Isotope effect on adsorbed quantum phases: Diffusion of H2 and D2 in nanoporous carbon

Cristian I. Contescu, Hongxin Zhang, Raina J. Olsen, Eugene Mamontov, James R. Morris, Nidia C. Gallego

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Quasielastic neutron scattering of H2 and D2 in the same nanoporous carbon at 10-40 K demonstrates extreme quantum sieving, with D2 diffusing up to 76 times faster. D2 also shows liquidlike diffusion while H2 exhibits Chudley-Elliott jump diffusion, evidence of their different relationships with the local lattice of adsorption sites due to quantum effects on intermolecular interactions. The onset of diffusion occurs at 22-25 K for H2 and 10-13 K for D 2. At these temperatures, H2 and D2 have identical thermal de Broglie wavelengths that correlate with the dominant pore size.

Original languageEnglish
Article number236102
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume110
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 7 2013

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