Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) stated on January 7th that, in cooperation with the University of Liverpool in UK, it has made a breakthrough in the field of controllable nuclear fusion and developed a material that can effectively obtain high-purity deuterium. Related results were recently published in the international academic journal Science.
According to Dr. Ding Lifeng, Department of Chemistry in Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, controlled nuclear fusion is a green energy source, but how to locate a stable controlled nuclear fusion fuel is still a challenging subject.
Deuterium, the isotope of hydrogen, is a potentially controlled nuclear fusion fuel, but the concentration of deuterium in nature is very low. “Usually, high-purity, high-concentration deuterium is secured by separating the ‘hydrogen-deuterium’ mixed gas, but the current technology to achieve this separation has large energy consumption, low efficiency, and high cost.” Ding Lifeng said.
A Sino-British joint team led by Andrew Cooper, a Fellow of the Royal Society and Professor of Liverpool University, has designed a new material that can remove deuterium gas from a mixed gas through a process called “dynamic quantum sieving”.
In addition to being used as fuel for controlled nuclear fusion, deuterium is also widely used in other scientific research, including non-radioactive isotope tracking, neutron scattering technology, and pharmaceuticals.
*Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University is located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. It was founded in 2006 by Xi’an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool.
