The Process of Thermal Runaway Is the Reason of Fleischmann-Pons

Effect

Nikolay E. Galushkin

, Nataliya N. Yazvinskaya

and Dmitriy N. Galushkin

Laboratory of Electrochemical and Hydrogen Energy, Don State Technical University,

1 Gagarin Square, Town of Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Keywords: Thermal Runaway, Fleischmann-Pons, Deuterium Accumulation, Deuteride, Battery.

Abstract: In the electrolysis of heavy water, Fleischmann and Pons found the effect of excess power. Then this effect

was discovered by a number of other researchers. They explained this effect of "cold fusion" of deuterium

nuclei. In the electrolysis of heavy water, it is very difficult to obtain the Fleischmann and Pons effect; it

occurs spontaneously and is completely unpredictable. Therefore, a significantly larger number of researchers

were unable to obtain the effect of Fleischmann and Pons. They consider this effect to be a mistake or an

instrumental artifact. In this paper provides recommendations for obtaining the Fleischmann and Pons effect

at will and reliably. Therefore, at present, every researcher can securely obtain the effect of Fleischmann and

Pons and investigate it. The paper proves that the cause of the Fleischmann-Pons effect (of burst type) is the

exothermic reaction of thermal runaway, which is caused by the desorption and recombination of atomic

deuterium accumulated in the electrodes during the electrolysis of the electrolyte. In batteries with aqueous

electrolyte, thermal runaway is due to a similar exothermic reaction. Therefore, the cause of the Fleischmann-

Pons effect is not the "cold fusion" of deuterium nuclei. It is also shown that the cause of the Fleischmann-

Pons effect (of weak type) is the partial recombination of deuterium and oxygen, i.e. in this case, the excess

power is apparent or imaginary.

1 INTRODUCTION

In 1989, when studying the heavy water electrolysis

in cells with palladium cathodes, Fleischmann and

Pons (F&P) discovered the excess power effect

(Fleischmann et al., 1989). This effect appeared

suddenly after prolonged electrolysis of heavy water

and lasted for several hours. In this case, the energy

released by the cell was much greater than the energy

received by the cell from an external power source.

As Fleischmann and Pons did not find any obvious

electrochemical reactions there, they assumed that the

reason for the huge energy release was the deuterons

synthesis nuclear reactions. Subsequently, the nuclear

processes proposed by F&P became known as “cold

fusion”. Studies by Fleischmann and Pons showed

that the excess power effect (or Fleischmann-Pons

effect) occurs randomly and extremely rarely.

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Since then, some researchers managed to

reproduce the Fleischmann-Pons (F-P) effect

(Dominguez et al., 2014; Storms, 2007; etc.).

However, much larger is the number of researchers,

who failed to repeat this effect (Lewis et al., 1989;

Williams, 1989; etc.). That is why currently, the

majority of the researchers consider the Fleischmann-

Pons effect to be a result of experimental errors

(Shanahan, 2010).

However, now, the recommendations have been

given (Galushkin et al., 2020) for the F-P effect

reliable obtainment. From now on, any researcher can

reproduce and investigate the F-P effect reliably, even

if he is skeptical about it.

The F-P effect can be of two types.

(Type A). In this case, the power released by the

cell was much greater than the power received by the

cell from an external power source. This type of the

F-P effect occurs only after prolonged (more than

Galushkin, N., Yazvinskaya, N. and Galushkin, D.

The Process of Thermal Runaway Is the Reason of Fleischmann-Pons Effect.

DOI: 10.5220/0011891800003536

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Water, Ecology and Environment (ISWEE 2022), pages 40-45

ISBN: 978-989-758-639-2; ISSN: 2975-9439

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

three months) electrolysis of the electrolyte and it

lasts for several hours.

(Type B). In this case, the power released by the

cell was just slightly exceeds power received by the

cell from an external power source. This type of the

F-P effect occurs after several days of electrolyte

electrolysis and it can last for many days.

Some skeptics “explained” the F-P effect (type B)

by experimental errors including calibration errors

(Shanahan, 2010).

