Nuclear Powered Battery

Beijing Betavolt New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. announced a major breakthrough on January 8, successfully developing a miniature atomic energy nuclear powered battery. This innovative product combines the nickel 63 nuclear isotope decay technology and China’s first diamond semiconductor (fourth-generation semiconductor) module, achieving the miniaturization, modularization and low cost of atomic energy batteries, and opening the process of civilian use. This achievement marks that China has achieved disruptive innovation in the two high-tech fields of atomic energy batteries and fourth-generation diamond semiconductors, far ahead of European and American research institutions and enterprises.

Nuclear and Atomic battery, also known as nuclear batteries or radioisotope batteries, work by utilizing the energy released by the decay of nuclear isotopes and converting it into electrical energy through semiconductor converters. This was a high-tech field that the United States and the Soviet Union focused on in the 1960s. Currently, there are only temperature difference nuclear batteries used in aerospace. This type of battery is large in size and weight, has high internal temperatures, is expensive, and cannot be used for civilian purposes. In recent years, the miniaturization, modularization, and civilianization of nuclear batteries have been the goals and directions pursued by European and American countries. China’s “14th Five-Year Plan and Vision Goals for 2035” also proposes that the civilianization of nuclear technology and the multi-purpose development of nuclear isotopes are future development trends.

Betavolt nuclear batteries have developed a completely different technical path, generating current through semiconductor transitions of beta particles (electrons) emitted by the radioactive source nickel-63. To achieve this technology, Betavolt’s team of scientists developed a unique single-crystal diamond semiconductor with a thickness of only 10 microns, placing a 2-micron-thick nickel-63 sheet between two diamond semiconductor converters to convert the decay energy of the radioactive source into current to form an independent unit. This nuclear battery is modular and can be composed of dozens or hundreds of independent unit modules, which can be used in series and parallel to produce battery products of different sizes and capacity power.

Zhang Wei, chairman and CEO of Betavolt, said that the first product the company will launch is BV100, the world’s first nuclear battery to be mass-produced, with a power of 100 microwatts, a voltage of 3V, and a volume of only 15 X 15 X 5 cubic millimeters, which is smaller than a coin. Nuclear batteries generate electricity every second, generating 8.64 joules of energy per day and 3153 joules of energy per year. Multiple such batteries can be used in series and parallel. The company plans to launch a 1-watt battery in 2025. If policies allow, atomic batteries can make a mobile phone never need to be charged, and drones that can only fly for 15 minutes now can fly all the time.

According to reports, atomic energy batteries are physical batteries, not electrochemical batteries, and their energy density is much higher than that of ternary lithium batteries. 3,300 milliwatt-hours of energy can be stored in 1 gram of battery, and they will not catch fire or explode in case of accidents such as needle sticks and gunshots. Due to their 50-year self-generating characteristics, there is no concept of the number of cycles (2,000 charge and discharge times) of electrochemical batteries.

In addition, the power generation of atomic energy batteries is stable and will not change due to harsh environments and loads. It can work normally within the range of 120 degrees above zero and -60 degrees below zero, and there is no self-discharge phenomenon. At the same time, the atomic energy battery developed by Betavolt is absolutely safe, has no external radiation, and is suitable for use in medical devices such as pacemakers, artificial hearts and cochleas in the human body. In addition, atomic energy batteries are environmentally friendly. After the decay period, the nickel 63 isotope, which is a radioactive source, becomes a stable isotope of copper, which does not pose any threat or pollution to the environment. Therefore, unlike existing chemical batteries, nuclear batteries do not require expensive recycling processes.

At present, Betavolt has registered a patent in Beijing and will start to register global PCT patents. At the 2023 Innovation Competition held by China National Nuclear Corporation, Betavolt stood out as one of the very few external participating companies and won the third prize of the competition, which represents the recognition of Betavolt’s atomic energy battery technology and products by China’s authoritative nuclear technology companies. Betavolt has also communicated with China’s professional nuclear research institutions and universities to plan to continue researching the use of isotopes such as strontium 90, promethium 147 and deuterium to develop higher power atomic energy batteries with a service life of 2 to 30 years.

The core of betavoltaic battery is the fourth generation diamond semiconductor, which is the ultimate semiconductor material known in the industry and another high ground in the global semiconductor technology competition. Betavolta is currently the only company in the world that can dope and produce large-size diamond semiconductor materials. High-efficiency diamond converters are the key to manufacturing nuclear batteries.