Even though hydrogen-metal surface interactions play an important role in energy technologies and metal corrosion, a thorough understanding of these interactions at the nanoscale remains elusive due to obstructive detection limits in instrumentation and the volatility of pure hydrogen. In the present paper we use analytical spectroscopy in TEM to show that hydrogen adsorbs directly at the (0001) surfaces of hexagonal helium bubbles within neutron irradiated beryllium. In addition to hydrogen, we also found Al, Si and Mg at the beryllium-bubble interfaces. The strong attraction of these elements to (0001) surfaces is underlined with ab-initio calculations. In situ TEM heating experiments reveal that hydrogen can desorb from the bubble walls at T ≥ 400 °C if the helium content is reduced by opening the bubbles. Based on our results we suggest the formation of a complex hydride consisting of up to five elements with a remarkably high decomposition temperature. These results therefore promise novel insights into metal-hydrogen interaction behavior and are invaluable for the safety of future fusion power plants.

尽管氢-金属表面相互作用在能源技术和金属腐蚀中起着重要作用，但由于仪器的检测限制和纯氢的挥发性，在纳米尺度上对这些相互作用的透彻理解仍然难以实现。在本文中，我们使用 TEM 中的分析光谱显示氢直接吸附在中子辐照铍中六方氦气泡的 (0001) 表面。除了氢，我们还在铍气泡界面发现了 Al、Si 和 Mg。从头计算强调了这些元素对 (0001) 表面的强烈吸引力。原位 TEM 加热实验表明，氢可以在T处从气泡壁上解吸 ≥ 400 °C，如果通过打开气泡减少氦气含量。根据我们的结果，我们建议形成一种复杂的氢化物，该氢化物由多达五种元素组成，具有非常高的分解温度。因此，这些结果有望对金属-氢相互作用行为有新的见解，并且对于未来聚变电厂的安全具有无可估量的价值。