JPH0351794A - Low temperature nuclear fusion device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a less expensive device by forming a cathode of an electrolysis device with an intercalation compound of a graphite and an alkaline metal. CONSTITUTION:In this device, an intercalation compound of a graphite and a an alkaline metal such as a C8 K is used as a cathode 11 of the device. A platinum is used as an anode 12, for instance. A direct current voltage is charged between the cathode 11 and the anode 12. For monitoring a nuclear fusion reaction, a radiation detector 15 is arranged in a vicinity of an electroly sis device 10. When a voltage of around 30V is charged between the cathode 11 and the anode 12, an oxygen is fiercely generated from the anode. On the other hand, an amount of a deuterium generating from the cathode is extremely small, comparatively to and differently from that of the oxygen which is generat ed in an ordinary electrolysis process. This fact shows most of the deuterium is densely adsorbed in the graphite potassium intercalation compound, the C8 K, being used as a cathode material. By a concurrent observation of neutron beam, an amount of the beam reaches around 10 times of a natural radioactivity at the maximum and suggests that a low temperature nuclear fusion proceeds.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a cold fusion device.

[Prior Art] Nuclear fusion reactions have long been expected to be the ultimate solution to energy problems. Many methods have been proposed and studied so far. Plasma nuclear fusion and laser nuclear fusion are famous examples. However, these methods require very high temperatures to exceed the threshold energy required for fusion reactions.

On the other hand, methods have also been proposed that attempt to achieve this at low temperatures. One such method is muon-catalyzed nuclear fusion. The principle proposal is old, and F.C.Fran
Nature (1947) by K.
), vol. 160, p. 525.

This makes the electron of the deuterium molecule 200 times larger in mass,
By replacing it with negatively charged muons (μ-), the idea is to create deuterium molecules with closer internuclear distances and dramatically increase the probability of nuclear fusion reactions due to the tunnel effect. The reaction itself has already been confirmed. However, at present, no highly efficient method has been confirmed in which the output energy exceeds the input energy.

On the other hand, a method to increase the probability of nuclear fusion reactions by reducing the distance between hydrogen atoms at low temperatures has recently been independently proposed by the Jones et al. group and the Pons, Fleischman et al. group. This is an electrolytic reaction method using palladium or titanium as a cathode, and among these, S, E, Jo
The experimental results of nes et al.
ature), volume 338, page 737. This is similar to the principle of muon-catalyzed nuclear fusion described above, in which deuterium nuclei are made to approach each other using a different method to increase the probability of tunneling and cause a nuclear fusion reaction.

Although the detailed principle of this method has not yet been elucidated, the following two factors are thought to be at play in bringing the deuterium nuclei closer together. One is the hydrogen storage capacity of palladium and titanium, and the other is the local strong electric field generated during electrode reactions. Due to these two effects, the deuterium nucleus approaches each other,
It can be interpreted that the probability of a nuclear fusion reaction has increased to the point where it can be sufficiently observed. A low-temperature nuclear fusion device using this method is revolutionary in that it does not require ultra-high temperature means such as plasma, and therefore can extract fusion energy with an extremely compact device.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the cathode materials used in the electrolyzer in the above-mentioned low-temperature nuclear fusion device have so far been limited to palladium and titanium, and palladium, which has particularly high efficiency, is a precious metal. and is expensive. If the above-mentioned nuclear fusion could be induced using cheaper materials, it would have a large economic effect.

The present invention was made in order to solve the conventional problems as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a low-temperature nuclear fusion device that can realize a low-temperature nuclear fusion reaction using inexpensive materials.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention is a low-temperature nuclear fusion device equipped with an electrolyzer for electrolyzing heavy water, characterized in that the cathode of the electrolyzer is formed of a graphite-alkali metal intercalation compound. This is a low temperature fusion device.

[Function] In the low temperature fusion device of the present invention, a graphite-alkali metal intercalation compound (hereinafter abbreviated as GAIC) is used as a cathode material instead of palladium or titanium. GAIC is a compound in which an alkali metal is included between carbon atomic layers with a planar structure formed by infinite condensation of benzene rings, and is classified as follows depending on the degree of insertion of the alkali metal.

That is, the one in which graphite and alkali metal layers are arranged alternately in a 1:1 ratio is called a first stage intercalation compound, and Ca
It has a composition of M (M=, Rb, Cs, etc.). Also,
A compound in which an alkali metal atomic layer is inserted every n layers is called an n-stage intercalation compound and has a composition of CCl2n.

