up
864 likes
you voted
Thanks for voting!
Would you like to share?
...
Published: Jun.6.2014

Material Science Challenges to Define the Fleischmann and Pons Effect by Applying the Scientific Method

Dr. Vittorio Violante
Rome Tor Vergata University

The Fleischmann and Pons Effect is the appearance of excess energy when a Pd cathode is electrolyzed in heavy water (D2O). Results with signals well above the measurement uncertainties confirm the anomalous production of excess of power during electrochemical loading of palladium with deuterium.
The excess power has the following features:

  • Threshold effect (loading D/Pd > 0.9)
  • Unobserved with hydrogen
  • Unexplainable as a chemical effect
  • Occurs only if materials shows specific characteristics

The figure shows a mass flow calorimetry result giving 500% excess power. Material science is the key to understand it, since some material characteristics support some processes rather than others. Future work, by applying the scientific method, will have to be oriented towards the definition of the effect rather than its demonstration.

Mass flow calorimetry excess power: output power becomes 5 times larger than the input.

Professor Violante earned a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering Naples University in 1979. PhD in New Materials in 1992. ENEA (Italian Agency for Energy and Economic Development, ex CNEN) Graduate Fellowship (1980-1983) studying hydrogen metal hydrides interactions for energy storage and liquid membranes for metals separation. Associate researcher at Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago (USA) (1983) working on liquid membrane processes studying distributed parameters modeling. Permanent position researcher at ENEA Laboratories (1984). Working on simulations codes for fusion reactors fuel cycle for tritium control into breeding materials and plasma facing components, and isotopic separation. 1987 and 1988 visiting scientist at Max Planck Institute in Garching (Germany) working with the ITER nuclear engineering team. Since 1989 has been involved in the ENEA program on thermal anomalous effects in deuterated palladium, including calorimetry, transport phenomena and hydrogen isotopes interaction within the metallic lattice, laser triggering and interface electrodynamics. The studies on material science allowed to increase the deuterium loading reproducibility in Pd cathodes. Adjunct professor of Transport Phenomena at Calabria University (1992-1995). Responsible for the ENEA Section of Special Nuclear Technologies for Fusion (1996-2002). Adjunct professor of Physics for Advanced Energy Conversion at Rome Tor Vergata University (2001-2010). Adjunct professor of Physics of Nuclear Energy at Rome Tor Vergata University (since 2010). Visiting scientist at GW University (2009) working on metal hydrogen systems. Chair of ICCF 15 (2009) in Rome. Responsible for the ENEA Task Force for Energy from Metal Hydrogen Systems (since 2011) and ENEA Coordinator for LENR Research.