Observation of hydrogen trapping at dislocations, grain boundaries, and precipitates

An anti-embrittlement roadmap Hydrogen is important for energy applications such as fuel cells but tends to diffuse into materials and make them more susceptible to fracture. Chen et al. tackled the challenge of identifying the exact location of hydrogen atoms in two common steels. The light weight and high mobility of hydrogen creates serious problems with conventional techniques. The authors used cryo-transfer atom probe tomography to show that hydrogen is pinned to various interfaces in the steels. This direct look into hydrogen trapping should help with the development of materials that are more resistant to hydrogen embrittlement. Science , this issue p. 171