Good guess Jones, the haloes are indeed the excess electrons. The pictures show my (open to improvement) model for the PdD/electrolyte interface at the atomic scale. Tools used: Excel and Jmol. Atoms drawn at ~25% of their vanDerWaals radii on left view for clarity.
Grey-blue: unit cell of 0.41nm side Face Centered Cubic Pd lattice in PdD1.0.
The loaded deuterons (white) fill all its octahedral sites, forming an
identical FCC lattice shifted inwards by 0.205 nm (half the cube side). One of
them, colored light yellow, is about to deload via a pyramidal surface site
through the excess electron layer in order to ultimately bubble up.
Red and white D2O molecules, being polar, solvate positive electrolyte
deuterons on their O side and negative surface Pd ions on their D side. The
bulk size of D2O (occupies on average a cube of side 0.31 nm, cubic root of
molecular mass 20E-3Kg/6E23 over density 1106Kg/m3 when unstressed) should
allow it to be shoehorned by the field into the 0.29 nm pitch of the surface Pd
atoms, i.e. the structures and thus the ion channels on both sides of the
excess electron layer should be aligned. D2O acts as the dielectric of the
double layer capacitor by separating its negative plate (cathode surface with
its excess electrons) from the multilayer positive "plate" formed by the
electrolyte deuterons on the right (only the first of many one D2O molecule
thick layers is shown). One of those d's, colored light yellow, is about to
jump from the positive "plate" to the negative one, going for one of the
cathode's excess electrons in order to discharge and ultimately bubble up.
My (not yet debunked on CMNS) theory for CF is that a significant number of
such outgoing+incoming deuteron pairs reach the electron layer at the same time
and fuse instead of their usual bubbling up, with the help of excess electron
screening and channel alignment. An experiment where the probability of such
encounters would be increased, e.g. by back-loading the cathode to maintain a
steady front deloading flux of deuterons while electrolyzing, would support the
hypothesis if it yielded enhanced heat or reaction products wrt previous P&F
experiments (where simultaneous deloading and electrolysis hasn't been
particularly sought).
Your opinions welcome.
Michel<<3DCathodeSurfaceChargeCatal.jpg>>
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