Chemisorption and diffusion of hydrogen on surface and subsurface sites of flat and stepped nickel surfaces

Plane-wave density functional theory calculations were performed to investigate the binding and diffusion of hydrogen on three flat Ni surfaces, Ni(100), Ni(110), and Ni(111), and two stepped Ni surfaces, Ni(210) and Ni(531). On each surface, the favored adsorption sites were identified by considering the energy and stability of various binding sites and zero-point energy corrections were computed. Binding energies are compared with experimental and theoretical results from the literature. Good agreement with experimental and previous theoretical data is found. At surface coverages where adsorbate-adsorbate interactions are relatively weak, the binding energy of H is similar on the five Ni surfaces studied. Favorable binding energies are observed for stable surface sites, while subsurface sites have unfavorable values relative to the gas phase molecular hydrogen. Minimum energy paths for hydrogen diffusion on Ni surfaces and into subsurface sites were constructed.