Electrolysis of D2o with Titanium Cathodes: Enhancement of Excess Heat and Further Evidence of Possible Transmutation

Using Ti-Pt electrodes in closed electrolytic cells containing D2O-H2SO4 electrolyte, evidence for excess thermal power generation has been observed (i.e. Power out – Power in > 0). It had been noted that experiments (8-cell) with smaller cathodes (larger perimeter to area ratio) performed better than experiments (SEC system) in which larger cathodes (smaller perimeter to area ratio) were used. In an effort to increase the magnitude of the excess power output, slits were introduced into the larger cathodes to increase the perimeter to area ratio. Two SEC systems were used during the course of these experiments. Using data from the first SEC system we find that four of seven (57%) of the experiments with slit cathodes showed an excess thermal power, averaging 322 mW (ranging from 136 to 509 mW) and five of fourteen (36%) of the experiments with no cathode slits gave excess thermal power, averaging 171 mW (ranging from 115 to 233 mW). Overall, 10 of 13 (77%) of the experiments with slit cathodes showed excess power while only 5 of 15 (30%) of the experiments with no slits in the cathodes showed excess power. This result shows an increase in both the magnitude and reproducibility of the excess power output effect. In addition, Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) was performed on several cathodes (post-experiment) where greater concentrations of unexpected elements are found in those cells that showed excess power compared to those cells that did not show excess power. Introduction: Previously we have shown a method of increasing both the reproducibility and magnitude of the excess power generated by optimizing the reduction in thickness of the cathode by cold rolling. Recent evidence has been found that may indicate another important variable that could be used to increase the magnitude and repeatability of excess thermal power production in electrolytic cells containing Ti/Pt electrodes in D2O/H2SO4 electrolyte. Two calorimeter systems, an eight-cell, small cathode system, and a single cell Seebeck Envelope Calorimeter (SEC) system with a much larger cathode, are used in this research. These systems measure the thermal power output of closed electrolytic cells employing recombination catalyst and containing Pt anodes and Ti cathodes in D2O-H2SO4 electrolyte. The Ti cathodes in the eight-cell experiments typically have surface area of about 23 mm , perimeter of about 10 mm, and current density of about 2 A/cm . For those cells that showed excess power, the average excess power generation was 232 +/20 mW, which represents an increase of about 13% over the power input (or 113% power out/power in). Excess power output increased with increased current density. The highest power output observed was 125% of the power input. An effort was made to increase excess power by increasing the size of the cathode to about 400 mm in the SEC experiments. However, the larger cathodes did not appear to increase the excess power output. The smaller cathodes have larger perimeter / area ratios than the larger cathodes. In an attempt to understand this lack of increased output with increased area, we then investigated the relationship between the perimeter / area ratio of the cathode and excess heat output over a series of 28 SEC experiments. Methods and Materials: Two Seebeck Envelope Calorimeters (SEC) from Thermionics Corp. were employed during these experiments. Each SEC has an inner cavity measurement of 18 cm by 18 cm by 18 cm. Heat flows from the experimental cell, positioned on a raised platform in the center of the SEC cavity, through the surrounding air inside the calorimeter and through the SEC envelope, consisting of 16 thermocouples per cm, to an aluminum jacket that incorporates constant temperature water-cooling coils. If the inner cavity has a higher temperature than the water jacket, the resulting heat flux produces a positive electrical signal output from the SEC in the 0-100 millivolt range over the span of power levels used in these trials. The first SEC was calibrated using 33 data points from Pt-Pt control cells with H2O-H2SO4 electrolyte. The SEC gives a linear input vs. output relationship over the range of interest: Power Output (Watts)= 0.202 ± 1.4x10 W/mV x SEC Output (mV) + 0.045 ± 0.008 W (1) and has a coefficient of determination R of 0.9999. The intercept in the slope of the line equation (1) reflects an adjustment of 0.045 W. Thermal leakage along wires fed into the SEC via a 0.6 cm tube inserted into the inner cavity of the SEC accounts for this adjustment. These wires include the power leads to the electrolytic cell, voltage measurement wires and six thermocouple wires used to measure the temperature of the outside surface of the cell. Because of uncertainties inherent in the Pt-Pt control cell such as recombination and evaporative weight loss, we do not claim excess power production unless then output exceeds 100mW. The second SEC reduces these uncertainties by utilizing a new SEC calorimeter and a resistive cell instead of a Pt-Pt cell. There are no mass losses from the resistor cell, but there are losses in the Pt-Pt cell. Therefore, the excess power calculation will be conservative using the resistive cell. In addition, we no longer employ the calibration curve but instead perform a direct comparison of the power in / signal outputs of the resistive control immediately after the experimental run to the power in / signal outputs for the experimental cell. Since this calibration is more accurate than the older (first) method (a Pt-Pt control cell) we will now claim excess power is generated if the excess power output exceeds 3σ using the second SEC, Table 3. The Ti foil used in this study (99.99%) was obtained from two suppliers: Aldrich Chemical Co. and Alfa Aesar. Aldrich Chemical Company reported impurity levels in batch 1 (Lot: 01230AQ) of: 30 ppm Ca and 8 ppm Al whereas batch 2 (Lot: 04624KI) was found to contain: 3.8 ppm K, 3.2 ppm Al, 2.7 ppm Fe, 0.9 ppm Ca, 0.5 ppm Li and 0.3 ppm Na. The foil obtained by Alfa Aesar (Stock: 43676, Lot: E25K24) reported impurities of 31 ppm Al, 76 ppm C, 29 ppm N, and 70 other elements with concentrations <10 ppm including Pt < 0.05 ppm and Au < 0.05 ppm. The Ti foil from Aldrich batch 1 was used in SEC 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Aldrich Ti batch 2 was used in SEC 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and Alfa Aesar Ti foil was used in SEC 13 and 17. Each of the cathodes used in this paper were cold rolled 20% in addition to any cold rolling performed by the supplier. Results: To increase the perimeter / area ratio, vertical slits were cut into the Ti cathodes of thirteen SEC cells. Six of the Ti cathodes were cut using stainless steel surgical scissors and seven Ti cathodes (SEC 9, for example) were cut using an Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) process (discussed in more detail later). Introducing these slits increased the perimeter / area ratio to an average value of about 0.5 mm, which was twice that of the SEC cathodes without slits (0.25 mm). The current density was lower for most of the SEC experiments that used cathodes with slits, about 0.56 A/cm, compared with 1.01 A/cm for the cathodes without slits. A summary of results of cathodes with slits can be found in Table 1, experiments without slits is found in Table 2 and the remaining experiments that utilized the second SEC system is found in Table 3. Table 1: Summary of cells in which slits were cut into the cathodes using the first SEC system. Slits in Cathodes Excess Power (Watts) Power In (Watts) Current Density (A/cm) Exp. Runtime (Min) Excess Heat Time