Diffusion of hydrogen in ultra-thin V(001) layers

We report on investigations of the influence of one dimensional confinement on the diffusion of hydrogen, in the low concentration limit (α - phase). The confinement is obtained by utilising single crystal Fe/V(001) superlattices, in which hydrogen preferably resides in the V layers. The diffusion along the [110] direction in the V(001) layers can thereby be determined. Activation energy and attempt jump rates are extracted from an Arrhenius analysis. No effects are observed from the confinement on the hydrogen diffusion in the thickness range 7-28 monolayers (≈1.1-4.2 nm) of V(001).