Gizmodo
Research funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory has come up with a breakthrough battery: a betavoltaic power cell that lasts for 30 years without a recharge. Made from radioactive material (I am writing this from my underground bunker) the batteries end their life being completely inert and non-toxic, so they're not as scary-bad as they sound. Here's how it works:
Made from semiconductor materials, the betavoltaic battery uses radioisotopes as its energy source. The beta particles that come from the decaying radioactive material are transformed into electric power that can power devices, such as a laptop, for up to three decades. Before you all run for the tinfoil, the batteries don't use fission or fusion, nor are there any chemical processes to produce energy, which means no radioactive or hazardous waste.
Similar to a solar cell, the process uses the beta electron emissions that occur when a neutron decays into a proton and causes a forward bias in the semiconductor. Yes, I'm clueless about that too, but the bottom line is that an electrical current is created —when electrons are scattered from their normal orbits in the semiconductor and into the circuit—so you can feed your laptop and other friends.
Small and thin, the batteries use a porous silicon material to collect the hydrogen isotope tritium that is generated in the process. And as it's a non-thermal reaction, your laptop will stay cooler than if its juice came from traditional lithium-ion batteries.
The plan is, if all goes well, to have these batteries, an eco warrior's wet dream due to their non-toxicity, on sale in two or three years. We hope it works out because we can't wait to have every electronic gadget we have running forever without any bloody chargers and cable spaghetti balls around. [Next Energy News]
Comments
But will they power my scarily un-humanlike Japanese sex doll?
Jokes aside, these batteries still leave trash in their inert state. How's about recycling them?
What's their carbon footprint ?
Imagine the impact on the enviroment.... I live in So Cal and energy is a hot commodity, imagine how much it would free up the grid to have 6 billion cell phone chargers dissapear... Simply... WoW!
Cripes, I bet those will cost more than a dollar.
Heck you can sell these for $100 each and it would still be a good deal. How much would you spend repalcing say your cell phone battery for 30 years?
One problem. this creates the problem of the battery outliving the device.
If this gets good enough for mass production we should start a system where every cell phone no matter the manufatcurer has the same battery. Every laptop has the same battery so that you can take the battery and move it to your new product.
Otherwise these new long lasting batteries would be a waste.
I hope these things usher in a standard for laptop batteries. I mean, who's gonna use the same laptop for 30 years?
I'd be more concerned with one exploding in my lap. Ouch!
@majortom1981: Great minds baby, great minds...
I've always wanted a mutant baby.
Radioisotopes are comon in space power systems. I think that's the type of system that's used in the Voyager missions.
Off Topic: Picture changed, is TFSU still suppose to be funny? I think I found it funny the first time, without Yoda it kinda falls flat for me. Maybe I should just STFU. Ah, that's better.
Very cool. I always wanted a nuclear powered laptop. Hopefully nuclear powered cars are right behind!
The useful life of the battery and how long it takes to stop emitting beta particles are entirely different things. Betavoltaics have a steady fall-off in power output which depends on the half-life of the substance used to power them. If you start off with a 20w power output using a substance with a 10 year half-life, then after 10 years you'll only get 10w out of it, after 20 years 5w and so on. How long the battery is useful for depends on how much power you need to get out of it: if you only need 10w to drive your gadget then the example battery above will be good for 10 years.
In practice it's likely that you'd use a betavoltaic power cell to charge a more traditional battery, so that you can draw more power than the betavoltaic can output at any given moment, however the fall-off in power output is still likely to make the battery useless long before it stops producing energy.
I see this battery having even bigger potential. Imagine having multiple batteries power an electric car, not one of the hybrids, but a completely electric car. Or even...an iPod.
Wooh.
What happens if you dispose of the undying, nucular-powered gadget in a CrushBox?
A standard battery for each type of gadget would be shot down in flames by the manufacturers - they would al complain that a standardized form factor would ruin the aesthetic of their product lines, or that they would lose sales on batteries because they are no longer bespoke to the manufacturer. Think about it - just look at a laptop battery from Toshiba, a Lenovo and a (just suggesting) mac... completely different..
What about a halfway house? Lets say that the form factor of the battery is standard but they are sold OEM, ie, manufacturers can use these cells and wrap their own gubbins around them - just like power cells now. As for when the :insert gadget: dies and the battery lives on? An exchange scheme with a handling fee? Again, not quite perfect but it would be a big step toward manufacturer support of this kind of product. The reason a technology like this would never go commercial (but could still be a commercial product) is that manufacturers lose profit because it doesnt need replacing every 18months. Short, predictable product lifespan is an CEOs dream! Just think of GM's EV-1 (perhaps not the best example) - No Petrol sales, no oil sales, hardly any serviceable parts... Eco warriors dream but makes no after sales profit, so it got dumped.
Granted that this would be a eco warriors dream for this type of power cell to come to fruition, but I think that there needs to be some compromise from the utopic (wow, free power forever kinda thing) view, for this to ever hit the marketplace.
