Using light transmission to watch hydrogen diffuse
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Updated: May 21, 2026

A Simple, Low-cost, and Robust System to Measure the Volume of Hydrogen Evolved by Chemical Reactions with Aqueous Solutions
Published on: August 17, 2016
Gunnar K Pálsson1, Andreas Bliersbach, Max Wolff
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Materials Physics Division, Uppsala University, Box 516, Uppsala SE-75120, Sweden.
Abstract:
Because of its light weight and small size, hydrogen exhibits one of the fastest diffusion rates in solid materials, comparable to the diffusion rate of liquid water molecules at room temperature. The diffusion rate is determined by an intricate combination of quantum effects and dynamic interplay with the displacement of host atoms that is still only partially understood. Here we present direct observations of the spatial and temporal changes in the diffusion-induced concentration profiles in a vanadium single crystal and we show that the results represent the experimental counterpart of the full time and spatial solution of Fick's diffusion equation. We validate the approach by determining the diffusion rate of hydrogen in a single crystal vanadium (001) film, with net diffusion in the [110] direction.
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