A Chinese startup has created a new nuclear battery that can power your phone for 50 years without being charged.
Betavolt Technology claims to have effectively downsized atomic energy batteries to 15 x 15 x 5mm, which is smaller than a cent. The small battery uses 63 nuclear isotopes to produce 100 microwatts and a voltage of 3V of electricity via radioactive decay.
The battery is now in pilot testing, and Betavolt intends to mass-produce it for commercial devices such as phones and drones. However, the company also claims that nuclear batteries might be used for aeronautical equipment, AI, medical equipment, advanced sensors, and micro-robots. The Beijing-based startup claims to have gotten inspiration from technologies like pacemakers and satellites.
Betavolt intends to advance their technology to build a 1-watt battery by 2025. While there is still more work to be done, the corporation appears to be confident, claiming that progress is well ahead of European and American scientific research institutions and enterprises.
Tiny nuclear batteries
This technology has the potential to revolutionize electronics by eliminating the need for chargers or portable power banks entirely, resulting in gadgets that run continuously and whose batteries do not decline in capacity or lifespan over charging cycles, as Li-ion batteries do.
It could even be safer, since Betavolt claims that the BV100 would not catch fire or explode in reaction to punctures or even bullets, unlike some current batteries, which can be dangerous if broken or subjected to high temperatures.
Such limitless power might enable drones to fly indefinitely, phones to function continually, and electric cars that do not need to be recharged.
Currently, nuclear batteries are employed in spacecraft, underwater systems, autonomous research stations, and crafts such as the Mars rover, but they are huge, heavy, produce a lot of heat, and are expensive. However, Betavolt claims that it takes a different strategy.
How Betavolt’s radioactive battery operates
Betavolt’s scientists created the radioactive battery by using nickel-63, a radiactive element, as the energy source and diamond semiconductors as energy converters.
The researchers created a single-crystal diamond semiconductor that is only 10 microns thick, then sandwiched a 2-micron-thick nickel-63 sheet between two diamond semiconductor converters.
The radioactive source’s decay energy is subsequently transformed into electricity.
Betavolt claims that its atomic energy batteries are lightweight, have a long service life, have a high energy density, and can operate regularly in extreme temperatures ranging from -60 to 120 degrees Celsius.
Because of the modular design, numerous atomic batteries may be joined to produce a higher energy output, which might power automobile technologies and AI systems, to name a few.
Toxic reputation
Understandably, most individuals would not want to carry radioactive material in their pockets, especially watchers of HBO’s excellent but scary Chernobyl series. Many people may be hesitant to use nuclear batteries because of the bad connotations associated with nuclear calamities such as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
However, the Betavolt addressed radiation worries, noting that the battery is safe because it emits no external radiation and is suited for use in medical devices within the human body such as pacemakers and cochlear implants.
According to Betavolt, following decay, the 63 nuclear isotopes transform into copper, which is non-radioactive and poses no damage to the environment.
While it seems like something out of 1950s science fiction, this technology has the potential to transform the face of electronics by enabling unwired, always-on gadgets, ushering in a new era of nuclear energy consumption.
