Batteries always seem to die at the worst possible moment—like your calculator batteries right before a math exam, your remote control batteries at the start of a great movie, or your flashlight batteries during a power outage. But what if we had batteries that could last not just for the next couple of crucial hours, but for generations?
Researchers from the University of Bristol and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) have created the world’s first carbon-14 diamond battery, with a shockingly long lifespan. The battery, described in a December 4 statement by the University of Bristol, could power devices for thousands of years by harnessing the decay of carbon-14, a radioactive isotope commonly used to date organic artifacts. This innovative design could supply more environmentally-friendly long-term power to devices everywhere, from inside the body to hundreds of light years away from Earth.
“Diamond batteries offer a safe, sustainable way to provide continuous microwatt levels of power. They are an emerging technology that use a manufactured diamond to safely encase small amounts of carbon-14,” Sarah Clark, Director of Tritium Fuel Cycle at UKAEA, said in the statement.
Radioactive isotopes such as carbon-14 are unstable atoms that emit energy as they decay into a more stable element. Carbon-14 emits electrons as it decays, which the diamond battery captures to create low levels of constant power, similarly to how solar panels convert light into electricity.
“We are trying to create a thin layer of this diamond under pressures that are below atmospheric pressure,” Eseosa Ekanem, a Senior Process Engineer at UKAEA, said in an UKAEA video. “And these electrons, when they go through this diamond, which is a semiconductor material, it helps to create that electricity and power.” Semiconductors can conduct electricity under certain conditions.
Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 years, meaning that after that time period, only half of the original quantity of carbon-14 will have decayed, with the other half still available to make energy. That should give you an idea of just how long a carbon-14 diamond battery can last.
The applications of this battery design are “game-changing,” according to the statement. The battery is bio-compatible, making it appropriate for use in medical devices such as ocular implants and hearing aids, and especially practical for devices with batteries that need to be replaced via surgical procedures, such as pacemakers. While external exposure to carbon-14 does not pose a significant health risk, internal contamination can be hazardous, and the diamond encasing ensures the radioactive decay would remain safely contained.
Because of diamond’s hardy nature, the battery could even be put to work in more extreme environments as well, such as future long-haul space missions where it wouldn’t be exactly easy to switch out traditional batteries. They could also power active radio frequency tags—small data-transmitting devices used for tracking—employed in long-term projects in remote terrestrial or even extraterrestrial locations.
“Our micropower technology can support a whole range of important applications from space technologies and security devices through to medical implants,” said Tom Scott of the University of Bristol. “We’re excited to be able to explore all of these possibilities, working with partners in industry and research, over the next few years.”
It’s not just the medical and space field that stand to gain from its benefits, however. The researchers imagine a future in which we use “diamond batteries in almost everything,” said Fatimah Sanni, also a Senior Process Engineer at UKAEA. She listed small satellites, computer chips, remote controls, and wrist watches as some day-to-day examples. Diamond batteries could replace lithium ion batteries, whose production is greenhouse gas intensive, and improper disposal releases toxic chemicals into the environment.
“Bye bye to all lithium ion waste batteries,” Sanni added. “When we have a clean battery like the diamond battery, that mitigates climate change.”
The diamond battery might one day revolutionize the battery industry. Here’s to hoping we’ll be able to use it in out fire alarms, too, and never have to suffer their low-battery beeping noises ever again!
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