Decoupling interface and thickness effects on hydrogen absorption in V/MgO: experiments and DFT

We report combined experimental and first principles investigations of hydrogen absorption in epitaxial vanadium films on MgO(001) with nominal thicknesses of 10 nm and 50 nm. In - situ optical transmission and four - probe resistance isotherms show that the 50 nm film reproduces bulk like behavior with a clear first order alpha-beta hydride transition, the formation enthalpy and entropy gradually decrease with increasing hydrogen concentration. The 10 nm film, by contrast, displays continuous uptake without plateaus, with formation enthalpies H that are relatively close in magnitude to the 50 nm film (both exhibiting exothermic behavior in the range of approximately 0.5 to 0.3 eV/H), but with a more negative entropy change S (larger S) indicating reduced configurational freedom for hydrogen in the ultrathin limit; the critical temperature for phase coexistence is suppressed below 400 K. Density functional theory calculations on MgO V superlattices (Vn/(MgO)n, n = 3,5,7) reveal pronounced V 3d and O 2p hybridization and interfacial charge redistribution that weaken hydrogen binding near the interface and recover toward bulk values with increasing V thickness. These results indicate that interfacial electronic structure, in addition to finite size energetics, governs hydride stability in ultrathin V films and that layer - thickness and interface engineering can tune reversible hydrogen uptake.