Liquid-Phase Catalytic Exchange of Hydrogen Isotopes over Platinum on Dual-Modified Graphene

Although liquid-phase catalytic exchange is an environmentally friendly treatment of hydrogen isotopes in recycled water of a nuclear power station, the successive development of hydrophobic catalysts is still needed to meet much higher catalytic exchange efficiency and stability. Herein, a dual-modified graphene with Pt loading was designed by amination and silanization to anchor Pt nanoparticles uniformly, as well as obtain higher hydrophobicity. After coating the reactor walls with poly(dimethylsiloxane), the catalytic exchange efficiency of the dual-modified graphene with lower Pt loadings (Pt/200-S-NH2-GR) improved up to 91% at 80 °C, which was higher than 80% of only animated graphene (Pt/NH2-GR) at the same condition. Furthermore, the Pt/200-S-NH2-GR maintained high stability for at least 10 h in the temperature range of 40–80 °C, while the Pt/NH2-GR decreased 17% of catalytic exchange efficiency at 80 °C within 10 h. Using the dual-modified strategy for graphene support, high efficiency and stability was achieved for heavy water dedeuteration.