Thinking it through, when it was time to get your cell changed over, wouldnt it be nice to get it safety checked as well? Wouldnt it be nice to know that my fuel cell is working well? and not about to explode on my desk / lap / face.
@M.O.D.O.K.: Yeah, you can forget about carbon foot prints, now you'll have to worry how many foot your kids will be printing with, assuming they'll even come with feet anymore.l
OK, so the idea is that i sit something that emits radioactive particles, in my lap, right over my groin and work.
So, this seems like a bad idea to me an my one son that will glow and my daughter that will have 3 arms.
what if general motors had this as its batteries for the chevy volt
If this runs on decaying radioactive material, does that mean it lasts the same length of time running something as just sitting there?
Impressive. Found more info here: [www.americanantigravity.com]
Per their write-up, the isotopes are "electronically pumped" to wring out every last beta electron, which is how it maintains consistent power until it becomes inert. Neither write-up states what material they use to power the cell. Tritium is listed as a by-product (safe because its radiation does not penetrate skin), but not the source. Hope to see more details soon.
@majortom1981: Definitely! I have issues now with crossable things not being crossable. Make a standard or 10, but stick to those 10 standards.
As far as the carbon footprint, it reads to me like they are using recycled electronics to make these things, so that's great. I work in this industry and I can tell you that the waste generated from electronics is a bit scary, best to put it to good use. Where do I sign up as an investor!
This doesn't make any sense to me.
Reduction in radioactivity follows an exponential curve defined by the half-life of the source. The half-life would have to be fairly short to generate a lot of power in a small volume of source material and to create a nearly "inert" device within 30 years. This would also mean that the available power to be converted to electricity will decline rapidly as well. Therefore the energy capability in the 1st year will have to be SUBSTANTIALLY greater than that in the 30th year.
I don't know what source they would use and I haven't done the necessary math, but the radioactivity needed to continuously power a 50 to 100 watt (or more) laptop for 30 years is going to be fairly substantial. I'd dare say there would be more than a few issues in having a few hundred million laptops and a billion or more mobile phones running around with gobs (a very technical unit of measure) of beta-emitting radioactive material running around.
As to it becoming inert within 30 years - I doubt that. Realistically, if the device is going to have enough energy to power much of anything in its 28th, 29th or 30th years of operation, the remaining radioactivity (remember the curve!) will be fairly significant even after 60, 90 or 120 years.
Of course, if the source material were somehow locked up in a sealed device that can't break or weather then perhaps that is not a serious issue - after all, shielding against beta radiation is pretty trivial. But creating such a package in an economically feasible and mass-producible way is not trivial - to say the least.
Looking at the site from which the article was pulled I see a number of articles that set off my skeptic's alarm. It doesn't mean that this one (or even any of those others) are fake or otherwise full of BS. But it does make me wonder...
I won't be holding my breath for this "breakthrough" to make it to my local retail shop.
@sumocat:
"electronically pumped"??? WTF?
This is complete BS. The Weak Nuclear Force is responsible for beta decay of neutrons and there is NOTHING you can do with ELECTRICAL force to "wring out" anything.
And look at the site! Antigravity??? Electro-Gravitational devices??? Geez.
My God.
Thirty year charges AND Watchmen on Gizmodo? My life is complete.
@sumocat:
Well there are only so many source elements for Tritum Lithium, Boron, etc.. Here is a list of different elements that can be turned into Tritium.
[en.wikipedia.org]
i guess they could always bundle it with a pair of leaded jocks...
but the last time i checked tritium WAS a RADIOACTIVE isotope of hydrogen... that's the end product right?
not to mention that hydrogen is a highly explosive gas. the laptop batteries they have today kind of do a slow burn, a mistake in manufacturing with and these thing would actually make a big BOOM.
I think these batteries would be far more useful for electric cars. Problem is, the major car manufacturers won't go for it because they couldn't make money off the aftermarket. Hey Subaru, wanna be even more green?
Woot! The Watchmen!
I'll bet they end up costing thousands of dollars just because it would put companies like Energizer and Duracell out of business. Ask yourself why we don't have alternate forms of fuel for cars readily available at every gas pump by now?
Not to mention:
News Flash: Men's Penises start to drop off after a year of exposure to new radioactive 30-year batteries.. on the lighter side.. women exposed grow a penis.. plastic surgeons rejoice!
Hmmm... I can't wait to build my light saber with these beauties! Imagine using a light saber for 30 years! Há! Darth Vader, eat your heart out!
The average human being, save researchers studying wierd particles in some super shielded, lead and water-lined lab under a mountain, are pretty much constantly bombarded with "radiation". Subatomics are whipping into, and through you right now. Yet years of bad scifi and superhero/villian origin MacGuffins have convinced people that radiation is the quickest way to two headed babies. Just stop boning your cousin Cletus and everything will be alright. The beta particles released by neutron decay can effectively be stopped by tissue paper. So as long as you don't open the battery and use it as a suppository there won't be any problems. We have so many problems in this country (can't irradiate food, so theres an e coli outbreak every couple of months; can't use nuclear power so I we have to turn over mountains and fight in the desert for energy) because people as so scared shitless by the mention of radiation.
im pretty sure this is the way they powered voltron
@omg-ponies: Don't want to see that.
