Graphene protective coatings for hydrogen resistance improving of E110 zirconium alloy

This work is devoted to the study of barrier properties of graphene coating against hydrogen permeation into E110 zirconium alloy. For the first time, the kinetics of hydrogen absorption by the graphene-coated zirconium alloy with a single-layer graphene coating obtained by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is studied in this work. It was shown that the graphene coating exhibits barrier properties and reduces hydrogen absorption rate by E110 zirconium alloy in the temperature range (350–550)°C. The activation energy for hydrogen absorption was reduced from 72 to 61 kJ/mol. Phase transformations in zirconium alloy during hydrogenation can result in degradation of protective properties of graphene coating.