They are an emerging technology that use a manufactured diamond to safely encase small amounts of carbon-14,” said Sarah Clark, Director of Tritium Fuel Cycle at UKAEA. The carbon-14 diamond battery works by using the radioactive decay of carbon-14, which has a half-life of 5,700 years, to generate low levels of power.
Scientists and engineers have created a battery that has the potential to power devices for thousands of years. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in Culham, Oxfordshire, collaborated with the University of Bristol to make the world’s first carbon-14 diamond battery.
How does it work? The battery uses carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, which has a half-life of 5,700 years meaning the battery will still retain half of its power even after thousands of years. The prototype batteries are 10mm x 10mm with a thickness of up to 0.5mm.
The concept behind the device is similar to that of solar cells, but it uses the electrons released by the carbon-14 isotope instead of photons to make electricity. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,700 years, so a carbon-14 diamond battery could last just as long, if not longer.
It could also be used to power spacecraft like Voyager 1, which we launched in 1977 and is still sending data back to Earth in 2024. However, its power is expected to last only until 2036. However, if equipped with a carbon-14 diamond battery, the spaceship could communicate its findings back home for thousands of years.
The radioactive decay of carbon-14, more popularly known for its use in radiocarbon dating, releases electrons, which are then captured by the diamond’s structure to produce voltage. The concept behind the device is similar to that of solar cells, but it uses the electrons released by the carbon-14 isotope instead of photons to make electricity.