Comparative fusion techniques

This may seem a bit repetitive, sorry if I am boring anyone.  Let's compare and contrast fusion techniques

technique      reactants                 energy                                     confinement
sun               hydrogen                 self sustaining fusion reactions    gravity plasma
ITER            hydrogen                 externally started, sustained       magnetic plasma
polywell        hydrogen boron       externally started, sustained      magnetic electrons
focus fusion   hydrogen boron       externally started pulsed           magnetic plasma
e-cat             nickel hydrogen       externally started, sustained     ????? chemical???

The difference with e-cat is that the confinement may be chemical in nature.  The reactants are held in place not by gravity nor by magnetism, but being chemically incapable of escaping each other when energized sufficiently for fusion to take place.   The metal is a solid, which makes it more dense than a gas.  The hydrogen saturates the nickel and cannot go anywhere but into the nickel's nucleus where it fuses with the nickel's nucleus.  All this depends upon enough energy being brought to where the hydrogen and nickel are so that they can fuse.  That is what I think is happening.

It must be something like this, or it breaks the known laws of physics.  What I am suggesting is that e-cat can work without breaking any known law of physics.