Hydrogen enhances the radiation resistance of amorphous silicon oxycarbides Academic Article

abstract

• 2017 Acta Materialia Inc. We use first principles molecular dynamics to investigate unit displacement processes in amorphous silicon oxycarbides (SiOC) and demonstrate that the introduction of hydrogen (H) into these materials enhances their radiation resistance. Our simulations show that 100 eV knock-ons in H-free SiOC redistribute C through the formation of C[sbnd]O and C[sbnd]C bonds. H counteracts this trend by passivating dangling O bonds and preventing C from coming out of solution. This effect arises from the exceptionally high mobility of H, which leads to the saturation of radiation-induced O and C radicals even before the thermal-spike induced by a high-energy knock-on dies down. Our work suggests that fully hydrogenated SiOC is a promising radiation-resistant material for future nuclear energy applications.

authors

• Demkowicz, Michal

published proceedings

• ACTA MATERIALIA

altmetric score

• 0.25

author list (cited authors)

• Ding, H., & Demkowicz, M. J.

citation count

• 10

complete list of authors

• Ding, Hepeng||Demkowicz, Michael J

publication date

• September 2017

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

published in

• ACTA MATERIALIA  Journal

keywords

• Amorphous Silicon Oxycarbides
• Atomic Simulation
• Radiation Resistance

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/j.actamat.2017.07.017

start page

• 415

end page

• 424

volume

• 136

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2017.07.017

user-defined tag

• 7 Affordable and Clean Energy