nuclear-waste fueled diamond batteries could last thousands of years

[727Sky]

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-08-ener...amond.html

A Russian company reported basically the same thing a couple of weeks ago.

Energy firm says its nuclear-waste fueled diamond batteries could last thousands of years
by Peter Grad , Tech Xplore

A cellphone power source that lasts nine years. An auto-battery pack that lasts nearly a century. A pacemaker that is powered to last 28,000 years.

These surreal claims are being made by a California-based battery company that says successful early test results recently competed on a nano-diamond battery brings them closer to realizing such claims.
The key to their revolutionary batteries is radioactive nuclear waste. There are massive quantities of leftover nuclear waste from nuclear plant facilities. Such waste is extremely toxic, lasts thousands of years and poses a challenge when it comes to disposing of it (burying and encasing it) safely.
The company, NDB, says it can safely utilize this waste to generate power in its nano diamond batteries. It can achieve this by processing graphite nuclear waste into a pure form and then converting it into diamonds. As the waste product enveloped by the diamond decays, it interacts with the carbon to generate a small electric current.
Depending on the power drain, the battery, which never needs recharging, would last for a user's lifetime, and beyond.
It could be used for common mobile devices, medical products, satellites and could provide energy in hard-to-reach locations or remote areas where routine maintenance would be difficult.
The company has not yet produced a prototype, but says it has proof of concept. The company sees virtually unlimited applications of NDBs.

"Think of it in an iPhone," NDB's chief strategy officer Neel Naicker says. "With the same size battery, it would charge your battery from zero to full, five times an hour. Imagine that. Imagine a world where you wouldn't have to charge your battery at all for the day. Now imagine for the week, for the month… How about for decades? That's what we're able to do with this technology."
The basic principle behind the concept is not actually new. As NDB's chief operating officer Mohammed Irfan explained: "Using radioisotopes as a source for energy is not new. We have nuclear medicine, where patients are treated with controlled equipment, which has always given effective results. Similarly, we have had nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. Of course, that's a completely different process, but it's been able to successfully and safely deliver power and energy without safety issues."

Some NDB claims have ben greeted with cautious skepticism in tech circles.
"NDB speaks of low- and high-power versions of the cell in development, but until we see some output figures the claims are still hazy, and until we see some proof, they're just claims," said Loz Blain, a tech writer at New Atlas.
Steven Novella of the publication NEUROLOGICA blog questions how the batteries will reach sufficient output to be as effective as NDB's developers claim. "This all sounds great," Novella says, "but there is a critical factor left out… What is the power density of these devices?" Specs from similar projects utilizing radioactive fuel, Novella suggests, show "the power density is extremely low, much lower than chemical batteries like lithium-ion. The engineers from NDB admit their power density is about the same as other nuclear diamond technology."
NDB says it will begin work on a prototype as soon as virus-related quarantines ease, and they hope to produce a working prototype in less than two years.
In the meantime, they believe they have found the ultimate solution to a longtime problem.
"We've taken something that's really harmful to the environment, a problem, " NDB's Naicker says, "and created energy."

[727Sky]

Can you imagine what the normal battery makers would do when a replacement is not needed for 100s or 1000s of years ? Now a message maybe sponsored by the Energizer Bunny Rabbit ?

[guohua]

@"727Sky" 

Can you imagine what the normal battery makers would do when a replacement is not needed for 100s or 1000s of years ?

Yes, the inventor would be a Suicide/Murder and this Great Revolutionary Battery would disappear.

[Ninurta]

@"727Sky" 

Can you imagine what the normal battery makers would do when a replacement is not needed for 100s or 1000s of years ?

Yes, the inventor would be a Suicide/Murder and this Great Revolutionary Battery would disappear.

I have an uncle who worked at a place that did R+D on energy devices. He told me, back in 1979, that they had developed a battery the size of a car battery that would power a city of 750,000 for 5 years, Mysteriously, that battery never hit the market, and it would have made a fortune for the developers.

Some one else made it go dark.

Regarding this power source, using spent nuclear fuel, I have my doubts that I would want to use a cell phone powered by one. I mean, cell phones go right next to your head, where your brain lives, you know?

.

[ChiefD]

That sounds pretty cool, but they need to put their money where their mouth is. I’ll believe it when I see it. It would be revolutionary if it actually worked. Like the car many years ago that could supposedly run on water instead of gasoline. 

Who knows?

[guohua]

@"727Sky" 

Can you imagine what the normal battery makers would do when a replacement is not needed for 100s or 1000s of years ?

Yes, the inventor would be a Suicide/Murder and this Great Revolutionary Battery would disappear.

I have an uncle who worked at a place that did R+D on energy devices. He told me, back in 1979, that they had developed a battery the size of a car battery that would power a city of 750,000 for 5 years, Mysteriously, that battery never hit the market, and it would have made a fortune for the developers.

Some one else made it go dark.

Regarding this power source, using spent nuclear fuel, I have my doubts that I would want to use a cell phone powered by one. I mean, cell phones go right next to your head, where your brain lives, you know?

.

I do Believe your Uncle.
The other problem with anything Nuclear is how to dispose of the product when you are finished with it or it is lost, imagine throwing it in your trash can and off to the Dump it goes, what was the Half Life of this Battery?
Or lost in a river, lake or ocean.

[rickymouse]

You can store data in crystals, a diamond is an exceptional data storage site.  Also, crystal rocks of many sorts can store energy for later use, quartz is a good way to store energy...lots cheaper than diamonds.  But long storage may benefit by a purer crystal structure.

[727Sky]

Interesting promo

[Mystic Wanderer]

Not diamond, but I bought some batteries (came last week) that can be charged in an ISB port one at a time, or by the thingy that came with it that holds up to four batteries; plug that into the ISB port.

This may be old school to some of you, but it's just now making it's way into my house.

I put the (4 per pack) batteries into the charger when they came. It took just over two hours to charge them fully. Then I placed them into a transistor radio and left it running without turning it off in a bedroom that we don't use. The batteries lasted almost 4 days. 
I have no idea if this is a good record, or not, but this will save me a ton in the long run buying those AA batteries.


You might say, well what good are batteries that have to be charged in an ISB port if the power goes out?
That's where my solar powered cell pack comes in. Just place the USB cord into it, place in the sun, and whatever you need charged get a charge.

Batteries:
https://4patriots.com/products/usb-recha...attery-kit

Cell pack:
https://4patriots.com/products/patriot-p...l-one-pack


Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with the above mentioned company, 4Patriots, in any way.