An Overview and Prospect of Nuclear Battery

Abstract

The nuclear battery has many advantages, including high energy density, stable performance, no manual intervention etc., which can be widely utilized in cases requiring long-term reliable power supply. Among them, the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTG) is the earliest used and the most technically matured one, while betavoltaic battery is now commercialized. However, there are still some problems including self-absorption effect, low energy conversion efficiency and severe radiation damage which restrict the application of betavoltaic batteries. Additionally, for an actual nuclear battery, it should be noticed that the component and density of the source will be changed because the radiation source decays continually, which leads to the electrical performance decline. In this review, the major events in nuclear battery development are listed on a timeline, and the principles and applications of different types of nuclear batteries are also introduced. For betavoltaic battery, the existence of self-absorption effect is pointed out as an important scientific problem, and for batteries with 63Ni and TiT2 source, the time-related electrical properties are also obtained. This paper also pointed out that, fine and precise calculations are very crucial in the optimized designing processes for a particular structure of the practical nuclear battery. Finally, researching assumptions including combining the source and the energy converting material and the use of energy converting structures with heavier isotopes are presented, which are benefit to solve the self-absorption problem, rise the output power of the nuclear battery and reduce the influence of radiation damage.