The F-P (type A) effect is very difficult to obtain,

so the skeptics just rejected the existence of this effect

(Lewis et al., 1989; Shanahan, 2010; etc.).

But currently, using the recommendations given

in (Galushkin et al., 2020), the F-P (type A) effect can

be reproduced reliably and purposely.

In this paper, the F-P effect is analyzed and

recommendations for its reliable reproduction are

given.

2 FLEISCHMANN-PONS EFFECT

MECHANISM ANALYSIS

2.1 Mechanism of Fleischmann-Pons

Effect (Type A)

As it was proved in the paper (Galushkin et al., 2020),

the (type A) effect occurs according to the following

scenario.

The reasons, which brings a cell gradually to the

(type A) effect, is accumulation processes, and there

are two types of the accumulations.

Firstly, during long-term electrolysis of the

electrolyte (more than three months), large amounts

of deuterium accumulate in the electrodes of the cell

(Galushkin et al., 2020).

Secondly, this is deposits accumulation on the

cathode.

As long as the deuterium accumulates in the

electrodes, in parallel with the electrolyte

decomposition reactions

O+2e

−

→ D

+ 2OD

−

(cathode), (1)

2OD

−

→ 1/2O

+ D

O + 2e

−

(anode), (2)

the electrochemical reactions of thermal runaway

occur (Galushkin et al., 2020; Galushkin et al., 2015):

O + D

ads

+ e

−

→ D

↑+OD

−

(cathode), (3)

ads

+ OD

−

→ D

O + e

−

(anode). (4)

The overall reaction looks as follows:

ads cat

+ D

ads an

→ D

↑. (5)

For thermal runaway reactions (3,4), the rate-

limiting step is the step of metal-deuterides

disintegration (Galushkin et al., 2015).

MeD

→ Me + D

. (6)

With due account of the deuterides decomposition

reaction (6), the atomic deuterium recombination

reaction (5) is a reaction with the heat release of 442.4

kJ/mol(D

), i.e. this is a powerful exothermic reaction

(Galushkin et al., 2020) and (7). While the

combustion reaction of deuterium in oxygen has a

heat release of only 295 kJ/mol(D

) (Greenwood et

al., 1997).

The enthalpy of exothermic thermal runaway

reactions (3,4) ΔH

differs from the enthalpy of the

exothermic reactions of the free deuterium atoms

recombination ΔH

fex

=-443.32 kJ/mol(D

) (Luo, 2007)

by the value of the endothermic enthalpy of the

deuterides decomposition ΔH

. In the deuterides

accumulated in metals with micro-defects (as in the

F-P effect (Galushkin et al., 2020)), the deuterium

atoms are bounded less strongly than in metals

without micro-defects. Our experiments (similar to

those from (Sakamoto et al., 1996)) showed that in

metal-ceramic electrodes with a large number of

dislocations, the enthalpy of decomposition of the

PdD

and PtD

is approximately equal to ΔH

= 0.92

kJ/mol(D

). Hence, the enthalpy of the exothermic

reactions (3,4) is equal to

ΔH

= ΔH

fex

+ΔH

=-443.32+0.92=-442.4 kJ/mol (D

)

(7)

At the room temperature (25°C) and the current of

64 mA cm

−2

(Table 1) (Galushkin et al., 2020), the

deuterides (6) do not decompose at all (Galushkin et

al., 2015). So the contribution of the reactions of the

thermal runaway (3,4) to the total current of the

electrolyte decomposition will be negligible

(Galushkin et al., 2015).

It should be noted that if in the cell electrodes, the

maximum possible amount of deuterium is

accumulated, this does not mean necessarily that the

Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect will occur.

In the papers (Storms,

2007; Galushkin et al.,

2020), it was proved that for the Fleischmann-Pons

(type A) effect occurrence, the other mandatory

condition is the accumulation of a large amount of

deposits on the cathode surface.

The deposits are the highly destroyed crystal

structures. In a metal, any defects of its crystal lattice

are traps for deuterium because they reduce the

The Process of Thermal Runaway Is the Reason of Fleischmann-Pons Effect

deuterium atoms energy as compared to these atoms

location in the normal interstice. Consequently,

defects in the crystal structure of the electrodes

facilitate the absorption of deuterium and its

penetration into metals. The points of deposits on the

cathode represent the most severely destroyed crystal

structures. Therefore, the activation energy of

sorption/desorption of deuterium at the points of

deposits is the lowest.

