Evidences for associated heat generation and nuclear products release in palladium heavy-water electrolysis

Abstract

In a galvanostatic experiment of charging deuterium in a palladium cathode, nuclear and thermal effects were found. A sintered palladium electrode shaped as a parallelepiped was used. After six days of electrolysis at 200 mA/cm2, a simultaneous emission of neutrons, tritium excess in the electrolytic solution and temperature rapid increase were observed. During the event which lasted 4 minutes, we estimated an emission of 7.2·105 neutrons while the electrode temperature reached 150°C. Excess of tritium was evaluated to be (2.14±0.04)·1011 atoms. If the energy released as heat, 176 J, is compared with the energy associated to the d+d reactions, 0.1J, three orders of magnitude are still defective. Electrode characterization after the events is reported.