First-principles studies of the concentration-dependent tritium diffusion in the zirconium hydrides with and without Sn impurity
We performed first-principles calculations to study the 3 H diffusion in the zirconium hydrides with or without Sn impurity. Our results show that the formation of Zr 3 H x becomes preferable as the 3 H concentration increases. Based on the most stable configurations of Zr 3 H x (x = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0), we studied the interstitial 3 H diffusion with or without Sn impurity. The results show that the interstitial 3 H diffusion becomes less probable in the hydrides with a higher 3 H concentration. When introducing a substitutional Sn impurity, the diffusion barriers increase. Therefore, the substitutional Sn in the diffusion pathway hampers the 3 H diffusion in Zr hydrides.