Experiments demonstrating the creation of elements via pulsed electric field in water and deuterated water: application to the production of fluorine

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple, reproducible experiment demonstrating fluorine production from water and deuterated water using pulsed electric fields, with potential industrial applications.

Contribution

The study introduces the STORM REACTOR(R), a novel modular apparatus for fluorine generation via electric discharges, proving its effectiveness and reproducibility.

Findings

Fluorine is generated in water and deuterated water solutions upon electric discharge.

The experiment layout is simple, reproducible, and fully documented.

Potential for safe, inexpensive industrial fluorine production is demonstrated.

Abstract

A relatively simple experiment, which has been proven to be fully reproducible, shows that in solutions of water and deuterated water, sensible quantities of fluorine are generated when a triggering energy is supplied in form of electric field with suitable characteristics leading to discharges in the material between the electrodes. The novelty of the experiment is the simplicity of the layout, the full reproducibility and the concrete proof of the events based on simple techniques to detect elements that, as it was accurately checked, were not present in the system before energy supply. Modularity is another interesting feature of the solution presented here. The experimental apparatus used (named STORM REACTOR(R) and described here for the first time in scientific literature) consists of reaction chamber, control system and instrumentation to detect fluorine. It is illustrated together with the measured results and with discussions on the issue of reproducibility and on possible application areas, including energy production. The case of fluorine production is of potential major importance at industrial level being fluorine widely employed in medical, materials and agrochemical sciences (in particular artificial radioactive fluorine isotopes in medical diagnosis). Moreover, its production with traditional methods can be considered difficult and expensive as compared to generation in a safe and inexpensive way using the device presented here.