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.

Comments

what's more scary

[religionofpeas]

I'd rather have a nuclear battery in a pacemaker that lasts a lifetime than having to deal with surgery every 10 years to replace a conventional one, risking infection and other complications.

Re:what's more scary

[religionofpeas]

It's a minor operation, but the foreign materials such as the leads, make for good hiding places for bacteria. The old scar tissue surrounding them also hinders the immune system from getting good access.

Re:what's more scary

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

The coolest part is it's not Radioactive to us.

[Grog6]

Nickel-63 is an artificial isotope, which means it has to be made; But, it only decays by beta decay, so a piece of foil (or a deposited schottky barrier) will prevent that from escaping.

Pu RTG's put out everything from alphas to heavy fission gammas and neutrons, so this is a gogolplex better from any radioactivity standpoint.

I hope this takes off; it all depends on what it costs to make a gram. A 3300mAh lithium battery is about $1 in quantity, but has a very limited lifetime.

Re:Why do we care about lifetime output over 100 y

[ShanghaiBill]

But after 25 years it'll only produce 70.7% of the output

The fraction of remaining power = exp(-t * ln(2)/100)

So after 25 years, it will be a 84%. It will be at 70.7% after 50 years. If that isn't enough, then just make the battery 40% bigger.

Re:I am confused!

[Anonymous Coward]

that is 3.3 watt/hours per gram. According to my calculations, you can use a 80 kg battery can easily power a Tesla for the next 100 years. A Model S can do 320kw/hour. No supercharger needed. Another option is to use a 16Kg battery which will charge the battery packs. Only in extreme use, long trips, etc. you may need an outside charge.

But this isn't like a Li-Ion battery that you can extract energy from at a variable rate... it's a generator that produces ~38uW (micro-watts) continuously for 100 years. So you just need ~66kg to produce a standard 0.5 amp USB charger worth of current at 5V. But on the up side... that 66kg "battery" will charge your phone for 100 years. ... and if you want to red line that tesla for 100 years straight you just need an... 8,430 metric ton battery - no problem, just buy a Model X with a tow hitch!

Re:Just imagine...

[fox171171]

That could have been the case if it used NiFe batteries. Ironically, that is...

I see what you did there.