A Spontaneous Heavy Hydrogen Generator via a Protium Redox.

The extreme significance of heavy hydrogen (D 2 ) in medicinal, nuclear, and chemical sectors, despite its scarce natural abundance, underscores the vital imperative for inventing novel chemistries for its production. We showcase a spontaneous heavy hydrogen generator during commensurate electrical energy production by decoupling the direct chemistry of OD - /D + dual ions via a protium redox. This exergonic electrochemistry yields ∼357 mL of D 2 in nearly 85 h of continuous operation, with a commensurate electrical energy output of 122 kJ/per mole of D 2 . This laboratory-level demonstration of spontaneous heavy hydrogen production presents a novel chemistry for the scalable manufacture of nonprimordial D 2 .