The influence of hydrogen on the electronic structure in transition metallic glasses

Abstract

We investigate the influence of hydrogen on the electronic structure of a binary transition metallic glass of V$_{80}$Zr$_{20}$. We examine the hybridization between the hydrogen and metal atoms with the aid of hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Combined with ab initio density functional theory, we are able to show and predict the formation of $s$-$d$ hybridized energy states. With optical transmission and resistivity measurements, we investigate the emergent electronic properties formed out of those altered energy states, and together with the theoretical calculations of the frequency-dependent conductivity tensor, we qualitatively support the observed strong wavelength-dependency of the hydrogen-induced changes on the optical absorption and a positive parabolic change in resistivity with hydrogen concentration.