U.S. electrical engineers say they are developing a smaller, lighter and more efficient battery that uses a nuclear energy source.
Much attention has been given to making batteries smaller and more powerful, but scientists say problems can arise when such batteries become heavier than the devices they power.
"To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density," said University of Missouri Assistant Professor Jae Kwon, who is leading the research. "The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries."
Kwon and his research team are developing a small nuclear battery, currently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro-nanoelectromechanical systems.
The innovation is not only in the battery's size, but also in its semiconductor. Kwon said his battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.
"The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor," Kwon said. "By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem."
Kwon's research has been published in the Journal of Applied Physics Letters and the Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry.
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