Sticking and Desorption of Atomic Hydrogen on the Armchair Edges of Bilayer Graphene

The coupled channel method via the Local Reflection (LORE) matrix is employed to investigate the quantum mechanical behavior of the sticking or adsorption and desorption of hydrogen (H) atom on bilayer graphene via the armchair edge. The sticking and desorption probabilities of H are calculated and are plotted against the initial translational energy of H. The sticking probability plot shows a barrierless reaction indicating that hydrogen is easily adsorbed on the armchair edge of graphene. The desorption probability plot, however, shows that desorption of H from the graphene sheets is an activated process with a barrier height of 4.19 eV suggesting that a strong bond exists between the adsorbed H atom and the edge carbon atom. Thus, temperatures higher than the operating temperatures (300 - 1500 K) of conventional fuel cells are necessary to release the adsorbed H atom from the armchair edge of graphene.