Imagine a battery that you never have to recharge, we are not talking about a power bank or a battery that does not need to be charged for days, but something capable of producing electricity for the next 5,700 years… We know it is an exaggeration (and that we are not going to be able to check if it is true), but they are creating a diamond battery with carbon-14 that could be the solution for all those coworkers who arrive at the office with 30% battery on their phones.
The project comes from researchers at the University of Bristol together with the California startup NDB Inc. The idea seems very simple as a concept (and a dream for a few), although it is something huge if we stop to think, taking advantage of nuclear waste, encapsulating it in synthetic diamond (generated in a laboratory) and turning it into a safe, stable and practically eternal source of energy.
How it really works
The trick is in carbon-14, a radioactive isotope that appears in graphite blocks used in nuclear reactors, we know it sounds very pure science. But this element has a half-life of 5,730 years and releases energy constantly. By putting it inside a synthetic diamond, it acts as a shield and, at the same time, as a converter of that radiation into electricity, a real madness.
Professor Tom Scott, one of the pioneers of the project, explains that these batteries have no moving parts, do not emit gases, do not need maintenance and also allow the reuse of nuclear waste that otherwise would be a problem.
An invention made for space
Where something like this makes the most sense is in space exploration. Solar panels only work well near the Sun and current generators depend on plutonium-238, which is scarce.
With a diamond battery, an instrument could run for centuries without shutting down, it could open the door to probes that travel farther than ever or to much longer interplanetary missions. It is no coincidence that NASA itself is paying attention to this discovery because it fits with its strategy of diversifying energy sources in future missions.
Applications here on Earth
But we should not only look at what happens above, here on Earth it could also have very interesting applications. In medicine, for example, a pacemaker with such a battery could last the patient’s entire life, without the need for replacement surgeries every few years. It would also work for sensors in remote or dangerous places, able to operate indefinitely without depending on maintenance. Or even to keep a hospital powered (as a generator) in places where there are no resources or where natural disasters happen continuously.
And, according to NDB Inc., in the future it could even power phones or laptops, we like that more! That said, experts call for caution because more tests and scientific reviews are still needed to confirm how realistic those promises are.
The big challenges
Not everything is that simple. Manufacturing synthetic diamonds on a large scale is still expensive, and the use of radioactive material is subject to very strict regulations. Added to this is a perception problem which is convincing people that carrying a “nuclear battery” in their pocket is safe, with everything we know about what happens with nuclear materials…
That said, scientists assure that the radiation it emits is lower than that of the human body itself, so we are talking about something safe, but that does not take away from the fact that the term scares anyone.
Looking to the future
The potential is enormous, but no one expects this technology to become popular this very month. The most optimistic estimates talk about at least a decade before seeing these batteries in real use that is useful to us.
If it manages to overcome the technical challenges and gain users’ trust, this diamond battery could become a solution that would mark our century: transforming waste into clean and practically eternal energy!