First-Principles Study of hydrogen retention and diffusion in beryllium oxide

In the quest of new renewable sources of energy, hydrogen is a promising candidate and its storage in solid-state materials is of extreme importance. Beryllium has been invoked in the past for this purpose because of its low density, and for the rather low energy of adsorption and retention of hydrogen that makes its restitution relatively easy, therefore it seems interesting to also investigate the properties of beryllium oxide. Hydrogen (and its isotopes) is also important as the fuel of deuterium–tritium plasma in tokamaks for energy production by magnetically confined nuclear fusion, when the plasma is in interaction with the beryllium (and beryllium oxide) of the inner walls of the device.