The deuterides decomposition reaction (6) is the

limiting step (Galushkin et al., 2015) for the reactions

of the thermal runaway (3,4). That is why, in the

deposits locations, the intensity of the reactions (3,4)

will be much higher than in locations without

deposits. In its turn, the intensity growth of the

exothermic reactions (3,4) will result in even greater

heat-up of the same spot, which leads to even higher

speed of the deuterides decomposition (6), and so on.

This way, in the deposits spot, a sharp increase will

occur in the intensity of the thermal runaway

reactions (3,4). As a consequence, there will be a

release of the total amount of the atomic deuterium

stored in this spot; it will be observed as a burst with

a high energy release.

The heating-up of the cathode at the burst point

results in heating-up of deuterides in nearby deposits,

which leads to a burst occurrence in these deposits,

too, and so on. This is how the Fleischmann-Pons

(type A) effect develops (Fig.1 and Fig. 3 in

(Galushkin et al., 2020)).

Thus, the Fleischmann-Pons (type А) effect is the

totality of the bursts occurred due to the thermal

runaway processes (3,4) in different spots of the

cathode and at different times. This is how the change

in the excess power generated by the cell looks like

(as bursts) during the Fleischmann-Pons (type А)

effect development Fig.1 (see also Fig. 3 in

(Galushkin et al., 2020), Fig. 9A,B and Fig. 8A in

(Fleischmann et al., 1990)). Many researchers of this

process, including Fleischmann and Pons

(Fleischmann et al., 1989), have noticed that the

Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect is a series of energy

bursts. Besides, those energy bursts on cathodes were

photographed clearly in the papers (Szpak et al.,

1994; Mosier-Boss et al., 2011; etc.).

Figure 1: Change of the ratio of output power (Pout)

to input power (Pin) of the cell during the F-P (type

A) effect.

In (Galushkin et al., 2020), it was shown that

based on the mechanism of the thermal runaway (3-

6), it is possible to quantify precisely the excess

energy releasing by a cell during the Fleischmann-

Pons (type А) effect. In order to do this, it is necessary

to measure the amount of the deuterium released

during the development of the Fleischmann-Pons

(type А). effect This amount must be multiplied by

the heat release of 442.4 kJ/mol(D

) (i.e. by the heat

release taking place at the recombination of the

released atomic deuterium). It was shown (Galushkin

et al., 2020), that this calculated value of the excess

energy coincides with the measured experimentally

(by calorimetric method) excess energy with the

accuracy up to the experimental error.

This is the direct proof of the correctness of the

Fleischmann-Pons (type А) effect mechanism

proposed in the paper (Galushkin et al., 2020). Thus,

for the first time, the thermal runaway mechanism

(the reactions (3-6)) enabled to quantify accurately

the F-P (type A) effect.

It should be noted that any other of the currently

proposed possible mechanisms of the F-P (type A)

effect do not let quantify accurately the excess energy

released. This fact is mentioned in many papers. In

(Fleischmann et al., 1994), Fleischmann and Pons

observed, "however, it remains true to say that the

generation of excess enthalpy is the major signature

and that, so far, there are no quantitative correlations

between the excess enthalpy and the expected (or

unexpected!) "nuclear ashes"."

However, the proposed in the paper (Galushkin et

al., 2020) mechanism (3,4) of the Fleischmann-Pons

ISWEE 2022 - International Symposium on Water, Ecology and Environment

(type A) effect solves in full the problems outlined in

the papers (Storms, 2007; Fleischmann et al., 1994).

Firstly, the strict quantitative correlation has been

proved between the products of the reactions (3,4)

(i.e. the released deuterium) and the excess enthalpy.

Secondly, based on this mechanism (3,4) of the

Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect, the

recommendations were given that enable obtainment

of this effect reliably, whenever it could be needed

(see Section 2.2).

