Ways of Increasing Specific Energy Intensity of Tritium-based beta-Voltaic Nuclear Batteries

Creating a beta-voltaic semiconductor battery based on long-lived radionuclide is an urgent task. However, today the technology of creating such energy sources and their output characteristics are far from perfect. This article analyzes ways to maximize energy intensity on the surface of the semiconductor carrier. Various methods of creating the maximum possible volume concentration of radioactive beta-emitter atoms based on the use of tritium are considered. A variety of variants using "associated" tritium are considered for application on the surface of the semiconductor carrier: metal tritids, intermetalides. One option may be the use of tritium-labeled organic molecules and polymers, as well as tritium, which is part of carbon nanomaterials — fullerenes, nanotubes, nanodiamonds, graphene and graphene oxide. The properties of intermet-allides hydrides (LaNi5, LaNi5T6) are considered. The dependence of the unit energy intensity of the battery's working body on the thickness of the emitter's film has been analyzed. As a result of the studies, the analysis of ways to achieve maximum energy intensity on the surface of the semiconductor carrier was analyzed. Various methods of creating the maximum possible volume concentration of radioactive beta-emitter atoms based on the use of tritium are considered. The dependence of the unit energy intensity of the battery's working body on the thickness of the emitter's film has been analyzed.

Comparing Nuclear and Chemical Power Sources for MEMS/NEMS Applications

Nuclear batteries are a class of power sources that harvest energy from decaying radioactive isotopes to generate electricity for powering sensors and electronics. They are well known in the fields of space exploration and implantable medical devices, but are not widely known to micro or nano-technologists in general. Nuclear batteries are compared against chemical sources of energy applicable to small-scale systems, including energy harvesting prototypes and a mm-scale commercial lithium battery, utilizing the metrics of volumetric power and energy density. Nuclear batteries benefit from orders of magnitude more energy density than power sources derived from chemical reactions, however they also have orders smaller power density. For some sensor applications, nuclear batteries enable capabilities not possible with chemical energy sources, and examples are discussed.

Can Nuclear Batteries Be Economically Competitive in Large Markets?

We introduce the concept of the nuclear battery, a standardized, factory-fabricated, road transportable, plug-and-play micro-reactor. Nuclear batteries have the potential to provide on-demand, carbon-free, economic, resilient, and safe energy for distributed heat and electricity applications in every sector of the economy. The cost targets for nuclear batteries in these markets are 20–50 USD/MWht (6–15 USD/MMBTU) and 70–115 USD/MWhe for heat and electricity, respectively. We present a parametric study of the nuclear battery’s levelized cost of heat and electricity, suggesting that those cost targets are within reach. The cost of heat and electricity from nuclear batteries is expected to depend strongly on core power rating, fuel enrichment, fuel burnup, size of the onsite staff, fabrication costs and financing. Notional examples of cheap and expensive nuclear battery designs are provided.

Start Here When Performing Radiochemical Reactions

Radiation products are present in several fields of knowledge. From the energy field, with nuclear reactors and nuclear batteries, to the medical field, with nuclear medicine and radiation therapy (brachytherapy). Although chemistry works in the same way for radioactive and non-radioactive chemicals, an extra layer of problems is present in the radiochemical counter-part. Reactions can be unpredictable due to several factors. For example, iodine-125 in deposited in a silver wire to create the core of a medical radioactive seed. This core is the sealed forming a radioactive seed that are placed inside the cancer. Several aspects can be discussed in regards to radiation chemistry. For example: are there any competing ions? Each way my reaction is going? Each reaction is more likely to occur? Those are important questions, because, in the case of iodine, a volatile product can be formed causing contamination of laboratory, equipment, personal, and environment. This chapter attempts to create a guideline on how to safely proceed when a new radioactive chemical reaction. It discusses the steps by giving practical examples. The focus is in protecting the operator and the environment. The result can be achieved safely and be reliable contribution to science and society.

Mn2+ induced significant improvement and robust stability of radioluminescence in Cs3Cu2I5 for high-performance nuclear battery

Fluorescent type nuclear battery consisting of scintillator and photovoltaic device enables semipermanent power source for devices working under harsh circumstances without instant energy supply. In spite of the progress of device structure design, the development of scintillators is far behind. Here, a Cs3Cu2I5: Mn scintillator showing a high light yield of ~67000 ph MeV−1 at 564 nm is presented. Doping and intrinsic features endow Cs3Cu2I5: Mn with robust thermal stability and irradiation hardness that 71% or >95% of the initial radioluminescence intensity can be maintained in an ultra-broad temperature range of 77 K-433 K or after a total irradiation dose of 2590 Gy, respectively. These superiorities allow the fabrication of efficient and stable nuclear batteries, which show an output improvement of 237% respect to the photovoltaic device without scintillator. Luminescence mechanisms including self-trapped exciton, energy transfer, and impact excitation are proposed for the anomalous dramatic radioluminescence improvement. This work will open a window for the fields of nuclear battery and radiography.

Femtosecond pumping of nuclear isomeric states by the Coulomb collision of ions with quivering electrons

Efficient production of metastable quantum states of nuclei (isomers) is critical for exotic applica- tions, like nuclear clocks, nuclear batteries, clean nuclear energy, and nuclear gamma-ray lasers[1–6]. However, due to low reaction cross sections and quick decay, it is extremely difficult to acquire sig- nificant amount of isomers with short lifetimes via traditional accelerators or reactors. Here, we present femtosecond pumping of nuclear isomeric states by the Coulomb excitation of ions with the quivering electrons induced by laser fields for the first time. Nuclear isomers populated on the second excited state of 83Kr, are generated with a rate of 3.84 × 10^17 per second from a table-top hundreds-TW laser system. This high efficiency of isomer production can be explained by Coulomb collision[7] of ions with the quivering electrons during the laser-cluster interactions at nearly solid densities.