{
  "abstract": "Separation of helium isotopes is of interest owing to the critical importance and limited supply of helium-3 (3He). Nanoporous materials offer a viable route for gas-phase isotope separation through either selective adsorption or quantum sieving. Here, to maximize the isotope selectivity of quantum sieving we propose coupling a strongly attracting open-metal site for He adsorption to a surrounding nanopore acting as a confining potential. We demonstrate that upon tightening the pore, the zero-point energy (ZPE) elevates up to a point where 3He detaches while 4He remains bound. Our model shows that 100% isotope-selective adsorption of 4He is achieved when pores of diameter 4.8-5.3 Å are coupled to metal sites with He binding energies of 2-20 kJ/mol. At 20 K, operating pressures between 0.3-30 bar are estimated, which increase to 2-6 kbar at 77 K. Even if the exact pore size for 100% isotope-selective adsorption cannot be realized, our results provide a rational design strategy for materials with unprecedentedly large He isotope separation factors at elevated temperatures.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Elvira Gouatieu Dongmo",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2494-3295"
    },
    {
      "name": "Felix Moncada",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9701-2099"
    },
    {
      "name": "Shubhajit Das",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8027-6781"
    },
    {
      "name": "Toshiki Riemer-Wulf",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6331-6596"
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas Heine",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2379-6251"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2g03djvvkjh4w.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010286/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "2g03djvvkjh4w",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010286/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3107|Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221542043",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010286/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-12",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2g03djvvkjh4w.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010286",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010286/v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "openalex:3107|Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics",
      "subfield": "amo"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Assessing the Limits of He Isotope Separation Under",
  "title_text": "Assessing the Limits of He Isotope Separation Under",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:24Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2g03djvvkjh4w",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}