Recent progress and perspective on batteries made from nuclear waste

Sustainable energy sources are an immediate need to cope with the imminent issue of climate change the world is facing today.In particular,the long-lasting miniatured power sources that can supply energy continually to power handheld gadgets,sensors,electronic devices,unmanned airborne vehicles in space and extreme mining are some of the examples where this is an acute need.It is known from basic physics that radioactive materials decay over few years and some nuclear materials have their half-life until thousands of years.The past five decades of research have been spent harnessing the decay energy of the radioactive materials to develop batteries that can last until the radioactive reaction continues.Thus,an emergent opportunity of industrial symbiosis to make use of nuclear waste by using radioactive waste as raw material to develop bat-teries with long shelf life presents a great opportunity for sustainable energy resource development.However,the current canon of research on this topic is scarce.This perspective draws fresh discussions on the topic while highlighting future directions in this wealthy arena of research.Graphical abstract A long-lasting miniaturised nuclear battery utilising 14C radioactive isotope as fuel.

GaN PIN betavoltaic nuclear batteries

GaN PIN betavoltaic nuclear batteries are demonstrated in this work. GaN epitaxial layers were grown on 2-inch sapphire sub-strates by MOCVD, and then the GaN PIN nuclear batteries were fabricated. Current-voltage （l-V） characteristic shows that the small leakage currents are 0.12 nA at 0 V and 1.76 nA at -10 V, respectively. With 147Pm the irradiation source, the maximum open circuit voltage and maximum short circuit current are 1.07 V and 0.554 nA, respectively. The fill factor （FF） of 24.7% for the battery was been obtained. The limited performance of the devices is mainly due to the low energy deposition in the microbatteries. Therefore, the GaN nuclear microbatteries are expected to be optimized by growing high quality GaN films, thin dead layer and so on.

Enhancing betavoltaic nuclear battery performance with 3D P^(+)PNN^(+)multi-groove structure via carrier evolution

Betavoltaic nuclear batteries offer a promising alternative energy source that harnesses the power of beta particles emitted by radioisotopes.To satisfy the power demands of microelectromechanical systems(MEMS),3D structures have been proposed as a potential solution.Accordingly,this paper introduces a novel 3D^(63)Ni–SiC-based P^(+)PNN^(+)structure with a multi-groove design,avoiding the need for PN junctions on the inner surface,and thus reducing leakage current and power losses.Monte Carlo simulations were performed considering the fully coupled physical model to extend the electron–hole pair generation rate to a 3D structure,enabling the efficient design and development of betavoltaic batteries with complex 3D structures.As a result,the proposed model produces the significantly higher maximum output power density of 19.74μW/cm^(2) and corresponding short-circuit current,open-circuit voltage,and conversion efficiency of 8.57μA/cm^(2),2.45 V,and4.58%,respectively,compared with conventional planar batteries.From analysis of the carrier transport and collection characteristics using the COMSOL Multiphysics code,we provide deep insights regarding power increase,and elucidate the discrepancies between the ideal and simulated performances of betavoltaic batteries.Our work offers a promising approach for the design and optimization of high-output betavoltaic nuclear batteries with a unique 3D design,and serves as a valuable reference for future device fabrication.