Effect of ion bombardment on plasma-driven superpermeation of hydrogen isotopes through a niobium membrane

Hydrogen plasma-driven permeation through the superpermeable niobium membrane was investigated under bombardment of the input membrane surface with hydrogen, deuterium and helium ions with energy 0-250 eV over the range of membrane temperature 910-1420 K. The membrane surface was covered with a nonmetal monolayer generating a potential barrier responsible for the superpermeability to suprathermal hydrogen particles. Both an increase of ion energy and an increase of mass of sputtering ions result in a significant decrease of permeability due to destruction of the nonmetal monolayer, when the ion energy is higher than the threshold energy of surface film sputtering. On the contrary, the increase of the membrane temperature results in the decrease of the ion bombardment effect and in the increase of the membrane permeability due to recovery of the surface barrier through segregation of impurities dissolved in the membrane bulk onto the membrane surface. To increase the membrane ability to recover the potential barrier, oxygen was dissolved in the membrane bulk up to a concentration of 2.5 at.%. This resulted in a significant decrease of the damaging effect of ion bombardment and in the extension of the range of the membrane temperature and ion energy over which plasma-driven superpermeability was observed