Hydrogen-induced stress relaxation in thin Pd films: influence of carbon implementation

The influence of carbon impurities on mechanical properties of thin Pd film in the process of hydride formation and its disintegration has been investigated "in situ" by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM). Pd interaction with hydrogen leads to the formation of hydride PdHx, if critical conditions of pressure and temperature are reached (equilibrium hydrogen pressure over PdHx at 298 K is approximately 1 kPa). The lattice constant of PdHx is larger than that of the original metal, and the hydride formation generates high stress within the film. As a consequence, the reversible formation of well organized mesoscopic protrusions on the film surface is observed. In this paper, we focus our investigation on the mechanical response which occurs when, prior to hydride generation, carbon atoms are incorporated into the bulk of the film. The systems characterized by carbon incorporation from the two opposite sides of thin palladium film (HOPG substrate and hydrocarbon fragments deposit from a gas-phase reached by preadsorption of ethylene) are compared. For both cases the mechanism of mechanical response is the same, but very different from that registered for pure thin palladium film. Carbon impurities induce, during PdHx decomposition, creation of an organized network of cracks which divides the continuous film into separated domains. The mechanisms of carbon introduction occurring in both cases have been proposed.