A person who is thinking of replicating Mizuno's experiment asked series of questions in English. I wrote some responses myself. Then I translated everything into Japanese. Mizuno confirmed my responses and wrote some additional comments. I translated his responses back into English.
I recommend this method of communicating to avoid confusion and make life easier for both parties. It is good to have everything in writing. Frankly, this is probably a more effective way to communicate and to nail down the details than travelling to Japan and asking questions. This is especially effective in the initial phases of a replication. Here are some of the questions with Mizuno's answers, translated, condensed and rewritten by me. Does the mass of reactant matter? The more reactant you have, the better, so please put in as much as possible. Is there an optimum number of layers? Probably, the more layers the better, without an upper limit. Is the choice of Pd important? Probably not. But you should rub it hard. The hypothesis is that by strongly rubbing the Pd into the Ni, you break up the oxide layer and create complex phases of metal on metal. That’s what I think is happening, but I do not understand the mechanism yet. What about the choice of detergent, or the choice of the scrubbing pad? I do not suppose the choice of detergent has an effect on excess heat generation. It probably has nothing to do with it. Just use whatever type you like. However, be sure to rinse thoroughly. This is necessary. I also doubt the choice of scrub pad has anything to do with heat generation. However, be sure to scrub the mesh thoroughly and then wash with alcohol. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS BY ME: I doubt the source of meshes matters, as long as they are Nickel-200, 180 mesh. My gut feeling is that any source of Ni or Pd will work, as long as they are of sufficient purity and you avoid contamination, or you clean off contamination. This method of applying Pd is so crude, there must be large variations in the resulting material. So it seems unlikely the details matter. I think that the source of material is probably less important than material preparation. You have to clean the mesh and roughen the surface as instructed. Probably the mass of reactants and the geometry are important.
