Novel PEFC Application for Deuterium Isotope Separation

Hisayoshi Matsushima; Ryota Ogawa; Shota Shibuya; Mikito Ueda

doi:10.3390/ma10030303

Novel PEFC Application for Deuterium Isotope Separation

Materials (Basel). 2017 Mar 16;10(3):303. doi: 10.3390/ma10030303.

Authors

Hisayoshi Matsushima¹, Ryota Ogawa², Shota Shibuya³, Mikito Ueda⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan. matsushima@eng.hokudai.ac.jp.
² Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan. ogahdf.1993@gmail.com.
³ Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan. s-shibuya@frontier.hokudai.ac.jp.
⁴ Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan. mikito@eng.hokudai.ac.jp.

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.

Keywords: CEFC; fuel cell; hydrogen isotope separation; isotope exchange reaction.