Chinese startup Betavolt has announced that it is ready to show a working version of its nuclear microbattery in the near future. According to the developers, the coin-sized device should generate energy for up to 50 years. This will allow some gadgets to do without recharging throughout their entire service life.
There is no fundamental innovation here; such beta-voltaic cells have long been available as commercial products. Such a battery looks like a “layer cake” of thin plates of nickel isotope interspersed with diamond semiconductors. Semiconductors capture electrons formed during the decay of nuclear material and convert them into energy.
The nickel isotope is not radioactive, and its decay produces a recyclable copper isotope. Betavolt representatives claim that such batteries can be safely used in wearable electronics and even inside the human body as an energy source for implants. It is claimed that they generate so much power that a smartphone or a small drone will be able to work continuously for days on end.
