This amazing battery according to its creators is completely safe and requires no maintenance. Its two main ingredients are nickel-63 and a sophisticated diamond semiconductor.

We didn't expect this. Betavolt Technology, a Chinese company specialized in the manufacturing of semiconductors, batteries and new materials, has announced that it has successfully developed a battery for the consumer market that works thanks to atomic energy.

According to its creators, it has been designed to have a useful life of 50 years and can power a very wide range of devices, such as smart sensors, small drones, robots, medical devices, devices for the aerospace industry, and even smartphones. Sounds good. It sounds exceptionally good. However, the use of radioactive isotopes should a priori put us on alert, naturally. Or not.

Betavolt promises us that its technology is completely safe
Before moving forward, it is important that we note the fact that although this company has successfully completed preliminary tests with the first units of the BV100, which is what it has called this atomic battery, it still must pass other safety tests before start large-scale manufacturing. In any case, Betavolt seems certain that it has a disruptive product on its hands. And yes, on paper there is no doubt that this is the case.

The isotope used by this company in the production of its atomic battery is nickel-63, which decays into a stable isotope of copper.

The isotope used by this company in the production of its atomic battery is nickel-63, which decays into a stable isotope of copper and has a half-life of approximately one century. An interesting note: the time that passes until the number of unstable nuclei of a radioactive element is reduced to half of the initial quantity is called the half-life. We explain this and other very interesting concepts in detail in the article we have dedicated to ionizing radiation.

Some unstable atoms decay practically instantaneously, but others can take hours, days, weeks, years, or even millennia, essentially due to the random nature of the quantum mechanism that allows the atom to cross the energy barrier necessary to adopt a less energetic and more stable state. In any case, the long half-life of nickel-63 is largely responsible for the presumed safety of this battery.

However, this battery has another essential ingredient: a diamond semiconductor that allows it to operate stably in a temperature range that ranges between -60 and 120 ºC. Curiously, its structure, as we can see in the image that we published a little above, is a sandwich in which the layers of nickel-63 alternate, which have a thickness of 2 microns, and the sheets of semiconductor material, which have a thickness of 10 microns and broadly speaking they are responsible for transforming atomic energy into electrical energy.

The BV100 battery measures just 15 x 15 x 5 mm and delivers 100 microwatts at 3 volts. Yes, it is little energy, but Betavolt ensures that it is possible to use several of these batteries in series or in parallel to meet the needs of the devices that I mentioned in the second paragraph of this article. However, this company has anticipated that it is working on a version of its atomic battery that will be capable of delivering 1 watt. He hopes to have it ready in 2025. And he has also anticipated that he is investigating other isotopes, such as strontium-90, deuterium or promethium-147, which on paper could deliver more energy and last up to 230 years. One last note: the BV100 battery is maintenance-free.