The battery is a technology that stores and supplies electric energy through chemical combinations. From the start of its journey, several technology changes have brought significant improvement in battery cycle life and discharging capacity while reducing size. The latest comes from California-based startup NDB (or Nano Diamond Battery) with their announcement of a Diamond battery that would last for 28,000 years.
The device and its possible capabilities
The Diamond battery is called such due to the nature of its core source which is nuclear waste. It makes use of a betavoltaic technique, where radiations of the nuclear waste get converted into electric energy. NDB manufactures radioactive diamonds from nuclear waste and encapsulates that into an artificial diamond. Such a radioactive element could emit radiation for thousands of years and produce electricity in the meantime.
From @Yahoo "The Radioactive Diamond Battery That Will Run For 28,000 Years"https://t.co/A4rRura9pI pic.twitter.com/YnuCgLwxMZ
— NDB (@ndbtechnology) April 1, 2021
There are 440 nuclear reactors in operation all over the world. Their prime consideration after generating power from controlled nuclear fission chain reaction is disposing of highly radioactive nuclear waste, which was approximately a quarter-million metric tons in 2020. With that, NDB aims to use that waste to fuel its batteries.
NDB introduced the Diamond battery to the media world as a possible solution for mid and high-power applications for battery technology that could last for 28,000 years, but some claims related to their applications are not. The company added automotive, marine, aviation, and space technologies to its application list.
Nuclear waste-fueled nano diamond batteries could power your iPhone for 9 years | https://t.co/mTXhquwAAE #NDB #techofthefuture
— NDB (@ndbtechnology) September 15, 2020
Doubt on NDB’s claims
When the media oversells the idea of a car battery lasting for eternity, engineers may begin to doubt its capabilities. According to NDB, the Diamond battery can produce a few microwatts of power. In that case, the question of it powering technologies that require immense power such as those relating to automotive, marine, aviation, and space comes to mind.
Betavoltaic has the capacity to produce electricity in microwatts, and that amount of power doesn’t suit the above-defined applications. The only evidence in support of NDB claims is their press release, and it seems we are not going to see such a battery powering EVs or other such appliances at least by 2023.
I believe the Nuclear Diamond battery is a giant step toward the future of battery technology, but it seems that the media is overselling an idea by relating it to the wrong applications. There are many safety concerns yet to be answered because the use of highly radioactive products in our daily lives could bring more problems.
YouTube: Nano Diamond battery explained #NDB #Green_energy
Photo credits: The feature image has been taken by Frank Wang.
Sources: Caroline Delbert (Popular Mechanics) / Stanford University
