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As hydrogen is touted as a key player in the decarbonization of modern society, it is critical to enable quantitative H analysis at high spatial resolution, if possible at the atomic scale. Indeed, H has a known deleterious impact on the mechanical properties (strength, ductility, toughness) of most materials that can hinder their use as part of the infrastructure of a hydrogen-based economy. Enabling H mapping, including local hydrogen concentration analyses at specific microstructural features, is essential for understanding the multiple ways that H affect the properties of materials, including for instance embrittlement mechanisms and their synergies, but also spatial mapping and quantification of hydrogen isotopes is essential to accurately predict tritium inventory of future fusion power plants, ensuring their safe and efficient operation for example. Atom probe tomography (APT) has the intrinsic capabilities for detecting hydrogen (H), and deuterium (D), and in principle the capacity for performing quantitative mapping of H within a material's microstructure. Yet the accuracy and precision of H analysis by APT remain affected by the influence of residual hydrogen from the ultra-high vacuum chamber that can obscure the signal of H from within the material, along with a complex field evaporation behavior. The present article reports the essence of discussions at a focused workshop held at the Max-Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials in April 2024. The workshop was organized to pave the way to establishing best practices in reporting APT data for the analysis of H. We first summarize the key aspects of the intricacies of H analysis by APT and propose a path for better reporting of the relevant data to support interpretation of APT-based H analysis in materials.

Atom probe tomography is routinely used for the characterisation of materials microstructures usually assuming that the microstructure is unaltered by the analysis. When analysing ionic conductors, however, gradients in the chemical potential and the electric field penetrating dielectric atom probe specimens can cause significant ionic mobility. While ionic mobility is undesired when aiming for materials characterisation it offers a strategy to manipulate materials directly in-situ in the atom probe. Here, we present experimental results on the analysis of the ionic conductor Lithium-Manganese-Oxide with different atom probe techniques. We demonstrate that at a temperature of 30K characterisation of the materials microstructure is possible without measurable Li mobility. Contrary, we show that at 298K the material can be deintercalated in-situ in the atom probe without changing the Manganese-Oxide host structure. Combining in-situ atom probe deintercalation and subsequent conventional characterisation we demonstrate a new methodological approach to study ionic conductors even in early stages of deintercalation.