High Temperature Deuterium Absorption in Palladium Nano-Particles

On the basis of the Yoshiaki Arata's "sauna bath reactor", a simplified reactor (one chamber, without the second internal hollow Pd chamber were the material to be studied is filled) has been built, capable of operating at high pressures (100 bar) and at temperatures from -196 up to 350°C. With this instrument various Pd containing materials were tested: Pd black, HSA Pd black, Pd on activated carbon, Pd (from nitrate) on colloidal silica, Pd in porous γAl_2O_3, Pd-Sr nitrate in porous γAl_2O_3. The D/Pd ratios have been measured in all the materials. Evidence of excess heat was found with some of the tested materials. The one chamber reactor was improved later by adding a second, reference chamber, which is similar to the working chamber, as a sort of differential calorimeter. Such a device is capable to highlight (and measure), in real time, the occurrence of excess heat in Pd powders or Pd containing materials put in the crucible of the measurement chamber of the instrument. With respect to the reference chamber, whose crucible is filled with inert material, the excess heat, due to the Deuterium absorption, makes the temperature of the working chamber to rise. Both the chambers are supplied with the same power input. A sample of Pd black_HSA (4.8 g) showed (at 290°C) a clear excess temperature of 13.5°C equivalent to an excess heat of up to 520milliwatts. The direct relationship between the excess heat and the D2 content in the Pd powder has been demonstrated: in fact, when a partial degassing of the Pd powder occurred, a subsequent decrease of the excess heat also occurred.The anomalous excess heat, due to the close interaction, at nanometric scale, of Deuterium with Pd, seems to be clearly detected by proper experimental set-up and operating conditions. The amount of energy detected is larger of any chemical reaction known.