Prevention of hydrogen (H) penetration into passive films and steels plays a vital role in lowering hydrogen damage. This work reports effects of atom (Al, Cr, or Ni) doping on hydrogen adsorption on the alpha-Fe2O3 (001) thin films and permeation into the films based on density functional theory. We found that the H-2 molecule prefers to dissociate on the surface of pure alpha-Fe2O3 thin film with adsorption energy of -1.18 eV. Doping Al or Cr atoms in the subsurface of alpha-Fe2O3 (001) films can reduce the adsorption energy by 0.03 eV (Al) or 0.09 eV (Cr) for H surface adsorption. In contrast, Ni doping substantially enhances the H adsorption energy by 1.08 eV. As H permeates into the subsurface of the film, H occupies the octahedral interstitial site and forms chemical bond with an O atom. Comparing with H subsurface absorption in the pure film, the absorption energy decreases by 0.01-0.22 eV for the Al- and Cr-doped films, whereas increases by 0.82-0.96 eV for the Ni-doped film. These results suggest that doping Al or Cr prevents H adsorption on the surface or permeation into the passive film, which effectively reduces the possibility of hydrogen embrittlement of the underlying steel. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.