Batteries!
The invention that powers most of the modern world!
Many electronics you enjoy using won't work without them.
These include your phone, laptop, tablet, and the
electric car in your garage!
Some satellites also use batteries out there in orbit!
However, these batteries have limitations that affect the level of satisfaction we can
derive from them!
This is why scientists have been working hard at creating a new
battery.
The latest result is a diamond battery that has the potential to last for thousands
of years and also help eliminate nuclear waste!
How does the diamond battery last so long, and how does it work?
Join us as we bring scientists' insane new diamond
batteries just released!
The best battery with ability for a wide range of applications is the lithium-ion battery.
You are probably watching this video on a device powered by a lithium ion battery.
If you drive an electric car, then you have lithium
ion batteries to thank for it!
Similarly, many battery energy storage systems use lithium
ion batteries to warehouse electricity to be supplied on demand!
Lithium ion batteries replaced the lead acid battery especially in intensive applications
because of their many benefits!
However, lithium ion batteries still have their limitations,
and these hold back many advances we could have made as a human race!
For example, lithium ion cells and batteries are
not as robust as some other rechargeable technologies.
They require protection from being overcharged and discharged too far.
In addition to this, they need to have the current
maintained within safe limits.
Accordingly, one lithium ion battery disadvantage is that
they require protection circuitry incorporated to ensure they are kept within their safe
operating limits.
Adding these safety measures increases the weight of the battery and cost.
It also makes maintenance and disposal more difficult!
Another major disadvantage of lithium ion batteries for consumer electronics is that
the batteries suffer from aging.
Not only is this time or calendar dependent, but it is also
dependent upon the number of charge-discharge cycles that the battery has undergone.
Often batteries will only be able to withstand between 500 and 1000 charge-discharge
cycles before their capacity falls.
With the development of Li-ion technology, this figure
is increasing, but after a while, batteries may need replacing, and this can be an issue
if they are embedded in the equipment.
Lithium ion batteries age whether they are in use
or not, meaning despite the degree of usage, there is a time-related element to the
reduction in capacity!
Lithium ion batteries also have a transportation problem!
Many airlines limit the number of lithium ion batteries they take, which
means their transportation is limited to ships!
Air travelers often need to carry their lithium
ion batteries in carry-on luggage.
Any lithium ion batteries carried separately must be protected
against short circuits by protective covers, etc.
It is particularly important where some of the large lithium ion batteries like
those used in large power banks.
There is also the big issue of costs!
This is most obvious when it comes to electric cars!
About one-third of the sticker price goes to the battery for any EV you buy, making
EVs significantly more expensive than their ICE
counterpart!
In fact, a basic EV may cost the same as a luxury ICE!
Lithium ion also has some restrictions on how they can be used!
For example, to gain the best from lithium ion cells and batteries,
it is wise not to charge or discharge the cells and batteries fully.
Running the cells and batteries between 20 and 80 percent has
been quoted as the optimal regime.
Some battery management systems may ensure that the cells are never fully charged or
discharged - the levels they indicate may already have this taken into account.
Lithium ion cells and batteries do not like being fully discharged, and they also do not
like being fully charged.
This is because in either state, all the lithium ions will be
removed from one electrode or the other, and this causes the electrode to disintegrate
more quickly.
Also, lithium ion batteries do not work well in the cold, like where snow
falls.
For electric vehicles, the driving range becomes significantly reduced the lower the
temperature gets!
For these reasons, humanity needs a better battery, and scientists have been working
to provide just that!
The result is the diamond battery, which promises to change the
world completely!
One of the companies involved in diamond battery development is
NDB, a startup based in California.
It has announced its new Nano Diamond battery, but
other people call it the nuclear diamond battery!
The technology NDB uses technology made from nuclear waste encased in artificial
diamond.
The Nano Diamond battery has an incredible maximum lifespan of 28,000
years!
That is like eternity when it comes to battery life or anything else!
