Recent Progress in Functional Nanomaterials towards the Storage, Separation, and Removal of Tritium

Muruganantham Rethinasabapathy, Seyed Majid Ghoreishian, Seung Kyu Hwang, Young Kyu Han, Changhyun Roh, Yun Suk Huh

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tritium is a sustainable next-generation prime fuel for generating nuclear energy through fusion reactions to fulfill the increasing global energy demand. Owing to the scarcity–high demand tradeoff, tritium must be bred inside a fusion reactor to ensure sustainability and must therefore be separated from its isotopes (protium and deuterium) in pure form, stored safely, and supplied on demand. Existing multistage isotope separation technologies exhibit low separation efficiency and require intensive energy inputs and large capital investments. Furthermore, tritium-contaminated heavy water constitutes a major fraction of nuclear waste, and accidents like the one at Fukushima Daiichi leave behind thousands of tons of diluted tritiated water, whose removal is beneficial from an environmental point of view. In this review, the recent progress and main research trends in hydrogen isotope storage and separation by focusing on the use of metal hydride (e.g., intermetallic, and high-entropy alloys), porous (e.g., zeolites and metal organic frameworks (MOFs)), and 2-D layered (e.g., graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and MXenes) materials to separate and store tritium based on their diverse functionalities are discussed. Finally, the challenges and future directions for implementing tritium storage and separation are summarized in the reviewed materials.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2301589
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume35
Issue number48
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Nov 2023

Keywords

  • hydrogen isotopes
  • layered materials
  • metal hydrides
  • porous materials
  • quantum sieving
  • tritium separation

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