betavoltaics Nuclear batteries

[sunday]

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Nuclear-battery-Chinese-firm-aiming-for-mass-mark

Quote

Atomic energy batteries - also known as nuclear batteries or radioisotope batteries - work on the principle of utilising the energy released by the decay of nuclear isotopes and converting it into electrical energy through semiconductor converters.

Betavolt, which was established in April 2021, says its battery "combines nickel-63 nuclear isotope decay technology and China's first diamond semiconductor (4th generation semiconductor) module to successfully realise the miniaturisation of atomic energy batteries".

The company's team of scientists developed a unique single-crystal diamond semiconductor that is just 10 microns thick, placing a 2-micron-thick nickel-63 sheet between two diamond semiconductor converters. The decay energy of the radioactive source is converted into an electrical current, forming an independent unit. Betavolt said its nuclear batteries are modular and can be composed of dozens or hundreds of independent unit modules and can be used in series and parallel, so battery products of different sizes and capacities can be manufactured.

Background in wikipedia

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A betavoltaic device (betavoltaic cell or betavoltaic battery) is a type of nuclear battery which generates electric current from beta particles (electrons) emitted from a radioactive source, using semiconductor junctions. A common source used is the hydrogen isotope tritium. Unlike most nuclear power sources which use nuclear radiation to generate heat which then is used to generate electricity, betavoltaic devices use a non-thermal conversion process, converting the electron-hole pairs produced by the ionization trail of beta particles traversing a semiconductor.

All good and dandy. But a cursory research on nickel-63, leads to a 2018 Russian paper:

Quote

High power density nuclear battery prototype based on diamond Schottky diodes

Abstract

We report here for the first time a fabrication of betavoltaic battery prototype consisting of 200 single conversion cells based on Schottky barrier diamond diodes which have been vertically stacked with ~24% 63Ni radioactive isotope. The maximum electrical output power of about 0.93 μW was obtained in total volume of 5 × 5 × 3.5 mm3. We used the ion-beam assisted lift-off technique to obtain conversion cells of minimal thickness comparable with the characteristic penetration length of beta-particles emitted by 63Ni isotope. The obtained value of 15 μm was limited by the mechanical strength of produced structures and process reliability. To check the performance of thin diamond based conversion cells we carried out IV-curves measurements at electron beam irradiation in SEM. We found that the sacrificial layer for the splitting of such thin conversion cell from HPHT diamond substrate did not cause a considerable degradation of device charge collection efficiency. As a result, the fabricated prototype provided the output power density of about 10 μW/cm3, that is the best known value for nuclear batteries based on 63Ni radioisotope. Moreover, the long half-life of 63Ni isotope gives the battery specific energy of about 3300 mWh/g that is an order of magnitude higher than the typical value of commercial chemical cells.

In the MIPT page: https://web.archive.org/web/20201027160223/https://mipt.ru/english/news/prototype_nuclear_battery_packs_10_times_more_power

A more approachable article for non experts on the matter: https://newatlas.com/nickel-nuclear-battery-design/54884

Quote

Imagine only replacing the batteries in a device once a decade, or even once a century. Nuclear batteries could one day let us do just that, but their power density is currently too low to be very practical. Now, Russian researchers have developed a new nuclear battery design based on nickel-63, which has a higher specific energy than regular, commercially-available batteries.

Looks like Russians sold the technology to China.

Edited January 17 by sunday

[Ssnake]

The takeaway is, while there are a lot of borderline-fraudulent players in the market, this one might actually deliver. But nuclear batteries usually deliver in the nano or microwatt range; this one is at the upper end with 100 microwatt - but still not even "milli".

[sunday]

2 hours ago, Ssnake said:

The takeaway is, while there are a lot of borderline-fraudulent players in the market, this one might actually deliver. But nuclear batteries usually deliver in the nano or microwatt range; this one is at the upper end with 100 microwatt - but still not even "milli".

It could not be turned on/off, so the proper use is to use it to trickle charge a chemical battery. Of course, when powering always-on devices like pacemakers, it could be used directly. There is a new application field for ultracapacitors here, also.

Edited January 17 by sunday

[Ivanhoe]

[rmgill]

Micro, not giga. 

[sunday]

First betavoltaic devices were sold in the 1970s in pacemakers.

[Josh]

There are obvious niche uses for the technology but energy densities are always going to very minuscule.

