Guang H Lin

Guang H. Lin
Guang H. Lin
Residence	Texas, USA
Alma mater	University of Science and Technology of China; University of Colorado
Known for	Cold Fusion
	Scientific career
Fields	Physics, Electrochemistry
Institutions	Texas A&M University

Guang H Lin (also published as Guang H. Lin and G. H. Lin) is a Chinese-born American physicist who was a senior research scientist at Texas A&M University, where he worked in the surface electrochemistry group of John O'M. Bockris. He is best known for his part in the Texas A&M experiments of 1989–1990 that reported tritium production and excess heat during the electrolysis of heavy water at palladium cathodes, one of the most widely discussed early replications of the Fleischmann–Pons effect.

Biography

Lin received a B.Sc. in chemical physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (Chinese Science and Technology University) in 1965. He later studied at the University of Colorado, receiving an M.S. in physics in 1983 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1985. He subsequently joined Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, as a senior research scientist.

His stated research interests have included ultrahigh-pressure physics, lasers, steady-state chemical dynamics, hydrogen evolution from water, and cold fusion phenomena.

Scientific contributions

Working with John O'M. Bockris, R. C. Kainthla, N. J. C. Packham, O. Velev and others in the Surface Electrochemistry Laboratory at Texas A&M University, Lin took part in a series of experiments following the March 1989 announcement by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons. The group electrolysed LiOD–D₂O solutions at palladium cathodes and reported both anomalous heat and tritium.

In their 1989 report in Electrochimica Acta, the group described sporadic excess heat of roughly 2–5 W cm^-3 from three of the palladium electrodes tested, sustained for periods of 10 to 33 hours before stopping without apparent cause.

The group's tritium results, first reported in October 1989, were among the highest tritium levels claimed by any cold fusion experiment in the United States. Across the wider series of experiments, tritium was reported in 15 of 53 electrodes, with steady-state concentrations of 10⁴–10⁷ disintegrations min^-1 ml^-1.

With Kainthla, Packham and Bockris, Lin also proposed a theoretical mechanism for the effect, a "dendrite-enhanced fusion" model in which palladium and deuterium co-deposited on a cathode form dendritic structures, and breakdown of the gas layer at the high local surface potential of dendrite tips is suggested as the site of the anomalous reactions.

The Texas A&M tritium work became the subject of public controversy after a June 1990 article in Science by Gary Taubes alleged that the cells had been spiked with tritium. A four-month internal review at Texas A&M University subsequently found no direct evidence of scientific fraud, while criticising the way the research had been conducted and reported.

Publications

R. C. Kainthla, O. Velev, L. Kaba, G. H. Lin, N. J. C. Packham, M. Szklarczyk, J. Wass and J. O'M. Bockris, "Sporadic observation of the Fleischmann-Pons heat effect", Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 34, No. 9 (1989), pp. 1315–1318.
G. H. Lin, R. C. Kainthla, N. J. C. Packham and J. O'M. Bockris, "Electrochemical fusion: a mechanism speculation", Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Vol. 280 (1990).
G. H. Lin, R. C. Kainthla, N. J. C. Packham, O. Velev and J. O'M. Bockris, "On electrochemical tritium production", International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 15, No. 8 (1990), p. 537.
J. O'M. Bockris, G. H. Lin and N. J. C. Packham, "A Review of the Investigations of the Fleischmann-Pons Phenomena", Fusion Technology, Vol. 18, No. 1 (1990), p. 11.

External links