On January 8, Beijing Betavolt New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Betavolt") announced the development of a miniature atomic energy battery. The R&D team uses nickel-63 nuclear isotope decay technology and diamond semiconductors to miniaturize, modularize and reduce the cost of atomic energy batteries. This technology has just won the third prize in the CNNC 2023 Innovation Competition. The company's first product, the BV100 battery, has a power of 100 microwatts, a voltage of 3 volts, and a volume of 15 × 15 × 5 cubic millimeters, which is smaller than a coin.
Atomic energy batteries, also known as nuclear batteries or radioisotope batteries, work on the principle of converting the energy released by the decay of nuclear isotopes into electrical energy. The energy density of nuclear batteries is more than 10 times that of ternary lithium batteries. They will not catch fire or explode if acupuncture or gunshots are fired, and they can work normally in the range of minus 60°C to 120°C.
In the 1960s, in order to provide spacecraft with long-lasting energy, the United States and the Soviet Union successively developed nuclear batteries. The principle is that nuclear radiation heats up and uses temperature differences to generate electricity. This type of nuclear battery is large, expensive and has limited application scenarios. Another type of nuclear battery can directly convert radiation into electrical energy - beta particles (positrons) emitted during the decay of radioactive elements irradiate semiconductors and generate electric current, but the efficiency is very low. In order to capture beta particles more efficiently, Betavolt's team of scientists developed a high-performance single-crystal diamond semiconductor with a thickness of only 10 microns; a 2-micron-thick nickel 63 sheet was placed between two diamond semiconductor converters to stably and continuously excite charges. A supercapacitor made of ultra-long carbon nanotubes is responsible for collecting these charges.
Zhang Wei, chairman and CEO of Betavolt, said that the new nuclear battery can achieve stable power generation for 50 years without charging, maintenance and external radiation. Once mass-produced and put into the market, it will meet the needs of long-lasting scenarios such as aerospace, artificial intelligence equipment, medical equipment, micro-electromechanical systems, sensors, small drones and micro-robots. If the power is sufficient, mobile phones equipped with nuclear batteries will no longer need to be charged, and small drones will not need to return to home for charging.
Zhang Wei introduced that Betavolt is jointly researching and developing with domestic universities to develop higher-power batteries using strontium-90, promethium-147 and deuterium isotopes.