Thus, the Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect does

not result in any energy production as many authors

believe (Fleischmann et al., 1989; Storms, 2007; etc.).

Since first at the long-lasted electrolysis of electrolyte

(longer that three months), in the cells electrodes, the

energy is stored in the form of the metal-deuterides.

This energy accumulates very slowly due to external

power source. Then the Fleischmann-Pons (type A)

effect occurs and all the energy stored in the

electrodes is quickly released (within a few hours);

upon this, the excess power effect is created.

The mechanism of the Fleischmann-Pons (type A)

effect (Galushkin et al., 2020) is quite similar to that

of the thermal runaway in the alkaline batteries; the

latter is studied in detail in the papers (Galushkin et

al., 2015; Galushkin et al., 2016; etc.).

Summarizing our analysis of the occurrence

mechanism of the Fleischmann-Pons (type А) effect,

we make two remarks.

Firstly, when the electrolysis decomposes the

electrolyte to the deuterium and the oxygen, only the

deuterium is accumulated in the cell electrodes. The

reason for this phenomenon is that the diffusion

permeability of atomic deuterium in nickel is 10

times higher than the diffusion permeability of atomic

oxygen at 20°C (Voelkl et al., 1978). That is why

during the electrolyte electrolysis, the oxygen leaves

the cell, while the deuterium partially is accumulated

in the electrodes and partially leaves the cell.

Secondly, by experiments, many researchers of

the F-P (type А) effect (Fleischmann et al., 1994;

Storms, 2007; etc.) proved the existence of the

positive feedback between the temperature increase

and the rate of generation of the excess enthalpy.

However they failed to explain this correlation based

on the “cold fusion” mechanism.

But according to the mechanism of the

Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect proposed in the

paper (Galushkin et al., 2020) (the reactions (3-6)),

the positive feedback presence is obvious. Indeed, an

increase in the cathode temperature leads to an

increase in the decomposition rate of the deuterides

(the reaction (6)). In its turn, the deuterides

decomposition reaction (6) is the rate-limiting step for

the exothermic reactions of the thermal runaway

(3,4). Hence, in proportion to the rate of the

deuterides decomposition (6), increased will be the

intensity of the exothermic reactions of thermal

runaway (3,4) (i.e. the rate of generation of the excess

enthalpy will be increased). The increase in the

intensity of the exothermic reactions of the thermal

runaway (3,4) will result in an even higher cathode

temperature, and so on.

Thus, the positive feedback between the

temperature increase and the rate of generation of the

excess enthalpy is the basis of the F-P (type А) effect

mechanism based on thermal runaway (Galushkin et

al., 2020).

2.2 Reliable Reproduction of the

Fleischmann-Pons Effect (Type A)

According to the classical theory of deuterides

(Hagelstein, 2015) the deuterium occupies O-sites in

bulk PdD

near room temperature, and there is only a

single O-site per Pd atom. This leads to an upper limit

D/Pd near unity for bulk PdD

. However, in

(Nishimiya, 2001), it was proved that when palladium

nanoparticles or palladium nanoparticles grown in

zeolite are used, D/Pd = 2.

In our previous paper (Galushkin et al., 2020), it

was experimentally proved that in the electrodes,

where there were no microdefects of the dislocation

type, the value of x=D/Pd couldn’t be more than

unity. But in the electrodes, having a lot of

microdefects such as dislocations the deuterium

accumulation increases about 10 times. However, the

microdefects should be in the form of diverse

dislocations and other very small microdefects in

which deuterium accumulates in the atomic form (in

the form of the deuterides). In order to do this, it is

better to use the metal-ceramic electrodes.

In (Dardik, 2004), when using the Transmission

Electron Microscopy and the Scanning Electron

Microscopy, it was proved experimentally the

following fact. In the electrodes, where the

Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect was observed, the

microdefects & dislocations density was many times

greater than in the electrodes, where this effect had

never appeared.

As was proved in (Galushkin et al., 2020) (and

Section 2.1), for the occurrence of the Fleischmann-

Pons (type A) effect, it is necessary to accumulate a

large amount of deuterium in the electrodes and

accumulate deposits on the cathode.

