An electrolytic method of loading hydrogen into a cathode includes placing the cathode and an anode in an electrochemical reaction vessel filled with a solvent, mixing a DC component and an AC component to produce an electrolytic current, and applying an electrolytic current to the cathode. The DC component includes cycling between: a first voltage applied to the cathode for a first period of time, a second voltage applied to the cathode for a second period of time, wherein the second voltage is higher than the first voltage, and wherein the second period of time is shorter than the first period of time. The AC component has a frequency between about 1 Hz and about 100 kHz. The peak sum of the voltages supplied by the DC component and AC component is higher than the dissociation voltage of the solvent.