The effect of hydrogen chemisorption on titanium surface bonding

The effect of hydrogen chemisorption on the strength of Ti-Ti bonds is studied byab initio configuration interaction techniques using an embedding theory to describe the electronic structure. A Ti adatom on Ti(0001) is modelled by a Ti₂₀H cluster with boundary potentials determined from the embedding treatment. Hydrogen atom chemisorption is highly exothermic for adsorption atop the adatom, a three-fold site formed by the adatom and in the interstitial site below the adatom. Compared to the planar Ti(0001) surface the adatom region binds hydrogen much more strongly. Removal of Ti from the surface is energetically much more favorable if H remains on the surface as opposed to the removal of TiH. The exchange reaction Ti₂₀+HTi₁₉H+Ti is endothermic by 0.3 eV. These results suggest high reactivity of the adatom region on Ti(0001) but not such that the surface is more easily fragmented by removal of Ti or TiH.Dedicated to Professor J. Koutecký on the occasion of his 65th birthday