Engineering:Optoelectric nuclear battery
An optoelectric nuclear battery (also radiophotovoltaic device, radioluminescent nuclear battery[1] or radioisotope photovoltaic generator[2]) is a type of nuclear battery in which nuclear energy is converted into light, which is then used to generate electrical energy. This is accomplished by letting the ionizing radiation emitted by the radioactive isotopes hit a luminescent material (scintillator or phosphor), which in turn emits photons that generate electricity upon striking a photovoltaic cell.
The technology was developed in 1961 by researchers at Eimac, at their San Carlos, CA facility, contracted by Sandia National Laboratories. The device was intended for use in satellites.[3]
Description
A German patent[4][5] provides a description of an optoelectric nuclear battery, which would consist of an excimer of argon, xenon, or krypton (or a mixture of two or three of them) in a pressure vessel with an internal mirrored surface, finely-ground radioisotope, and an intermittent ultrasonic stirrer, illuminating a photocell with a bandgap tuned for the excimer. When the beta-emitting nuclides (e.g., krypton-85 or argon-39) emit beta particles, they excite their own electrons in the narrow excimer band at a minimum of thermal losses, so that this radiation is converted in a high-bandgap photovoltaic layer (e.g., in p-n diamond) very efficiently into electricity. The electric power per weight, compared with existing radionuclide batteries, can then be increased by a factor 10 to 50 or more. If the pressure vessel is made from carbon fiber/epoxy, the power-to-weight ratio is said to be comparable to an air-breathing engine with fuel tanks. The advantage of this design is that precision electrode assemblies are not needed, and most beta particles escape the finely-divided bulk material to contribute to the battery's net power.
Disadvantages
- High price of the radionuclides.
- High-pressure (up to 10 MPa or 100 bar) heavy containment vessel.
- A failure of containment would release high-pressure jets of finely-divided radioisotopes, forming an effective dirty bomb.
As a DIY project
A simple betaphotovoltaic nuclear battery can be constructed from readily-available tritium vials (tritium-filled glass tubes coated with a radioluminescent phosphor) and solar cells.[6][7][8] One design featuring 14 22.5x3mm tritium vials produced 1.23 microwatts at a maximum powerpoint of 1.6 volts.[6] Another design combined the battery with a capacitor to power a pocket calculator for up to one minute at a time.[9]
See also
- Nuclear battery
- Betavoltaic device
- Radioisotopic thermoelectric generator
- Radioisotope piezoelectric generator
- List of battery types
References
- ↑ Hong, Liang; Tang, Xiao-Bin; Xu, Zhi-Heng; Liu, Yun-Peng; Chen, Da (2014-11-01). "Radioluminescent nuclear batteries with different phosphor layers" (in en). Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 338: 112–118. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2014.08.005. ISSN 0168-583X. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168583X14007071.
- ↑ McKlveen, J. W.; Uselman, J. (1979). "Radioisotope-powered photovoltaic generator" (in en). Nuclear Technology 43 (3): 366–372. doi:10.13182/NT79-A19224. ISSN 0029-5450. http://inis.iaea.org/Search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:11500057.
- ↑ "Eimac" (in en). 2025-07-07. https://ethw.org/Eimac.
- ↑ Jurewitsch, Boody, Fortov, Hoepfl (January 27, 2000). "Super-compact radionuclide battery useful for spacecraft contains radionuclide dust particles suspended in a gas or plasma (DE000019833648)". https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE103903767&redirectedID=true.
- ↑ Jurewitsch, Boody, Fortov, Hoepfl (January 27, 2000). "Super-compact radionuclide battery useful for spacecraft contains radionuclide dust particles suspended in a gas or plasma (German Patent DE19833648)". http://www.freepatentsonline.com/DE19833648A1.html. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 NurdRage. "Make a Tritium Nuclear Battery or Radioisotope Photovoltaic Generator". https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Tritium-Nuclear-Battery-or-Radioisotope-Pho/.
- ↑ G. Heaton. "Tritium Nuclear Battery (Betaphotovoltaic)" (in en). https://hackaday.io/project/12715-tritium-nuclear-battery-betaphotovoltaic.
- ↑ Poole, Nick. "Nuclear Battery Assembly Guide". https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/nuclear-battery-assembly-guide?_ga=2.31299391.1810837199.1598882031-1587220491.1598789964.
- ↑ G Heaton. "Nuclear Powered Calculator" (in en). https://hackaday.io/project/25753-nuclear-powered-calculator.
- Polymers, Phosphors, and Voltaics for Radioisotope Microbatteries, by Kenneth E. Bower (Editor), et al.
- US Patent 7,482,533 Nuclear-cored battery
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