  We report first-principles calculations which demonstrate that vacancies can
combine with hydrogen impurities in bulk aluminum and play a crucial role in
the embrittlement of this prototypical ductile solid. Our studies of
hydrogen-induced vacancy superabundant formation and vacancy clusterization in
aluminum lead to the conclusion that a large number of H atoms (up to twelve)
can be trapped at a single vacancy, which over-compensates the energy cost to
form the defect. In the presence of trapped H atoms, three nearest-neighbor
single vacancies which normally would repel each other, aggregate to form a
trivacancy on the slip plane of Al, acting as embryos for microvoids and cracks
and resulting in ductile rupture along the these planes.
