Understanding the behavior of tungsten boride (WxBy) surfaces in a fusion reactor environment is an important topic since boronization is a common wall conditioning method used in fusion Tokamaks. We report the results of density functional theory calculations that investigate the surface stability of WxBy (tetragonal I41/amd-WB, hexagonal P63/mmc-WB2 and tetragonal I4/m-W2B) with low-index orientations, as well as hydrogen (H) energetics near WxBy surfaces. For single element terminated WxBy surfaces, B terminated surfaces are more energetically stable than W terminated as a result of significant reconstruction of B. The H surface adsorption energy and activation energy of H diffusion penetration below WxBy surfaces are mainly related to the outer termination. Specifically, the WB(001) surface terminated with two B layers, referred to as WB(001)-TBB, has higher H adsorption affinity and lower H diffusivity on this surface than other terminations, which is controlled by the significant charge transfer from B to H. However, B atoms on the WB2(0001)-TBB surface decrease both H adsorption and diffusivity on the surface, but enhance H diffusion below the surface in comparison to W terminated WB2(0001) surface. H would be trapped and diffuse within atomic surface gaps on the WB2() surface, while H below the surface layer would jump along the [0001] direction rather than diffuse into bulk. The surface diffusion activation energy of H on the W2B(001) surface slightly varies with terminations. Once H crosses the surface layer of W2B(001) with either termination, it prefers to diffuse into the bulk, or back towards the surface, rather than move parallel to the surface. Interestingly, WB2(0001) and WB2() surfaces will have relatively higher H retention than the other WxBy surfaces evaluated in this work.
Energetics of silicon in the bulk and near surfaces of tungsten: a first-principles study