Local atomic structure around Ni, Nb, and Zr atoms in Ni-Nb-Zr-H glassy alloys

Abstract

In order to elucidate the hydrogen effect on the atomic configuration in the Ni-Nb-Zr glassy alloys, we measured Ni, Nb, and Zr K-edge XAFS spectra of the Ni-Nb-Zr glassy alloy films with two different chemical compositions, i.e., Ni42Nb28Zr30 and Ni36Nb24Zr40, and their hydrogen-charged ones, i.e., (Ni42Nb28Zr30)0.91H0.09 and (Ni36Nb24Zr40)0.89H0.11. The Fourier transforms of the XAFS oscillations of these samples clearly shows that there is a significant difference in the structural response between the Zr30at.% and the Zr40at.% alloys when hydrogen atoms are charged. The curve-fitting analysis indicates that the hydrogenation does not alter the local alignment around the three metal atoms for the Zr30at.% alloy, but for the Zr40at.% alloy; it elongates the inter-atomic distances of Zr-Zr, Zr-Nb and Nb-Ni. On the basis of the curve fitting analysis, we propose the distorted icosahedral Zr5Ni5Nb3 cluster models. The XANES spectra at each (Ni, Zr and Nb) edge of (Ni36Nb24Zr40)0.89H0.11 also present the distinct shape from the other samples. The pre-edge peak (shoulder) vanishes or weakens, suggesting the conversion of the electronic state of the metal ions owing to the hydrogenation. The post-edge energy region shows clear multi-scattering effects from hydrogen atoms by charging these.