Too good to be true?
Nano-diamond self-charging batteries could disrupt energy as we know it:
"California company NDB says its nano-diamond batteries will absolutely upend the
energy equation, acting like tiny nuclear generators. They will blow any energy
density comparison out of the water, lasting anywhere from a decade to 28,000 years
without ever needing a charge. They will offer higher power density than lithium-ion.
They will be nigh-on indestructible and totally safe in an electric car crash. And in
some applications, like electric cars, they stand to be considerably cheaper than
current lithium-ion packs despite their huge advantages.
The heart of each cell is a small piece of recycled nuclear waste. NDB uses graphite
nuclear reactor parts that have absorbed radiation from nuclear fuel rods and have
themselves become radioactive. Untreated, it's high-grade nuclear waste: dangerous,
difficult and expensive to store, with a very long half-life.
This graphite is rich in the carbon-14 radioisotope, which undergoes beta decay into
nitrogen, releasing an anti-neutrino and a beta decay electron in the process. NDB
takes this graphite, purifies it and uses it to create tiny carbon-14 diamonds. The
diamond structure acts as a semiconductor and heat sink, collecting the charge and
transporting it out. Completely encasing the radioactive carbon-14 diamond is a layer
of cheap, non-radioactive, lab-created carbon-12 diamond, which contains the
energetic particles, prevents radiation leaks and acts as a super-hard protective and
tamper-proof layer.
To create a battery cell, several layers of this nano-diamond material are stacked up
and stored with a tiny integrated circuit board and a small supercapacitor to collect,
store and instantly distribute the charge. NDB says it'll conform to any shape or
standard, including AA, AAA, 18650, 2170 or all manner of custom sizes.
And so what you get is a tiny miniature power generator in the shape of a battery that
never needs charging – and that NDB says will be cost-competitive with, and
sometimes significantly less expensive than – current lithium batteries. That equation
is helped along by the fact that some of the suppliers of the original nuclear waste will
pay NDB to take it off their hands.
Radiation levels from a cell, NDB tells us, will be less than the radiation levels
produced by the human body itself, making it totally safe for use in a variety of
applications. At the small scale, these could include things like pacemaker batteries
and other electronic implants, where their long lifespan will save the wearer from
replacement surgeries. They could also be placed directly onto circuit boards,
delivering power for the lifespan of a device."
See:
https://newatlas.com/energy/nano-dia...-batteries-ndb