this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
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World's 1st nuclear-diamond battery of its kind could power devices for 1000s of years (www.livescience.com)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The world's first nuclear-powered battery, which uses a radioactive isotope embedded in a diamond, could power small devices for thousands of years, scientists say.

The nuclear battery uses the reaction of a diamond placed close to a radioactive source to spontaneously produce electricity, scientists at the University of Bristol in the U.K. explained in a Dec. 4 statement. No motion — neither linear nor rotational — is required. That means no energy is needed to move a magnet through a coil or to turn an armature within a magnetic field to produce electric current, as is required in conventional power sources.

The diamond battery harvests fast-moving electrons excited by radiation, similar to how solar power uses photovoltaic cells to convert photons into electricity, the scientists said.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (13 children)

Meanwhile, Apple and Samsung are probably actively trying to sweep this under the digital rug. They can't have devices out there that last more than 2, maybe 3 years...

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (11 children)

From the article:

A single nuclear-diamond battery containing 1 gram [0.04 ounce] of carbon-14 could deliver 15 joules of electricity per day. For comparison, a standard alkaline AA battery, which weighs about 20 grams [0.7 ounces], has an energy-storage rating of 700 joules per gram. It delivers more power than the nuclear-diamond battery would in the short term, but it would be exhausted within 24 hours.

It seems that even a 100 gram nuclear-diamond battery would not be able to sustain a modern smartphone.

My calculations might be off, but it seems even a highly optimized low powered smartphone (say 10 watthours for 24 hours under regular use) would need x25 lower power consumption to work with a 100 g nuclear-diamond battery. And you would likely still need an additional battery of some sort (which would need to be replaced) to handle peaks (don't think modern smartphones can function under ~420 mwatt peak max).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Gotcha, understood.

Still, why is it that an Apple watch can't even last 24 hours without needing a recharge, when I'm literally wearing a Casio designed to last 10 fucking years on a single button cell battery (that ain't even rechargeable no less)?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The Apple Watch can easily last over 24 hours if you only use it as a watch and nothing else. The 18 hour estimate Apple provides is if you use all the features throughout the day such as exercise tracking, notifications, quick replying to messages, etc. If anything the 18 hour number is under selling the battery life.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Okay, fair enough. I'm still just not a fan of having to regularly recharge a watch.

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