8/10/2019 Nuclear Powered Battery
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Nuclear Power For Your Car
September 18, 2014 | 1 Comment
http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/
University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) researchers have created a
long-lasting and more efficient nuclearbattery. Its built from a
radioactive isotope called strontium 90 that boosts electrochemcial
energy in awater-based solution with a nanostructured titanium
dioxide electrode with a platinum coating collectingand effectively
converting energy into electrons.
(a), Schematic view of the testing setup for platinum/nanoporous
titanium dioxide under irradiation anda photograph of the
Strontium-90/Yittrium 90 source with gas bubbles attached to the
outer surface ofthe PET film. (b), Schematic diagram and photograph
of the platinum/nanoporous titanium dioxideelectrode. Click image
for more info.
The idea has many high power applications such as a reliable
energy source in automobiles and also incomplicated applications
such as space flight. Its a superlative idea that is now
working.
The research paper Plasmon Assisted Radiolytic Energy Conversion
In Aqueous Solutions, waspublished in Nature and is available in
full at this writing.
Jae W. Kwon, an associate professor of electrical and computer
engineering and nuclear engineering inthe College of Engineering at
MU said, Betavoltaics , a battery technology that generates power
fromradiation, has been studied as an energy source since the
1950s. Controlled nuclear technologies are notinherently dangerous.
We already have many commercial uses of nuclear technologies in our
livesincluding fire detectors in bedrooms and emergency exit signs
in buildings.
The nuclear name part is going to be the problem. After all,
strontium 90 is a long way from uranium235 or plutonium 244 (atomic
numbers respectively, 38, 92 & 94). Strontium 90 is a beta
emitter, theradiation energy that powers the battery. Still, beta
emitters are not something a home shop operator
http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/#commentshttp://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/#commentshttp://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/#commentshttp://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2014/0916-first-water-based-nuclear-battery-developed-by-mu-researcher-can-be-used-to-generate-electrical-energy/http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2014/0916-first-water-based-nuclear-battery-developed-by-mu-researcher-can-be-used-to-generate-electrical-energy/http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2014/0916-first-water-based-nuclear-battery-developed-by-mu-researcher-can-be-used-to-generate-electrical-energy/http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140611/srep05249/full/srep05249.html#ref15http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140611/srep05249/full/srep05249.html#ref15http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140611/srep05249/full/srep05249.html#ref15http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strontium-90http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strontium-90http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strontium-90http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/betavoltaic-battery-design/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strontium-90http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaicshttp://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140611/srep05249/full/srep05249.html#ref15http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140611/srep05249/full/srep05249.html#ref15http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2014/0916-first-water-based-nuclear-battery-developed-by-mu-researcher-can-be-used-to-generate-electrical-energy/http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2014/0916-first-water-based-nuclear-battery-developed-by-mu-researcher-can-be-used-to-generate-electrical-energy/http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/#commentshttp://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/
8/10/2019 Nuclear Powered Battery
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should be working with, as light shielding is required. Sealed
within few millimeters of aluminum woulddo.
Kwon explains the system, Water acts as a buffer and surface
plasmons created in the device turnedout to be very useful in
increasing its efficiency. The ionic solution is not easily frozen
at very lowtemperatures and could work in a wide variety of
applications including car batteries and, if packagedproperly,
perhaps spacecraft.
The MU battery demonstrates that liquids can be an excellent
media for effective energy conversion fromradioisotopes. The water
based ionic fluid is also contributes to the shielding. The battery
is also a directconversion method producing electric power straight
from energetic particles rather than an indirectconversion methods
such as collecting electricity from the secondary energy forms of
heat or light.
How the battery works is the beta particles produce
electron-hole pairs in semiconductors via their lossof kinetic
energy and can contribute to the generation of electric power.
So far the solid beta decay battery design problem has been
serious radiation damage to the latticestructures of semiconductors
and subsequent performance degradation due to the high kinetic
energy ofthe beta particles pounding the solid construction to
pieces.
The MU battery stands out with the major benefit of utilizing a
liquid-phase materia l and the liquidswell-known ability to
efficiently absorb the kinetic energy of beta particles. The fluid
absorbs the energyand passes much of it to the semiconductor.
This is where the innovation or breakthrough comes in. Since the
advent of nuclear power, liquids havebeen intensively studied for
use as a radiation-shielding material. Large amounts of radiation
energy canbe absorbed by water. When radiation energy is absorbed
by an aqueous solution, free radicals can beproduced through
radiolytic interactions. The MU battery demonstrates a new method
for the generationof electricity using a device that separates the
radiolytic current from the free radicals by splitting
thewater.
plasmon-assisted radiolytic water splitter. Click image for more
info.
The water splitter is composed of a nanoporous semiconductor
coated with a thin platinum film toproduce a specially designed
metal-semiconductor junction. For the semiconductor they used a
verystable and common large band gap oxide material, titanium
dioxide (white paint pigment), because ofthe large band gap oxide
materials offer as a semiconducting catalyst that can improve the
radiolysisyield.
What happens is during the spitting high-energy beta radiation
the device can produce free radicals inwater through the loss of
kinetic energy. In a meta-stable state, the free radicals are
recombined intowater molecules or trapped in water molecules. Then
the free radicals produced by the radiation can beconverted into
electricity by a plasmon-assisted, wide band gap oxide
semiconducting material.
How good is this first lab theory test battery? Hold on to
something . . .
The maximum energy conversion efficiency of the MU battery was
approximately estimated to be
53.88%. This is an astonishing number for a first trial
design.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/radiolytichttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/radiolytichttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/radiolytichttp://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2014/09/18/nuclear-power-for-your-car/plasmon-assisted-radiolytic-water-splitter/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/radiolytic
