Cold Fusion after a Quarter‐Century: The Pd/D System

Abstract

This chapter focuses on two details of Martin Fleischmann's final project:(i) the multithreshold materials constraints that prevented easy reproducibility of the Fleischmann–Pons heat effect (FPHE); (ii) the brilliant, implementation of the Fleischmann–Pons calorimeter, designed to take advantage of positive thermal feedback. Martin Fleischmann's major accomplishment was the discovery of anomalous heat effects in the electrochemical palladium deuterium system (Pd/D). There exists many reliable reports of tritium production in cold fusion experiments for the Pd/D system. However, the amounts of tritium production are always too small to explain excess heat events. The isoperibolic Dewar calorimetric and equations developed by Fleischmann and Pons remain relevant today because this accurate electrochemical calorimetry could be applied to the investigation of the thermal behavior of a wide range of electrochemical reactions, especially irreversible processes.