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Russian Scientists Upgrade Nuclear Battery Design To Increase Power Output (sciencealert.com)
schwit1 shares a report from ScienceAlert: A team of Russian researchers have put a new spin on technology that uses the beta decay of a radioactive element to create differences in voltage. The devices are made of stacks of isotope of nickel-63 sandwiched between a pair of special semiconducting diodes called a Schottky barrier. This barrier keeps a current headed one way, a feature often used to turn alternating currents into direct ones. Finding that the optimal thickness of each layer was just 2 micrometers, the researchers were able to maximize the voltage produced by every gram of isotope.
Nickel-63 has a half-life of just over 100 years, which in an optimized system like this adds up to 3,300 milliwatt-hours of energy per gram: ten times the specific energy of your typical electrochemical cell. It's a significant step up from previous nickel-63 betavoltaic devices, and while it isn't quite enough to power your smart phone, it does bring it into a realm of being useful for a wide variety of tasks.
Nickel-63 has a half-life of just over 100 years, which in an optimized system like this adds up to 3,300 milliwatt-hours of energy per gram: ten times the specific energy of your typical electrochemical cell. It's a significant step up from previous nickel-63 betavoltaic devices, and while it isn't quite enough to power your smart phone, it does bring it into a realm of being useful for a wide variety of tasks.
It's a shame they can't make one that's powered by body heat.
That won't work until Congress repeals the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Much better is a biobattery that is powered by glucose extracted from the blood.
If you have a diabetic roommate, you could use a large biobattery to power your laptop.
That won't work until Congress repeals the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Would a Presidential Pardon be enough . . . ? I hear Presidential Pardons will be the Next Big Thing.
If you have a diabetic roommate, you could use a large biobattery to power your laptop.
What do you do with your roommates when they are empty . . . ? Are they rechargeable, or do you need to dispose them at special environmental recycling center?
Is there a danger that roommates will spontaneously burst into flames, like Samsung batteries?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
That could have been the case if it used NiFe batteries. Ironically, that is...
I see what you did there.