Electronic structure calculations were carried out for bcc iron (Fe) clusters with or without hydrogen (H), and also involving a vacancy, using the self-consistent Discrete Variational method (DV-Xα) within the local density functional formalism. Bonding characteristics investigated show the following: (i) Interstitial H notably decreases interatomic Fe–Fe bond strengths, but acts over a small distance (within 0.3 nm). (ii) In the perfect Fe lattice field, interstitial H feels a repulsive force at any site. As a result of lattice relaxation, volume expansion may be expected. (iii) H in combination with a vacancy prefers a position shifted from the octahedral site toward the vacancy. This is fairly consistent with an experimental result.
