Experimental Investigation of Cold Fusion Phenomena in Palladium

Abstract

We conducted at the Paul Scherrer Institute a series of Pd-D₂O electrolysis experiments to investigate the existence of the «cold fusion» phenomenon. In a D₂O-test cell and a H₂O-reference cell, a search for excess heat was made, using a closed-circuit calorimetry set-up, and running currents onto 1 mm and 2 mm palladium cathode wires from 120 to 545 mA/cm². Simultaneously, with a NE213 neutron and a BGO gamma detector, we searched for the occurrence of excess neutrons or gammas that might arise from nuclear fusion processes. Our results are negative, i.e. we detected no excess heat within less than 0.1 watt (expectation of Pons and Fleischmann 1 watt) and we found no nuclear radiation in excess to the background (level of neutron sensitivity < 0.14 n/s or < 10^-13 W and 5.5 MeV-γ sensitivity < 0.1 γ/s). Mass spectrometric analysis of ³He and ⁴He in the Pd wire showed no ³He in excess to the background expected from the decay of tritium impurities, contained in the D₂O already prior to our runs. Upper limits of ⁴He are more than 6 orders of magnitude lower than expected for a neutron free fusion rate as reported by Fleischmann and Pons.