Improved characteristics of hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene–platinum catalysts for tritium recovery from tritiated water

This paper presents recent results concerning a new preparation method and characteristics of the hydrophobic catalysts used in hydrogen isotopes separation. The objectives of the paper are: (1) to assess the current status and find a new procedure for the preparation of a new improved hydrophobic catalyst; (2) to improve the characteristics and performance of platinum hydrophobic catalysts. esult of review of references it was concluded that platinum is one of the most active and efficient catalytic metal and polytetrafluoroethylene is a very good wet-proofing agent in the hydrogen isotopes separation processes. gory of newly improved hydrophobic Pt-catalysts has been proposed, prepared and characterized and are now under testing. The novelty consists in adding of metallic oxides (titanium dioxide, zirconium dioxide) as a new binding and wet-proofing agents. The added metallic oxides play a catalytic role, too. The physico-structural parameters of the improved catalyst have been determined and are discussed. Preliminary tests concerning the catalytic activity and stability in tritium separation process have been carried-out. The new proposal is a promising idea to improve the performance of conventional hydrophobic Pt-catalysts.