50 year nuclear battery developed

Post Reply New Topic

A Chinese company has developed a radioactive battery using a radioactive nickel isotope (Ni-63) and doped graphene. They claim that it could last up to 50 years off of the beta decay of the source. It does not have a high output, so do not plan on it going into your smart phone anytime soon. The source decays into a stable form of copper in the end.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/e ... -50-years/

If it's "radioactive" then...woundnt it be too dangerous for any consumer use?

Though it might be great in unmanned outerspace probes.

Actually, no it would not be too dangerous. There is already radioactive batteries on the market if you have the license: pacemaker batteries are made with a small amount of a plutonium isotope. Once the person dies with a Pu battery, it is reclaimed from the body before burial/cremation. This new battery would be much less harmful for disposal, as it only decays into copper atoms. Plutonium decays into daughter products that then decay further down until it reaches lead many, many, many years down the line. The new batteries would be useful in applications that need a constant supply of energy over a long time, such as a sea indicator light or beacon. Yes, space exploration is a possible application for these batteries.

i wonder if it'd work for my iphone?

Wow. Fascinating. I didnt know that humans put plutonium into their bodies like that before now.

So, how many of them will I need to run a car?

If you want to carry around a telephone booth sized battery pack, it might work. The amount of energy given off per cell is very low.

I think there would be legal restrictions for having that many in one place on a roadway. It would likely take a semi truck sized battery pack of them to move an electric car. However, they would be unaffected by cold weather.

That was in the first designs for a radioactive battery series developed decades ago. Most use different isotopes now. The major catch is how dangerous plutonium can be to a human body. If you happen to exhale one atom of it, the person is almost guaranteed to die of cancer of some form or another. The Pu batteries had extensive shielding that prevented exposure under normal conditions. They were not bullet-proof, but worked well for their intended purpose.

In my career as a scientist and information professional, I have some hard-won lessons I would like to pay forward in light of this article.

1) I can is not in itself evidence that I should.

2) Before making a change, ask yourself two critical questions.

What will happen if I am right?
What will happen if I am wrong?

Unless you are confident that you have reliable answers to both questions and are prepared to endure what causality brings, don't make the change.

Apply that principle to this article, and draw a responsible conclusion.

Sorry for reviving an old thread but what's the usecase for a battery of long life but low output?

Weather balloons? Satelites? Could an upsized version of this do a better job than the RTGs currently used to power Mars rovers?

Nuclear batteries can be used in many fields, including medicine (pacemakers, bionics, hearing and vision implants), weapons and equipment (unmanned aerial vehicles, tracking devices), industrial production and infrastructure (pipeline monitoring systems, temperature sensors), aerospace and navigation (satellites, submarine navigation beacons), micro-electromechanical systems and other low-power electronic devices. China's first Huaqing "Hummingbird" aircraft is 14.8 cm long, with a tail rotor length of 17.4 cm and a height of 4.Six centimeters, the overall weight is only 35 grams, the maximum endurance is 25 minutes, the need for intermittent charging, at the same time, the energy conversion efficiency of this chemical battery is generally low, there are many harmful chemicals in the battery, can only use high-cost harmless treatment. If we use our atomic energy battery, its service life will be extended directly to 50 years, its volume will be smaller, its weight will be lighter, and it will not be affected by the harsh environment. At present, a meteorological satellite, a navigation satellite and a communication satellite mostly use a solar cell, and when the meteorological satellite, the navigation satellite and the communication satellite fly in a space with weak sunlight or no sunlight, the use efficiency of the solar cell is reduced, and the solar cell cannot work stably, so that an atomic energy cell is required to provide sufficient power supply for the meteorological satellite, the navigation satellite and the communication satellite under extreme temperature and vibration conditions. At the same time, the battery will be converted to stable copper at the end of its service life, which will not cause huge pollution problems to the environment.

The company's official website (looks too Humble