The discussion went kind of like this:
- Bob Greenyer mentioned on ECW as a confirmation of what he told about Vanadium and Titanium (and I think also Chromium) a report of a non-LENR person who emailed him that he's had anomalies with Vanadium oxide.
- I wrote here that if Vanadium Oxide works as a confirmation, then other metal oxides should be fine too.
- Speaking of metal-oxides, Bernhard Kotzias of Airbus DS has worked with Leif Holmlid to study and make practical applications around the ultra-dense hydrogen (UDH) concept. Both mostly use treated metal-oxide surfaces. Kotzias seems to be recommending "Titanium Oxide" as the preferred metal oxide catalyst for ultra-dense hydrogen production.
- Kotzias also appears to have expanded the UDH concept quite a bit with his own theory, seemingly based on Casimir cavities and nanoplasmonics. I haven't had the occasion to read it in full detail yet; it's in the documentation of the German patent applications he recently filed. However there are easy to be understood diagrams (see attached images).
- Ahlfors chimed in and linked a possible paper that could be used to create suitable titanium oxide particles. The method is about using a picosecond laser on a titanium target immersed in a liquid (distilled water, but could be an other liquid), and is called laser ablation.
- Other two papers have been linked. One shows how nanometric gaps of controlled size can be produced chemically with colloidal particles of noble metals. "Gigantic electric fields" can be generated within those gaps upon optical irradiation. This paper was referenced by Kotzias in one of the previously mentioned patents.
- The other paper describes the observation of anomalously accelerated alpha decay of an optically irradiated colloidal uranium salt solution of metallic nanoparticles, also here produced by laser ablation at a progressively decreasing laser wavelength. A possible explanation for the results is a very large electric field enhancement near the nanoparticles. Similarity to exploding wire experiments mentioned too. The paper is almost too big for this thread alone.
- The latest paper linked by Ahlfors (which I haven't read yet) also seems about the production of suitable nanoparticles using the laser ablation method with a picosecond laser. Could have been a better citation for Kotzias' patent, apparently.
Problems
- The laser systems used in these studies aren't something that amateurs can usually afford.
- The discussion might have steered quite a bit from the originally intended topic.