deuterium (D) was investigated. Mass analysis at the cathode side indicated that D diffused through the membrane and participated in an isotope exchange reaction. The exchange of D with protium (H) in H2O was facilitated by a Pt catalyst. The anodic data showed that the separation efficiency was dependent on the D concentration in the source gas, whereby the water produced during the operation of the PEFC was more enriched in D as the D concentration of the source gas was increased.

Highlights

The heavy isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium (D) and tritium (T) play essential roles in nuclear energy production [1,2]
By recycling the energy generated from the produced hydrogen, the electricity consumption of the isotope separation process was reduced More recent work has reported D separation via the hydrogen isotope effect during the anodic reaction in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) [12,13,14] and alkaline membrane fuel cells [15]
When the PEFC was in operation, generating electric power, the current-voltage curves of both gases showed almost identical behavior

Summary

Introduction

The heavy isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium (D) and tritium (T) play essential roles in nuclear energy production [1,2]. The water electrolysis yields the most effective separation but consumes enormous amounts of electricity Such large consumption has led to a search for other methods that are more energetically efficient. By recycling the energy generated from the produced hydrogen, the electricity consumption of the isotope separation process was reduced More recent work has reported D separation via the hydrogen isotope effect during the anodic reaction in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) [12,13,14] and alkaline membrane fuel cells [15]. We reported that the water produced by these power sources was enriched in D This was caused entirely by the kinetic isotope effect during the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) on a Pt catalyst.

3.3.Results

Transient

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Findings

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Conclusions