Using Bakeout to Eliminate Heat from H/D Exchange During Hydrogen Isotope Loading of Pd-impregnated Alumina Powder

Earlier studies (1,2) have shown that a hydrogen-deuterium (H/D) exchange chemical reaction initiated in Pd-impregnated material can account for at least some of the excess heat observed during gas-loading experiments. We report on using in-situ material bakeout for an extended time to assess and eliminate the chemical heat contribution. © 2013 ISCMNS. All rights reserved. ISSN 2227-3123 Multiple studies on deuterium loading of Pd nanomaterials demonstrated consistent and repeatable anomalous heat production (3-7). Low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) has been offered as an explanation for this heat production. Excess heat production in such systems was observed only in the presence of deuterium, but not hydrogen - an isotope effect. We replicated and analyzed the results of deuterium/hydrogen gas loading experiments. In the study reported here, we show that a conventional heat generation process could account for these observations. Also, we proposed a method that would help to assess this chemical heat contribution. These anomalous effects were demonstrated in nano-Pd-on-oxide materials, which are well-known catalytic systems. Catalysis is a surface phenomena, and hence an efficient catalyst must have a large surface area, implying that the active particles must be small. Small metal particles can be unstable and prone to sintering in order to reduce surface area. Therefore, most heterogeneous catalysts consist of particles inside the pores of inert substrates such as alumina, silica,