Tunneling and spin-lattice relaxation of hydrogen dissolved in scandium metal

Ab initio study of stability and migration of H and He in hcp-Sc

Ab initio calculations based on density functional theory have been performed to determine the relative stabilities and migration of H and He atoms in hcp-Sc. The results show that the formation energy of an interstitial H or He atom is smaller than that of a corresponding substitutional atom. The tetrahedral (T) interstitial position is more stable than an octahedral (O) position for both He and H interstitials. The nudged elastic band method has been used to study the migration of interstitial H and He atoms in hcp-Sc. It is found that the migration energy barriers for H interstitials in hcp-Sc are significantly different from those for He interstitials, but their migration mechanisms are similar. In addition, the formation energies of five different configurations of a H-H pair were determined, revealing that the most stable configuration consists of two H atoms located at the second-neighbor tetrahedral interstitial sites along the hexagonal direction. The formation and relative stabilities of some small He clusters have also been investigated.

Deuteron NMR spectra of ammonium ion isotopomers at low temperatures

Partially deuterated ammonium compounds contain ammonium ion isotopomers with relative abundances given by the binomial distribution of protons and deuterons. All isotopomers with deuterons contribute characteristic deuteron NMR spectra at 5K. Experimental NMR spectra were separated and respective contributions of isotopomers were determined. The derived contributions agree with expected values for a given deuteration in the case of ammonium hexafluorophosphate. In ammonium hexachlorotellurate both NH2D2+ and about 50% of NH3D+ ions are rigid, while the remaining NH3D+ perform limited jumps. NHD3+ and ND4+ ions undergo tunnelling rotation, NH3D+ ions perform either jumps about C2 axis or limited jumps, but some stay rigid in ammonium hexachlorostannate. NH2D2+, NHD 3+ and ND4+ undergo rotational tunnelling. In the case of ammonium perchlorate, the NH3D+ ions perform either jumps about C3 axis or limited jumps whilst some remain rigid. Very low values of activation energies were derived for all spectral components from the temperature dependence of their spectra, up to about 20K, which indicates an incoherent tunnelling nature of the observed dynamic processes. The diverse mobility of NH3D+ ions appears to be the most interesting and new feature.