Isn't tritium the substance Doc Oct used in Spider-Man 2 to make the mini sun?
Awesome. But 99% of consumers will be able to afford one.
@cmccorvey: I assume the "pumping" (stated as being electronic, not electric) entails controlling the number of "hot" atoms near the collection plate to ensure a steady flow of electrons as the isotope decays. Or perhaps it acts more as a dam that controls the electron flow. I can only speculate at this point, but while controlling radioactive decay is not possible, I see nothing implausible about controlling the electrons released by that decay.
THis is all moot anyway. There are a lot of companies making lots of money from current batteries that would lobby against such a product. They can come up with all kinds of "evidence" about this being bad for the environment, mutate your kids, or make you sterile to scare people away from the idea.
We've had the science and technology to make extremely long-lasting lightbulbs for decades and decades, but they have only actually been produced for the past 10-15 years. Why? People were making too much money from the old bulbs.
@junyo:
i hear what you are saying... lots of people a scared of microwaves escaping from their microwave ovens and irradiating them... but happily walk out in the sun where the UV radiation is many orders of magnitude more powerful and "dangerous".. makes no sense.
but what also doesn't make sense is saying that this product is inert and environmentally friendly and then say the end product of this battery is tritium when tritium is a RADIOACTIVE isotope of hydrogen and is not inert, environmentally friendly etc. that's what they used in watches to make them glow.. in very small quantities it's fine but can you imagine filling up landfills with the stuff it would be an environmental nightmare..
this story makes no sense!!! i can smell the bull schiznit from a mile away.
I meant, will NOT be able to afford one. Why? Because you only need to buy one of these per device, no way for them to make money unless they charge an arm and a leg for each one.
@RobotVampire: TSFU wasn't funny after the first time as it has extremely diminishing returns, in fact the first time wasn't really funny either. Giz fails to understand that and will spam it into the ground.
There is one major problem that people are over looking here and that is why on earth would you even think you would use ANY electronic device for 30 years. Can you even imagine using the laptop you have now 5 years from now let alone 30, i really don't think so.
@GumbyJump:
Right. A vast conspiracy is the ONLY reason this won't make it to the market. Wrong. The whole idea of this is stupid and unworkable as a retail product capable of powering a laptop computer or even a cell phone of the type we know today.
And its use in cars is insane. The amount of radioactive material and the necessary rate of decay necessary to drive a vehicle or even charge batteries or super-capacitors over a reasonable period of time is simply too great. Anyone selling this is likely to be selling other forms of snake oil as well.
Of course I could be wrong and if they could demonstrate this ACTUALLY working and show a reasonable product life-cycle (from manufacturing to disposal) I would happily plunk down my savings in their support. I doubt that will happen.
LOVE THE WATCHMEN REFERENCE :0
@sumocat: I am not sure what they meant by "pumping" either - the site is a bunch of hogwash.
You can of course accumulate the decay-produced electrons (well, not those actual electrons but the charge transfered to the capturing semiconductor or whatever) in a capacitor or use them to charge a battery. But that is not special and has nothing to do with "pumping" or anything of that sort.
Humm, if this thing is so nice why don't they make one the size of Hover Dam and use it to power cities? It can't cost more than say, a nuclear(nu-ki-ler) reactor?
It's about time someone came up with a battery that lasts more than 5 or 6 hours at best.
BTW, for anyone who didn't know...Watchmen is a go for 2009.
This would be a great idea if it were not such a big lump of bullshit.
But will it blend?
If
If,
If, and
Apologies, Gizmodo just freaked out a bit on me...If, and it's a big if, this technology is reliable, and workable, maybe we'll see a shift in products with built-in batteries - either hard wired or watch style. If a product will be able to stay powered well outside of designed life-time, why bother making the power source easily accessible?
@ninjagin:
that's funny... just a few kinks to workout...
- haven't found a material to bombarded doesn't fall apart from being bombarded
- the fact that tritium is and will be radioactive much longer than the battery is useful
- the battery will be hotter than hell
- you'll need to carry your laptop battery in a shopping cart since the "energy density" is 72 times less that a lithium ion battery
other than that.. sounds could!
@cmccorvey: Agree to disagree then. Actually, I don't think we really disagree. You're pessimistic. I'm optimistic. But we're both skeptical.
@adamsorkin: So now I am picturing a Teddy Ruxpin powered by one of these reading a book all slow and deep voiced. Just like HAL 9000 as he sung Daisy and was shut down by Dave. All because the power output by these batteries is decreasing over time. Nice.
@ninjagin: I'd be more impressed with Goodwin's analysis if it wasn't based on tritium as the power source; the article states it is a by-product.