The adsorption and diffusion properties of scandium atom on the surfaces of tungsten and noble metals

Abstract As for the scandate cathode, the performance of Sc atom, including the adsorbability and diffusivity, plays an important role in the emission property and emission stability of the scandate cathode. W is the most widely used matrix metal in thermionic scandate cathodes, however, the cathode suffers from the recovery of scandium after ion bombardment. Herein, the adsorption properties and diffusion performance of Sc atom on the surfaces of W, Ir, Os, Re and Ru are systematically studied with the density functional theory (DFT). It is found that the adsorbabilities and diffusivities of Sc atom on the surface of W, Ir, Os, Re and Ru are in the order as W(0 1 1)  11 2 ¯ 1 ) and Ir( 11 2 ¯ 1 )