Therefore, firstly, according to the studies

described above, in order for the electrodes of the F-

P cell to accumulate a very large amount of

The Process of Thermal Runaway Is the Reason of Fleischmann-Pons Effect

deuterium, it is necessary that they contain a very

large number of dislocations (metal-ceramic

electrodes can be used, they are guaranteed to contain

a very large number of dislocations).

Secondly, the density of deposits on the cathode

surface (Galushkin et al., 2020) (and Section 2.1) is

of great importance for the occurrence of the

Fleischmann-Pons effect. Deposits are the activation

centers for exothermic reactions of thermal runaway

(3,4). The occurrence of thermal runaway reactions

(3,4) is the F-P effect. The deposit density can be

increased by adding palladium (or nickel) salts to the

electrolyte, as was done in (Dominguez et al., 2014).

Thirdly, to start thermal runaway reactions (3,4),

it is necessary to heat the active points formed by

deposits located on the cathode (Galushkin et al.,

2020). Under natural conditions, this occurs when a

very large amount of atomic deuterium is

accumulated in highly destroyed deposits on the

cathode. Since both of these factors reduce the bond

between atomic deuterium and the metal, then it leads

to spontaneous desorption of atomic deuterium from

the metal and its recombination. The exothermic

reaction of the recombination of atomic deuterium

heats up the place where the desorption of atomic

hydrogen occurred, which leads to even more intense

desorption of deuterium (6), etc. This is the F-P (type

A) effect.

Heating of active points on the cathode can also

be obtained artificially by passing a powerful current

pulse through the cell, sufficient to decompose the

deuterides (6) stored in the electrodes. The magnitude

of the current pulse depends on the gap between the

electrodes, the density of the deposit, etc. We usually

used, to initiate the Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect,

a current pulse that provided an electric voltage on

cell terminals of more than 50 V for 0.25–0.5s.

The Fleischmann-Pons (type A) effect can be

obtained reliably if the above recommendations are

used.

2.3 Mechanism of Fleischmann-Pons

Effect (Type B)

In their paper (Fleischmann et al., 1990) (in Appendix

6), Fleischmann and Pons indicate that in order to

obtain the effect of excess power (type B), conditions

should be sought under which, along with the reaction

(2) at the anode, an electrochemical reaction occurs

+ 2OD

−

→ 2D

O + 2e

−

(anode). (8)

To achieve reaction (8), Fleischmann and Pons

advise to reduce the interelectrode gap in the cells

(Fleischmann et al., 1990).

The occurrence of reaction (8) indicates that the

hydrogen released at the cathode enters the anode and

is oxidized on it. Consequently, the oxygen released

at the anode can also get to the cathode and be

reduced on it.

1/2O

+ D

O+ 2e

−

→2OD

−

(cathode). (9)

For reactions (8.9), the overall reaction is as

follows:

1/2O

→D

O (10)

Already the reaction of Fleischmann and Pons (8)

is an exothermic reaction with heat emission in

amount of 295 kJ/mol(D

However, when calculating the energy balance of

the Fleischmann-Pons (type B) effect, the heat release

of reaction (8) is not taken into account (Fleischmann

et al., 1990). This is the reason for the appearance of

fictitious or imaginary excess power in the

Fleischmann and Pons calculations.

The F-P (type B) effect was studied in more detail

in our previous paper (Galushkin et al., 2020).

3 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the analysis performed and our previous

experimental studies (Galushkin et al., 2020;

Galushkin et al., 2015; etc), it follows that during the

long-term electrolysis of heavy water, a lot of energy

is accumulated inside the electrodes in the form of

deuterides. The release of atomic hydrogen from

deuterites and its recombination is a powerful

exoteric reaction. The occurrence of this reaction is

the F-P (type A) effect.

The reason for the F-P (type B) effect is that the

cell energy balance in (Fleischmann et al., 1990) did

not account for the exothermic reaction of

Fleischmann and Pons (8).

Undoubtedly, the Fleischmann-Pons effect

requires further both experimental and theoretical

studies.

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The Process of Thermal Runaway Is the Reason of Fleischmann-Pons Effect