LENR Research using Co-Deposition

The Pd/D co-deposition process was developed by Stan Szpak at the Naval Laboratory in San Diego as an alternative means of initiating LENR. Besides heat, other nuclear products that have been measured using Pd/D co-deposition include tritium and the emission of γand X-rays, neutrons, and energetic particles. This communication summarizes 19 years of LENR research that has focused on the Pd/D co-deposition process. In March 1989, two chemists in Utah, Fleischmann and Pons, announced that they had performed electrochemical experiments that produced more excess energy than could be accounted for by chemical reactions. Therefore they speculated that the source must involve nuclear reactions and the effect became known as “Cold Fusion.” The claims of Fleischman and Pons caused a global sensation. Much of the uproar was due to the fact that their observations disagreed with the accepted theory of nuclear reactions. Within days scientists around the world had started work on duplications of the experiments. Many of these efforts failed. Reasons for the failures varied. Many researchers used palladium cathodes whose past histories were unknown. Others used improper cell configurations that precluded achieving the high D/Pd loadings necessary to initiate the effect. Still others did not realize that, with bulk electrodes, long incubation times were necessary to produce the effect. However, despite the large number of failures, there were other scientists who did observe anomalous behaviors that could not be explained. These other scientists continued to investigate the effect, which is now called Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR). Stan Szpak, an electrochemist at the Naval laboratory in San Diego, developed the Pd/D codeposition process as a means of initiating LENR that greatly reduces the incubation time and gives reproducible results. In this process, working and counter electrodes are immersed in a solution of palladium chloride and lithium chloride in deuterated water. Working electrode substrates that have been used include Cu and Au foils and Ni mesh. Palladium is then electrochemically reduced onto the surface of the working electrode in the presence of evolving deuterium gas. SEM analysis of electrodes prepared by Pd/D co-deposition exhibit highly expanded surfaces consisting of small spherical nodules. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic pulsing experiments indicate that, by using the co-deposition technique, a high degree of deuterium loading (with an atomic ratio D/Pd>1) is obtained within seconds. These experiments also indicate the existence of a D2 + species within the Pd lattice. Because an ever expanding electrode surface is created, non-steady state conditions are assured, the cell geometry is simplified because there is no longer a need for a uniform current distribution on the cathode, and long charging times are eliminated. Using a Dewar-type electrochemical cell/calorimeter, it