Diamonds are generally considered one of the hardest materials existing. Radioactive diamonds can form the basis of future batteries.
The nucleus of a new battery design proposed by scientists is carbon-14, a radioactive isotope commonly used in radiocarbon dating. The researchers discovered an interesting result after finding a way to place carbon-14 in a synthetic diamond.
Carbon-14 and beta degradation
Carbon-14 goes through a process called beta decomposition when placed in a diamond. During this process, carbon-14 releases a number of electrons. These electrons are then absorbed by the diamond, where it is a radioactive diamond battery, which is converted into electricity and maintains itself.
You may think of this in a way that the work of a solar panel. However, in this case, the battery captures electrons spreading through the diamond instead of taking its power from the sun.
As a result of this process, an incredibly 5,700 -year -old power supply is formed. In other words, this theoretical source of power can last tens of thousands of years without the need to charge or change.
However, it is not possible to use these radioactive diamond batteries on high -power devices such as smartphones. Instead, such batteries will be aimed at giving strength to devices that consume more low power. For example, spacecraft such as Voyager 1 can effectively benefit from these batteries. Although Voyager 1 is the farthest human -made object from the Earth, there is only about 20 years before the nuclear battery runs out. If he had had a radioactive diamond battery instead of the nuclear battery that currently existing, he could have continued to explore the international space for thousands of years and send information to the Earth.
Safe and Effective Use
In addition, the radiation emitted by this radioactive diamond battery does not cause any danger for the people around him by being locked in the diamond. Considering that scientists have found a new way to use diamonds for storage some time ago, it can be said that the future of science and space research may be hidden in the diamond.
