Graphene filter could be used to clean nuclear waste

Researchers from the University of Manchester have demonstrated that graphene can simplify the production of heavy water and help clean nuclear waste by filtering different isotopes of hydrogen. The process could mean producing heavy water for nuclear power plants could be ten times less energy intensive, simpler and cheaper.

Membranes made from graphene can act as a sieve, separating protons – nuclei of hydrogen – from heavier nuclei of hydrogen isotope deuterium. Deuterium is widely used in analytical and chemical tracing technologies and, also, as heavy water required in thousands of tons for operation of nuclear power stations.

The heaviest isotope, tritium, is radioactive and needs to be safely removed as a by-product of electricity generation at nuclear fission plants. Future nuclear technology is based on fusion of the two heavy isotopes.

The researchers tested whether deuterons – nuclei of deuterium – can pass through graphene and boron nitride. They found that deuterons were not only effectively sieved out by the one atom thick membranes, but were sieved with high separation efficiency.

Furthermore, the researchers showed that the separation is fully scalable. Using chemical-vapour-deposited (CVD) graphene, they built centimetre-sized devices to effectively pump out hydrogen from a mixture of deuterium and hydrogen.

Dr Marcelo Lozada-Hidalgo, University of Manchester postdoctoral researcher said: “This is really the first membrane shown to distinguish between subatomic particles, all at room temperature.

“Now that we showed that it is a fully scalable technology, we hope it will quickly find its way to real applications.”