Electrochemically-enhanced nuclear fusion of deuterium

Electrochemically-enhanced nuclear fusion of deuterium | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Electrochemically-enhanced nuclear fusion of deuterium Curtis Berlinguette, Kuo-Yi Chen, Phil Schauer, Sergey Issinski, and 11 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5046357/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Nature → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The ultimate goal of nuclear fusion research is to achieve a reaction that generates more energy than it consumes. Fuels such as deuterium need to be confined to increase the collision probability of particles. We therefore set out to investigate whether electrochemically loading a metal lattice with deuterium fuel could increase the probability of nuclear fusion events. Here, we report a benchtop fusion reactor that enabled us to bombard a palladium metal target with deuterium ions. These deuterium ions undergo deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion reactions within the palladium metal. We showed that the in situ electrochemical loading of deuterium into the palladium target resulted in a 15(2)% increase in D-D fusion rates. This experiment shows how electrochemical reactions at the eV energy scale can impact nuclear reactions at the MeV energy scale. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Nuclear energy/Nuclear fusion and fission Physical sciences/Chemistry/Electrochemistry/Electrocatalysis Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files 4.ProjectThunderbirdOverview.pdf Project Overview 2.2024SupportingInformationEcellandfusion.pdf Supporting Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in Nature → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5046357","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":357894193,"identity":"d2a5f616-f3c9-4bde-9814-c16b30478576","order_by":0,"name":"Curtis Berlinguette","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSB+YMDAwM/AA+YnEKclAahFsoE0LUBscIBYLfyzm499SCi4Y7f5+NmDj24wHM7jb2B++AGvJXeOJc9IMHiWvO1MXrJxDsPhYokDbMYS+LQYSOQYA/1yONnsBo+ZNFBL4gZgOBDQkv8ZrMV4Bo/5b6gW5h8EbGEGabEzkOAxY4ZqYcNrC9AvYIclSJzJMZbOMUgvljjMZmaBTwswxB4zfPhz2J6//Yzh55wK6zz+9ubHN/BpgYHEBog7gZiZGPVAYE+kulEwCkbBKBiJAAAVc0W922cRNAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6875-849X","institution":"University of British Columbia","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Curtis","middleName":"","lastName":"Berlinguette","suffix":""},{"id":357894194,"identity":"57cb1152-d146-4f80-8ee4-8942382f08dc","order_by":1,"name":"Kuo-Yi Chen","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4855-2747","institution":"The University of British Columbia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kuo-Yi","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":357894195,"identity":"a61f5c6b-bcea-4c03-a872-7492d8409f10","order_by":2,"name":"Phil Schauer","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0416-7276","institution":"The University of British Columbia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Phil","middleName":"","lastName":"Schauer","suffix":""},{"id":357894196,"identity":"52927e37-a10f-42d1-a545-b6be6576dc25","order_by":3,"name":"Sergey Issinski","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of British Columbia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sergey","middleName":"","lastName":"Issinski","suffix":""},{"id":357894197,"identity":"4d176177-6db3-4014-8c5e-04e898ecbac8","order_by":4,"name":"Fatima H. 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