Solving embrittlement is a multi-billion-dollar question. Why hydrogen causes steels to become brittle and crack is the great conundrum of engineers and researchers looking to develop large-scale transport and storage solutions for the hydrogen age – an era which Australia hopes to lead by 2030.

Hydrogen traps can be introduced into the material microstructure to immobilize or trap absorbed hydrogen, limiting the amount of hydrogen participating in the embrittling process. This study finds that adding the chemical element molybdenum to steel reinforced with Ti-carbides markedly enhances its ability to trap hydrogen.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45017-4 (open access)