Material Science for Understanding the Fleischmann and Pons Effect

Transcription

1 New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect European Parliament Bruxelles 03/06/2013 Material Science for Understanding the Fleischmann and Pons Effect V. Violante Ph D ENEA LENR Research Coordinator Cooperation frame: ENEA-NRL-SRI-University of Missouri Re-Research, Consorzio Veneto Ricerca

2 The Fleischmann and Pons Effect is the appearance of excess energy when a Pd cathode is electrolyzed in heavy water (D 2 O). Revision of the Effect: Government supported Research Projects have been conceived and developed in Italy and US, during the last decade, to verify the existence of the Effect. Results with signals well above the measurement uncertainties are confirming the anomalous production of excess of power during electrochemical loading of Palladium with Deuterium. Excess of power has the following features: 1) Threshold effect (loading D/Pd > 0.9) 2) Unobserved with hydrogen 3) Unexplainable as chemical effect 4) Occurs only if materials are showing specific characteristics

3 Calorimetry (Mass Flow): Closed Cells Catalyst D2+O2 D2O Anode + Cathode - LiOD Pd Pt Closed Electrochemical Cell

4 Roma Electrode operated with H 2 O H 2 O + LiOH Input and Output Energy and Power (Efficiency 97%)

5 Power (W) New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect Bruxelles 03/06/2013 An excess of power (observed during revision studies) Pout (W) 500% Excess Electrolyte temperature W_in (W) W_out (W) T_cell ( ー C) T_box ( ー C) Pin (W) L17 experiment. Excess of power: the output power becomes 5 times larger than the input. Electrolyte temperature increasing during the excess.

6 Percentage Excess Power [P XS /P In ] New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect Bruxelles 03/06/2013 Important evidence: Only active cathodes in ENEA were active also at SRI 1000 ENEA SRI Experienced At ENEA only ENEA Cathode Material Designation L# Reproducibility 60% in ENEA and 70% at SRI The occurrence of the effect is depending on the material status

7 A different behavior related to the material status was observed above the loading threshold D/Pd (atomic fraction) =0.9: 1) High power gain during the excess. 2) Low power gain during excess. 3) No excess. Material Behavior and Role Material giving excess Material not giving excess Different contaminants give different charcteristics by using the same treatment

8 Contaminants Effects on Material Behavior Contaminants at ppm level have been identified to be responsible for material characteristics and behavior Contaminants may act on: - Grain size Controls Loading - Crystal orientation Acts on Electrochemistry - Grain boundary Controls Loading - Etching Surface Morphology Acts on Electrochemistry

9 Designing Materials (Doping and Alloys) The experimental evidences have led to a production of a material having characteristics close to the ones belonging to the active samples e.g. Palladium was doped with Platinum to have a spectrum of contaminants closer to the ones of the rough palladium giving active samples NRL: Palladium Rhodium Alloy

10 ENEA Palladium doped by Platinum, up to 25-30% excess ENEA L66 ( ) Adding Platinum Material not giving excess (low Pt content) L66 ( ) Adding Platinum

11 ENEA Palladium doped by Platinum Applying NRL- Electrolysis Protocol NRL Differential calorimetry Addition of Fe,Cu,Al 500 mw Heat Burst Electrode surface after electrolysis L99( ) HM Pt doped

12 Concluding Remarks The large amount of produced energy (> 10 ev per atom) is impossible to be interpreted as a chemical process. Material status is the key to observe the effect. Material science is the key to understand it, since some material characteristics support some processes rather than others. Reprducibility of the Effect requires the reproducibility of the material status. By applying the scientific method future work should be oriented towards the definition of the effect rather than its demonstration. Progress in the field requires well conceived coordinated research projects involving modern instrumentation.