I was wondering what you guys thought about this new research thing and to bring it to everyone's attention. http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-betavoltaic-10.1.html It would be really awesome if it is true. I hope it is.
thik about all of the batterys on the space flights that have been out there for twenty years or more
Well, that article you posted to is a pile of cr*p. It says in very bad English: The truth is that Betavoltaics are generators of electrical current, in effect a form of battery, which use energy from a radioactive source emitting beta particles (electrons). A common source used is the hydrogen isotope, tritium. Unlike most nuclear power sources, which use nuclear radiation to generate heat, which then generates electricity (thermoelectric and thermionic sources), betavoltaics use a non-thermal conversion process. So they got that wrong. With proper device construction (i.e.: shielding), a betavoltaic device would not emit any dangerous radiation. Leakage of the enclosed material would of course engender health risks, just as leakage of the materials in other types of batteries lead to significant health and environmental concerns. They got that wrong as well. As for the "breakthrough", Betavoltaics were invented over 50 years ago. As early as 1973, betavoltaics were suggested for use in long-term medical devices such as pacemakers. In 2005 a new betavoltaic device using porous silicon diodes was proposed to increase their efficiency. This increase in efficiency is largely due to the larger surface area of the capture material. The porous silicon allows the tritium gas to penetrate into many pits and pores, greatly increasing the effective surface area of the device. The "proper shielding" would be, if you used aluminium (or "aluminum") at least 2mm thick, that's 10 times the thickness of a beer can. There is a lot of hype at the moment and some people are trying to get rich quick by scamming betavoltaic technology to investors, but I'm not holding my breath.
