One-atom-thick crystals are impermeable to atoms and molecules, but hydrogen ions (thermal protons) penetrate through them. We show that monolayers of graphene and boron nitride can be used to separate hydrogen ion isotopes. Using electrical measurements and mass spectrometry, we found that deuterons permeate through these crystals much slower than protons, resulting in a separation factor of ≈10 at room temperature. The isotope effect is attributed to a difference of ≈60 milli–electron volts between zero-point energies of incident protons and deuterons, which translates into the equivalent difference in the activation barriers posed by two-dimensional crystals. In addition to providing insight into the proton transport mechanism, the demonstrated approach offers a competitive and scalable way for hydrogen isotope enrichment.

Science 1 January 2016:
Vol. 351 no. 6268 pp. 68-70
DOI: 10.1126/science.aac9726

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/351/6268/68

中文报道（《Science》报道石墨烯又一新用途）：http://www.x-mol.com/news/1688

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-graphene-finest-filter.html