Fractionation of hydrogen isotopes in a hydrogel during dehydration

Watanabe, Teppei*; Sekine, Yurina   ; Ikeda-Fukazawa, Tomoko*

To investigate the ability of hydrogels to separate hydrogen isotopes in water, we analyzed the Raman spectra of poly-N,N-dimethylacrylamide (PDMAA) hydrogels containing deuterated water during dehydration. The results show a significant fractionation of hydrogen isotopes during dehydration. The D molar ratio of the hydrogel increases from 0.056 to 0.2 during dehydration from 90.5 wt% to 5 wt% in water content. Deuterated water preferentially forms hydrogen bonds with hydrophilic groups of the polymer in hydrogels because of the difference in strengths of hydrogen bonds between protium and deuterium. As a result, normal water preferentially evaporates in the initial stage of dehydration, leaving deuterated water in the drying hydrogel. The results suggest that hydrogels are an efficient material for isotope fractionation with evaporation.