Dynamic apertures with diffusion-regulatory functionality in soft porous crystals:A key to solving the century puzzle on isotopologues separation

The separation of water isotopologues has been a“century-old”challenge,also known as“the Holy Grail”in separation science.Heavy water(D2O)is a stable non-radioactive water isotopologue that plays a critical role in scientific research,military,nuclear energy,and medical fields.Heavy water was first reported in 1931 when H.C.Urey discovered D2 and D2O,for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934.Then in 1933,G.N.Lewis et al.obtained 0.5μL of heavy water at a concentration of around 65.7%when electrolyzing 10 liters of water.In 1935,the world's first heavy water plant was built in Norway,producing 2 tons of heavy water by electrolysis,but the separation factor was merely 1.05,which was extremely energy-consuming.In 1943,the first heavy water plant employing the distillation method was built in the United States.