The new battery could one day become a source of low-carbon
power for anything that needs it, from planes to smartphones.
The idea of a nuclear diamond battery was first developed and presented by scientists
at the University of Bristol in 2016.
In a lecture, Professor Tom Scott explained that his
team had grown a synthetic diamond that can generate a small electric current when
placed in a radioactive field.
The resulting battery is effectively self-charging in that the
diamond can produce a charge when it is placed close to a radioactive source.
The Bristol team initially demonstrated a prototype
that used nickel-63 as the radiation source, although they later chose to utilize
carbon-14, a radioactive version of carbon.
And that is one of the benefits of nuclear diamond batteries; they will help clean up
nuclear wastes!
The UK's aging nuclear power plants contain huge reserves of carbon-
14 within the graphite blocks in their reactors.
Although carbon-14 is a low-yield beta particle emitter, it's still too risky to
allow it into the environment, and therefore it must be
stored securely for the long term.
The scientists at Bristol see a valuable opportunity in
extracting and repurposing what is, at present, purely a nuclear waste material.
Last year, a spin-off company called Arkenlight
was formed to take on the commercialization of the diamond battery concept.
Using nuclear wastes this way is far better than burying them deep in the ground, where
special care has to be taken to prevent contamination!
Meanwhile, many people squirm at the mention of nuclear materials because of the fear
of radiation.
However, nuclear diamond batteries are not dangerous!
The diamond battery is a betavoltaic, which is similar
to a photovoltaic solar cell, only that it converts
beta radiation instead of light into electricity.
It's manufactured through chemical vapor deposition, using C-14 methane and hydrogen
plasma to grow diamond films at high temperatures.
The diamond used in the battery consists of thin layers of large crystalline
grains – so it's far smaller than the diamond found on rings.
This multilayer structure is also designed to prevent radiation leakage
and minimize the danger to human health.
Carbon-14 beta particles, though energetic, don't travel very far.
If you have it safely ensconced in a dense matrix, such as diamond,
then the likelihood that it would emit radiation in a way that would penetrate human
skin becomes negligible.
While NDB is focusing on heavy-duty applications like electric vehicles, Arkenlight is
looking to power small detectors, wireless IoT devices/sensors, or medical implants with
nuclear diamond batteries.
The company views the diamond battery as an enabling
technology, meaning that it might spur the development of applications that wouldn't
have been possible without it!
Bristol researchers have tested the strength and durability of their diamond batteries
at the top of a volcano.
In the experiment, prototype Arkenlight betavoltaics were used to
power sensors inside a remote-monitoring station, known as a 'dragon egg.'
The eggs are designed to be delivered to an active
volcano by drone, where they keep track of humidity, vibrations, and the emissions of
toxic gases.
The diamond's indelible nature also means that nuclear diamond batteries
may one day assist in distributed power management for satellites or spacecraft, allowing
them to lead longer operational lives in extreme environments!
A good candidate is the JWST, which has a lifespan of two
decades due to the amount of fuel onboard.
With nuclear diamond batteries, the space observation station can continue to deliver
stunning pictures that help us know more about the universe for eternity!
With the world increasingly dependent on sensor input, Arkenlight's batteries could
provide a 'fit and forget' solution that enables the widespread rollout of IoT devices.
According to Morgan Boardman, CEO of Arkenlight, the technology also offers attractive
emissions savings.
With the resources used to manufacture, say, an AAA battery, we
would offset nearly 2.5 kg of carbon in manufacturing an equivalent energy density of
diamond batteries.
Arkenlight aims to establish a factory at one of the several decommissioned nuclear
power plants in the South West of England, or possibly North Wales.
That way, the company has easy access to carbon-14 isotopes
for battery manufacturing.
Boardman estimates that all being well, the carbon-14
batteries will begin appearing in devices as
soon as 2024!
Let's hear what you think of the nuclear diamond battery in the comment section below!