Japanese researchers have discovered that nanoporous carbon can separate the isotope oxygen-18 (O-18) from oxygen-16 (O-16), which is an essential isotope for producing Fluorine-18 (F-18) the most used radionuclide in PET diagnosis. When a mixture of O-16 and O-18 is introduced into the nanoporous carbon, the O-18 is preferentially adsorbed and separated from O-16, according to a research team led by Katsumi Kaneko of the Research Initiative for Supra-Materials (RISM) at Shinshu University (Nature Communications, January 22, 2021). The researchers were also able to separate O-18 from O-16 using the low-temperature waste heat from a natural gas storage facility.
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Source: AuntMinnie