Thermodynamics of Hydrogen in Confined Lattice

• Three of the most important questions concerning hydrogen storage in metals are how much hydrogen can be absorbed, how fast it can be absorbed (or released) and finally how strongly the hydrogen is bonded. In transition metals hydrogen occupies interstitial sites and the absorption as well as desorption of hydrogen can be fast. The enthalpy of the hydride formation is determined by the electronic structure of the absorbing material, which determines the amount of energy released in the hydrogen uptake and the energy needed to release the hydrogen.This thesis concerns the possibility of tuning hydrogen uptake by changing the extension of the absorbing material and the boundary conditions of extremely thin layers. When working with extremely thin layers, it is possible to alter the strain state of the absorbing material, which is used to influence the site occupancy of hydrogen isotopes. Vanadium is chosen as a model system for these studies. V can be grown in the form of thin films as well as superlattices using MgO as a substrate. Special emphasis are on Fe/V(001) and Cr/V(001) superlattices as these can be grown as high quality single crystals on a routine basis. The use of high quality samples ensured well-defined conditions for all the measurements.In these experiments the hydrogen concentration is determined by the light transmittance of the thin films.  By changing the temperature and the pressure of the hydrogen gas, it is possible to determine the thermodynamic properties of hydrogen in the samples, from the obtained concentrations.  Measurements of the electrical resistivity is used to increase the accuracy in the measurements at low concentrations as well as to provide information on ordering at intermediate and high hydrogen concentrations. The thermodynamic properties and the electrical resistivity of VH are strongly affected by the choice of boundary layers. For example, when hydrogen is absorbed in V embedded by Fe, Cr or Mo in the form of superlattices, both the thermodynamic properties and the changes in the resistivity are strongly influenced.The critical temperature and H-H interactions of hydrogen in thin V(001) layers are found to increase with thickness of the thin films and superlattices. The observed finite size effects resemble same scaling with the thickness of the layers as does the magnetic ordering temperature. The results were validated by investigations of isotope effects in the obtained thermodynamic properties. Close to negligible effects are obtained when replacing hydrogen by deuterium, with respect to the thermodynamic properties. These observations are rationalised by an octahedral occupancy in the strained layers, as compared to tetrahedral occupancy in unstrained bulk. The octahedral site occupancy is found to strongly alter the diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in thin V layers. 

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Den kondenserade materiens fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Condensed Matter Physics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Nanoteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Nano-technology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

thermodynamics hydrogen superlattice

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