The first nuclear battery in the world

This durable battery can be used to run a pacemaker, currently only exists for 15 years as well as spacecraft and equipment deployed in extreme environments such as extreme and deep sea, according to the notice of Northwestern Pedagogy University in Gansu province, MSN On March 14 reported.

Although not mentioning electric cars, the university said the green and low carbon discharge of the battery could “promote the upgrade of the new China’s new energy industrial chain”. This nuclear battery model is designed for 50 years but the university said it could exist more than 100 years under extreme conditions.

According to Zhang Guanghui, the technical guidance of the project at the university, in theory, the new battery can operate for thousands of years thanks to the long half-life of Carbon-14 is 5,730 years. Zhang is referring to the time of a radioactive isotope needed to divide into half of the original value.

The new battery has a maximum capacity of 433 Nanwatt, based on Carbon-14, a weak radioactive isotope of carbon element. It uses the radioactive decay of Carbon-14 to produce electricity. The battery is made with a complex semiconductor device including silicon and carbon. It can withstand extreme temperatures from -100 degrees C to 200 degrees Celsius. It also has super high energy density and a level of degradation of less than 5% in design life.

The Northwestern Pedagogical University said a led light of their nuclear battery could be turned on for nearly 4 months, emitting more than 35,000 pulses. The research team leader was Professor Su Maogen, Deputy Director of the University’s School of Physics and Electrical Engineering, saying that the battery would be able to provide permanent energy for transplant medical equipment such as pacemaker and brain -computer interface.

“It can support a large -scale sensor network. In a limited environment such as deep sea, two poles, moon and Mars, it can be used as a continuous power supply without maintenance. In exploring deep space, it can help the train to operate constantly,” Su said.

This battery design is a collaborative result between the university and Beita Pharmatech, the Carbon-14-related compound company, is the isotopes widely used in science and medicine, in order to detect infections. According to universities, they also plan to develop automatic carbon-13 isotopes and electrical electrolyte separating devices. This is a key step to establish an industrial system to obtain Carbon-14 isotopes.

According to Australian National University, among the three carbon isotopes found in nature, Carbon-12 accounts for about 99.8% of the total number of carbon atoms, carbon-13 accounts for 1% and the rarest Carbon-14 accounts for 1 of one billion carbon atoms. Last year, China began producing a series of Carbon-14 in a commercial nuclear reactor in Zhejiang province, signaling the change from dependence almost entirely on imports from Canada, South Africa, Australia and Russia.

Last December, scientists at Bristol University and the British atomic energy agency announced the creation of the world’s first carbon-14 diamond battery. That battery retains fast moving electrons inside the diamond structure, can safely cover a small amount of carbon-14. It is a long -term source of energy that can be used in medical equipment, security equipment and extremely drought environments like the universe.