New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect European Parliament Bruxelles 03/06/2013
V. Violante Ph D ENEA LENR Research Coordinator
Material Science for Understanding the Fleischmann and Pons Effect
Cooperation frame: ENEA-NRL-SRI-University of Missouri
Re-Research, Consorzio Veneto Ricerca
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
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
The Fleischmann and Pons Effect is the appearance of excess energy when a Pd cathode is electrolyzed in heavy water (D2O).
Calorimetry (Mass Flow): Closed Cells
PdPt
PdPt
PdPt
PdPt
Catalyst
Cathode -
Anode +
Closed Electrochemical Cell
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
LiOD
D2+O2
D2O
H2O + LiOH
Input and Output Energy and Power (Efficiency 97%)
Electrode operated with H2O
Roma 04-06 -2013
L17 experiment. Excess of power: the output power becomes 5 times larger than the input.
25
25.5
26
26.5
27
27.5
28
28.5
29
29.5
30
200000 220000 240000 260000 280000 300000
T_cell (ｰC)
T_box (ｰC)
Electrolyte temperature
An excess of power
(observed during revision studies)
Electrolyte temperature increasing during the excess.
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
200000 220000 240000 260000 280000 300000
W_in (W)
W_out (W)
Pout (W)
Pin (W)
500% Excess
Pow
er (
W)
Reproducibility 60% in ENEA and 70% at SRI
80
500
100
37
24
80
12 13
43
15
12
200
50
10
100
1000
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Per
cen
tag
e E
xce
ss P
ow
er [
PX
S/P
In]
ENEA Cathode Material Designation L#
ENEA
SRI
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
Important evidence: Only active cathodes in ENEA were active also at SRI
Experienced At ENEA only
The occurrence of the effect is depending on the material status
Material giving excess
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 not giving excess
Different contaminants give different charcteristics by using the same treatment
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
Contaminants may act on:
- Grain size
- Crystal orientation
Contaminants Effects on Material Behavior
- Grain boundary
- Etching Surface Morphology Acts on Electrochemistry
Acts on Electrochemistry
Controls Loading
Controls Loading
Contaminants at ppm level have been identified to be responsible for material
characteristics and behavior
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
The experimental evidences have led to a production of a material having characteristics close to the ones belonging to the active samples
Designing Materials (Doping and Alloys)
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
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
L66 (120-160) Adding Platinum
L66 (160-200) Adding Platinum
ENEA Palladium doped by Platinum , up to 25-30% excess ENEA
Material not giving excess (low Pt content)
Applying NRL- Electrolysis Protocol
Electrode surface after electrolysis
L99(175-215) HM Pt doped
ENEA Palladium doped by Platinum
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
NRL Differential calorimetry
500 mW Heat Burst
Addition of Fe,Cu,Al
The large amount of produced energy (> 10 eV per atom) is impossible to be interpreted as a chemical process.
Progress in the field requires well conceived coordinated research projects involving modern instrumentation.
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.
By applying the scientific method future work should be oriented towards the definition of the effect rather than its demonstration.
Concluding Remarks
New advancements on the Fleischmann-Pons Effect – Bruxelles 03/06/2013
Reprducibility of the Effect requires the reproducibility of the material status.
