On the possibility of sorting ortho and para water molecules during diffusion in nanopores

Abstract

The possibility of spatial sorting of ortho and para water molecules at filtering water vapor in a nanoporous medium is justified. Three factors are indicated, which in combination can cause sorting: Knudsen character of motion of molecules in nanopores, inhomogeneous surface electric fields in pores, and water molecule sorting over rotational states in an inhomogeneous electric field, recently implemented in experiments with molecular beams.