Tiny Nuclear Battery Could Power Devices For Decades

Researchers at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology in South Korea have developed a nuclear battery capable of converting radiation directly into electricity for decades — all without the usual dangers associated with nuclear radiation.

How the Betavoltaic Cell Works

Known as a dye-sensitized betavoltaic cell, this battery harnesses beta particles, which are simply high-energy electrons. The key to its operation lies in carbon-14, a radioactive isotope that emits beta particles. These particles interact with a titanium dioxide semiconductor coated with a ruthenium-based dye, causing electrons to be knocked loose from the dye and generating an electric current.

The half-life of carbon-14 is around 5,730 years, meaning the battery could potentially retain 50% of its original output after nearly six millennia. However, practical power output would likely decline much sooner as materials degrade over such long periods.

The prototype boasts a power density of 20.75 nanowatts per square centimeter per millicurie at 2.86% efficiency. In simpler terms, this isn’t much. Roughly the size of an aspirin, it produces about 0.4% of the power needed to run a basic pocket calculator. You’d need around 240 of these tiny nuclear batteries to power a times table refresher.

Practical Uses for the Battery

Despite this, the battery generates enough energy to power medical devices like pacemakers or remote environmental sensors. It could also supply power to RFID tags, microchips, or even trickle charge capacitors for devices that require a quick burst of energy. This technology is still in its early stages but holds promise for various low-power applications.

Although many might associate nuclear radiation with danger, the researchers assure that this battery design is actually quite safe. The beta particles emitted by carbon-14 are already naturally present in many substances, including the human body. Shielding for this battery can be as simple as a thin piece of aluminum foil, or even paper, which effectively blocks the beta particles. In fact, these solid-state, non-flammable batteries might even be safer than lithium-ion batteries, which are prone to overheating, leaking, and explosions.

Atomic batteries aren’t new, though. The first radioisotope battery, developed in 1954 by the US Atomic Energy Commission, used strontium-90 as the radioactive source and worked similarly to today’s betavoltaic cells.

Space Missions and Recent Advances

In the 1960s, Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) began being used in space missions, converting energy from alpha-emitting isotopes like plutonium-238 into electricity. The first mission using RTGs was the US Navy’s Transit 4A satellite, which played a key role in the early stages of satellite navigation and modern GPS.

More recently, Betavolt introduced a 3-volt diamond nuclear battery using nickel-63 and a diamond semiconductor, utilizing the same beta particle concept to power devices for 50 years. Another company, Arkenlight, has been working on carbon-14 diamonds to produce atomic battery power, and their technology is steadily advancing.

While atomic batteries have been around for a while, recent advances in materials, efficiency, and safety are finally making them viable for practical, everyday uses without the need for nuclear reactors.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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