Concentration dependence of hydrogen diffusion in alpha-iron from atomistic perspectives

MA Al Hasan and JQ Wang and YC Lim and AM Hu and SH Shin, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY, 44, 27876-27884 (2019).

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.09.007

Evaluation of hydrogen diffusion in structural materials is essential to predict the leakage and embrittlement of hydrogen storage applications. In this work, we investigate the atomic-scale diffusion of interstitial hydrogen (H) in alpha-iron (Fe) over a temperature range from 350 to 900 K with different H concentrations (0.01-5%), employing classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The self-diffusivity of H atoms increases with increasing temperature and decreasing concentration. With low concentrations, the calculated diffusion properties agree well with prior experiments. However, with a higher concentration (>= 1%), the H diffusivity at low temperatures deviates from a high-temperature Arrhenius behavior. Through the energetic and structural analysis, we suggest that this deviation is attributed to a reduced mobility due to increased energy barrier by other H interstitials. This work contributes to the effective design of H storage applications by identifying temperature and concentration effects on permeability and addressing possible microstructural transformation. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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