Hydrogen transport on graphene: Competition of mobility and desorption

The results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of atomic hydrogen kinetics on graphene are presented. The simulations involve a combination of approaches based on Brenner carbon-hydrogen potential and first-principles force calculations. Both kinds of MD calculations predict very similar qualitative trends and reproduce equally well the features of hydrogen behavior, even such sophisticated modes as long correlated jump chains. Both approaches agree that chemisorbed hydrogen diffusion on graphene is strongly limited by thermal desorption. This limitation rules out long-range diffusion of hydrogen on graphene but does not exclude the short-range hydrogen diffusion contribution to hydrogen cluster nucleation and growth.