Purchasing a nuclear battery for your phone or laptop may sound beyond the fringe. But on the other hand, we do live in a world of rapidly-expanding technology, where anything could be possible. Science calls nuclear batteries betavoltaic devices. But does ‘beta’ mean ‘better’ and safer? We decided to find out and let you know.
What Exactly is a Betavoltaic Device – Does It Exist?
Wikipedia informs us that a betavoltaic device, or battery because it generates electrical current, harvests beta particles from a radioactive source. Beta particles are high-energy, high-speed electrons emitted by naturally decaying atomic nuclei.
These ‘nuclear batteries’ can last for a long time, and are therefore great applications for something out of easy reach. Space probes and space landers are a good example of this, although we also find them in implanted medical devices. You might even be able to purchase one legally.
However, we can’t recommend purchasing a nuclear battery for your phone or laptop, if you could find one. This is because radioactive sources can be dangerous, and you could set off all kinds of alarms. Nuclear batteries may offer long term storage, but their voltage decays over fifty years.
A Nuclear Battery For Your Phone Comes a Little Closer
Science Focus informs us that Chinese manufacturer Betavolt has developed a modification that makes their ‘nuclear battery’ safer. They have found a way to thinly slice a radioactive isotope that decays by beta-emission.
Then Betavolt, for that’s the name of the Chinese company, sandwiches these thin slices between layers of a certain semiconductor. This material that conducts electricity catches the electrons, and then there is electric current.
However, the energy that materializes could never power a nuclear battery for your phone or laptop. That is because the Betavolt battery only delivers 100 micro-watts at this stage. Although on the brighter side, it could do this for a hundred years or longer. Roll on progress, we say.
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