Such GAIC has remarkable hydrogen storage capacity,
It is well known that it exhibits interesting behaviors such as catalytic activity for HD exchange reactions and ortho-balance exchange reactions, and the development of superconductivity (for example, Solid State Physics in 1985,
20, No. 6, pp. 37-44).

The present invention focuses on the remarkable hydrogen storage capacity of GAIC, and by using it as a cathode material for an electrolyzer,
The objective is to provide an inexpensive and highly efficient cold fusion device.

There are two types of hydrogen storage mechanisms in GAIC. One is hydrogen storage by physical adsorption, which is observed at low temperatures below about 200 ℃, and the other is hydrogen storage, which is observed by chemisorption at higher temperatures. In the former case,
A feature is that hydrogen is incorporated between the layers of GAIC in molecular form. For example, for C24, the second stage intercalation compound of potassium, 144 cm3 per gram
It is known to absorb hydrogen. In this case, hydrogen molecules are thought to be incorporated into the plane of the potassium atoms, filling the gaps between the potassium atoms.

On the other hand, in the case of hydrogen storage by chemisorption, hydrogen is dissociated into atomic forms and incorporated into GAIC. The first stage intercalation compound of potassium is C [3K, Ca KH
It is known that hydrogen is occluded with compositions of □ and 6□.

The device of the present invention mainly utilizes the latter hydrogen storage mechanism. Taking CaK as an example, FIG. 2 shows how deuterium, which is a fusion raw material, is occluded in it. In the figure, (a) shows the structure of CaK before deuterium storage, and (b) shows the structure of CBKDo, 67 after deuterium storage. In 08 before deuterium storage, layers made of graphite 21 and layers made of potassium 22 are arranged alternately, as shown in FIG. 2(a).

Potassium 22 is located at the center of the hexagonal shape of the benzene ring in the unit cell of graphite 21, and enters to form a triangular superstructure plane. When deuterium is adsorbed to this, a structural change occurs as shown in Figure 2 (b), and deuterium 23
is dissociated into atoms and taken in two-dimensionally at positions sandwiched between the atomic layers of potassium 22.

This planar layer structure of incorporated deuterium is very different from the deuterium storage structure of palladium used in conventional examples, and is extremely characteristic. In other words, it is said that deuterium is absorbed into palladium at a position where the palladium lattice has a face-centered cubic structure and a claw face-to-coordination structure, so to speak, it occurs three-dimensionally uniformly. In low-temperature nuclear fusion, where it is important to reduce the distance between deuterium nuclei, the deuterium storage structure of GAIC, which confines deuterium atoms in a plane, is similar to the deuterium storage structure of palladium, which is uniform in three dimensions. works more favorably than

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a low temperature fusion device of the present invention. This device has the same basic configuration as the cold fusion device described in the paper by S, E, JOneS et al.
In the present invention, an interlayer compound of graphite and an alkali metal is used for the cathode 11. In this example, CaK, which is an intercalation compound of graphite and potassium, was used. On the other hand, in addition to many metals such as platinum and gold, electrically conductive substances such as graphite can be widely used for the anode 12. In this embodiment, platinum was used for the anode 12. Using a DC power supply 13, a DC voltage was applied between the cathode 11 and the anode 12 through an electrolytic solution 14 containing heavy water and an electrolyte. A radiation detector 15 was placed near the electrolyzer 10 to monitor the fusion reaction. As the radiation detector 15, in this example, a liquid scintillator capable of detecting a 2.45 MeV neutron beam characteristic of nuclear fusion reactions was used.

When a voltage of about 30 V was applied between the cathode 11 and the anode 12, oxygen was vigorously generated from the anode, similar to normal electrolysis. On the other hand, unlike normal electrolysis, the amount of deuterium generated from the cathode was extremely small compared to oxygen.

This indicates that most of the deuterium generated at the cathode is occluded at high density in the graphite potassium intercalation compound CaK used as the cathode material. At the same time, we continued to observe neutron radiation, and a few minutes after the reaction started, we observed a significant increase in neutron radiation compared to natural radiation levels. The amount is up to about 10 times that of natural radiation, strongly suggesting that low-temperature nuclear fusion reactions are progressing.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, an inexpensive low-temperature nuclear fusion reactor can be realized by using a graphite-alkali metal intercalation compound made of inexpensive graphite and an alkali metal as the cathode material. can do.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a GA
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing deuterium storage in an IC. 10... Electrolyzer 11... Cathode 12...
・Anode 13... DC power supply 14... Electrolyte 15... Radiation detector 21... Graphite 22... Potassium 23... Deuterium

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A low temperature fusion device equipped with an electrolyzer for electrolyzing heavy water, characterized in that the cathode of the electrolyzer is formed of a graphite-alkali metal intercalation compound.