Hydrogen in metals: Microstructural aspects

Metal-hydrogen (M-H) systems are interesting from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. M-H systems are utilized for energy-storage systems, in sensor applications, and in catalysis. These systems are often exploited as models for studying basic material properties, especially when the size of these systems is small and nonbulk-like contributions become dominant. Surfaces, nanocrystals, vacancy and dislocation-rich materials, thin films, multilayers, and clusters as systems of major interest are addressed in this review. We show that the hydrogen solubility of M-H systems is strongly affected by the morphology and microstructure of and the stress between regions of different hydrogen concentration. For small-sized systems, surface-or interface-related sites become important and change the overall solubility as well as the phase boundaries of M-H systems. In thin films deposited on stiff substrates, compressive stresses evolve during hydrogen loading because the films are effectively clamped to substrates. These stresses are in the GPa range and strongly depend on microstructure. Nanoparticles even change their crystallographic structure, which results in completely new phases.