Surface diffusivity of atomic deuterium on Ni₃(Al, Ti)(110) surface with and without boron

The electron-stimulated desorption was used to measure the surface diffusivity of atomic deuterium on clean and boron-modified Ni₃(Al, Ti)(110) surfaces. Boron dosing was performed by using a solid-state boron ion source. Earlier studies show that boron dissociates water readily at temperature as low as 130 K and the resulting atomic hydrogen is bound to the surface strongly. The surface diffusion coefficient of atomic deuterium on 0.05 monolayer boron-modified surface was measured to be about 10 times smaller than that on the clean surface. This slower diffusion of atomic hydrogen may explain why boron improves the ductility of polycrystalline Ni₃Al in moist environment.