Effects of lithium-implantation on the hydrogen retention in both a-C:H and a-SiC:H materials submitted to deuterium bombardment

Abstract The hydrogen release in plasma facing materials is a challenging problem for the hydrogen recycling. The hydrogen desorption from the a-C:H and a-SiC:H materials induced by deuterium bombardment has been investigated. Prior to the deuterium bombardment, both materials were implanted with different fluences of lithium ions. Before and after each irradiation, depth profiles of H, Li and deuterium were determined by nuclear microanalysis. After deuterium bombardment, it is shown that the retention of the initial hydrogen in both materials was enhanced by increasing the total dose of the implanted Li. For the a-C:H samples, the hydrogen desorption under deuterium bombardment was strongly reduced by lithium implantation. This effect was also evidenced in a-SiC:H samples, even though it is less spectacular than in a-C:H. Also, nuclear analyses showed that the retained dose of deuterium decreases when the lithium concentration increases. This could be a result of the formation of LiH bonds which occurs to the detriment of deuterium retention in both a-C:H and a-SiC:H materials. Preliminary results of both materials exposed to TdeV tokamak discharges confirms the role of Li in hydrogen retention, already observed in deuterium bombardment exposure.