[sunday]

Favorite Aussie electronics engineer turned Youtuber is not fond of this recent development

 

[sunday]

Some more conventional, sodium-ion batteries. Less energy density than Li-ion, but a longer charge-discharge life.

 

[TrustMe]

If this Sodium ion battery's take off what am I going to put on my chips  

[Josh]

32 minutes ago, TrustMe said:

If this Sodium ion battery's take off what am I going to put on my chips  

lithium chloride?

Edited March 31 by Josh

[sunday]

Fish, of course.

[bojan]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

lithium chloride?

You have decent choice... but most suck

 

 

[Wobbly Head]

17 hours ago, bojan said:

You have decent choice... but most suck

 

 

Try KCN it will be the last salt you'll will ever taste 😁

[Ivanhoe]

21 hours ago, TrustMe said:

If this Sodium ion battery's take off what am I going to put on my chips  

 

[TrustMe]

2 minutes ago, Ivanhoe said:

 

Oh i'll never do that. I'm probably the only person in England that doesn't like tomato saurce  

[Ivanhoe]

On 3/28/2024 at 7:15 PM, sunday said:

Some more conventional, sodium-ion batteries. Less energy density than Li-ion, but a longer charge-discharge life.

 

Wow! Just imagine, a Tesla safe enough to park inside your garage!

On a more serious note, I have numerous flashlights that use CR123s, and I use AA and AAA lithium primaries all over the place. There are some flashlights I'd like to own, but they take the 18650 rechargeable Li-ion batteries, which I am nervous about. A sodium-ion battery might have a better safety profile.

 

[Ivanhoe]

5 minutes ago, TrustMe said:

Oh i'll never do that. I'm probably the only person in England that doesn't like tomato saurce  

Its not plain tomato sauce, it is quite spicy. Tastes nothing like catsup (or ketchup, for that matter).

 

[bojan]

1 hour ago, Wobbly Head said:

Try KCN it will be the last salt you'll will ever taste 😁

You can taste it and survive, in the distilled water theoretical taste limit is lower than lethality limit by quite a bit. Same for a smell. How do you think those "taste/smells like" descriptions in chemical handbooks got written?  

[Wobbly Head]

1 hour ago, bojan said:

You can taste it and survive, in the distilled water theoretical taste limit is lower than lethality limit by quite a bit. Same for a smell. How do you think those "taste/smells like" descriptions in chemical handbooks got written?  

I thought it might be some very depressed but dedicated chemists or undergraduate students.

[Ivanhoe]

5 minutes ago, Wobbly Head said:

I thought it might be some very depressed but dedicated chemists or undergraduate students.

 

[sunday]

3 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

Wow! Just imagine, a Tesla safe enough to park inside your garage!

On a more serious note, I have numerous flashlights that use CR123s, and I use AA and AAA lithium primaries all over the place. There are some flashlights I'd like to own, but they take the 18650 rechargeable Li-ion batteries, which I am nervous about. A sodium-ion battery might have a better safety profile.

 

18650 cells are used for vaping. There are Li-ion batteries with different chemistries, some safer than others. For vaping devices there are a few that are not recommended at all. Generally the Samsung/Sony ones are safer. The ones with the word "fire" in the brand name, like Surefire, are among the ones to avoid.

[lucklucky]

Some news from Korea

Quote

 

The Korean artificial sun, KSTAR, broke its previous plasma operation record during its first plasma campaign after upgrading its divertors, one of plasma facing components, to tungsten monoblocks.

The Korea Institute of Fusion Energy(KFE) announced that it successfully sustained the plasma with ion temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius for 48 seconds during the last KSTAR plasma campaign run from December 2023 to February 2024. Additionally, it achieved the high confinement mode(H-mode) for over 100 seconds.

To develop fusion energy, it is essential to secure the technology to sustain high-temperature and high-density plasmas where fusion reactions occur most actively for longer durations. Fusion researchers are conducting various plasma experiments using fusion devices like KSTAR in order to achieve it.

KSTAR, a superconducting tokamak, has been leading research in long-pulse plasma operations. KSTAR achieved its milestone of reaching 100 million degree plasma in 2018 for the first time and it set a new record by sustaining plasma with an ion temperature of 100 million degrees for 30 seconds in 2021. (...)

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1039244