The preferred catalyst of Holmlid for creation of dense hydrogen by surface contact is a commercial product known as “Shell 105”. It is mostly hematite – iron oxide, with potassium.
Iron oxide has a long history as a petrochemical catalyst and of course is very economical. Both iron, oxygen and potassium are also Mills’ catalysts, which lend credence to the belief that Holmlid and Mills are operating in the same arena and that the hydrino and UDH are different aspects of the same species. The problem is that many experimenters who have tried to replicate have had no luck with iron oxide, but then Holmlid has recently revealed that the hematite catalyst is much more likely to work when “activated” by calcining. Mills too has trade secrets which are partially but not fully disclosed. In the end, the lack of replication of dense hydrogen gives the skeptics plenty of ammo. Even with heat treatment there are additional techniques to activate hematite which may be needed. This indicates that the variability of secondary processing of the catalyst is what is keeping it from widespread use, AND that there is something unknown which is not yet fully appreciated. In fact, iron oxide had many forms and phases - and the field of petrochemical catalysis has itself been called borderline alchemy over its long history, due to economic priorities. This is Rossi’s background as well. Petrodragon was promoted to be a catalysis breakthrough of a similar type. The above reasoning sets the table for the likelihood that there is a hidden and more active form of iron oxide which can be made via pre-activation (if one knew exactly how to do this optimally) but that its identity has been a mystery up until now - even to the ones who have occasional success. This is where the new material “hematene” comes in. Hematene is a newly discovered form of hematite… which may be the precise active ingredient for dense hydrogen instead of hematite. It has been there all alone in small amounts but not appreciated. Here are two articles on hematene, which is basically a 2D phase with similarities to graphene, the most studied of all two-dimensional catalytic materials. The two-dimensional morphology of hematene is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic measurements together with density functional theory calculations confirm the ferromagnetic order in hematene while its parent form exhibits antiferromagnetic order. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-018-0134-y https://newatlas.com/hematene-2d-iron-material/55670/ The problem is that even with the new identification, it is not clear how to make or activate it from the cheap starting material in such a way as to guarantee success.
