First principles study of the alloying effect on chemical bonding characteristics of helium in La–Ni–M tritides

The alloying effect on the electronic structure of La–Ni–M tritides is investigated using the first principles discrete variational Xα(DV-Xα) method. The calculated results show that the covalent interaction between atoms will play a much more important role in studying the alloying effect on chemical bonding characteristics in La–Ni–M tritides than ionic interaction. It is also found that in La–Ni–M tritides helium forms stronger covalent bonds with the weaker hydride forming elements than La. By analyzing the relation between the binding energy difference and bond order, our study indicates that after some alloying elements substituting for Ni locating in 3g site in tritides, the helium retention capability becomes stronger, changes as the following sequence: Al > Cr > Mn > Fe > Co > Ni, and is also very distinct for Cu although the chemical bonding between Cu atom and Ni atom is degraded drastically.