Science: The first commercial nuclear battery enters mass production

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Coin-sized nuclear 3V battery with 50-year lifespan enters mass production


A Chinese battery manufacturer has developed a breakthrough, sparking a worldwide race for compact nuclear energy. The innovation is a small coin-sized battery powered by a radioactive nickel isotope that decays into stable copper. While the initial cell is relatively weak, it can easily be layered to provide more power for up to 50 years.

Energy storage technology has reached a transformative milestone as the BV100, a miniature atomic energy battery, enters mass production. Popular Mechanic notes that the coin-sized cell from Beijing Betavolt New Energy Technology can provide juice lasting up to 50 years without charging or maintenance.

The BV100 harnesses energy from the radioactive decay of its nickel-63 core. The two-micron thick core, sandwiched between two 10-micron thick diamond semiconductors, efficiently converts the isotope's decay into electricity. Its modular structure allows for scalability, with multiple units combined in series or parallel to create batteries of varying sizes and capacities. 
The BV100 is about the size of a small coin and delivers a power output of 100 microwatts at 3 volts.




Nickel-63 (63Ni) emits an electron to give a copper (Cu) atom
63Ni is made synthetically by bombarding natural 62Ni
with neutrons in a nuclear reactor
62Ni → smash it with a neutron → 63Ni
63Ni → a neutron decays to a proton, barfing out an electron → 63CU


As we all know, 100 microwatts isn't much power. For comparison, the power output of an AA battery is approximately 3,150,000 microwatts at 1.5 V. Things that one or a few stacked nuclear batteries like this can power include, 1) sensors that monitor environmental conditions such as pressure, temperature, and humidity, 2) medical devices like pacemakers, which require ~10 microwatts for normal operation, 3) semi-passive and active RFID tags (~100-1000 microwatts, 4) silicon clocks (~300 to 1500 microwatts), 5) backup power for SRAM (Static Random-Access Memory) to retain data when the main power source is off, 6) deep-sea oil well sensors, 7) low-power processors like ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits), FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays), and microcontroller units, 8) wearable devices, 9) sensors directly on circuit boards, 9) encryption keys for secure data transmission, and 10) various microelectronics, including semiconductors.

Microelectronic devices:




Field-programmable gate array:




By Germaine: All nuclear powered up and ready to go for the next 50 years!


Well, not quite that powered up
(too many microwatts)

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