This battery can last more than 5,000 years without recharging

Far from silicon-carbon, a group of scientists from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the University of Bristol has developed a device capable of generating energy continuously for millennia.

This is a diamond battery based on carbon-14, a radioactive isotope widely known for its use in dating organic remains.

This technology, defined as betavoltaic, converts the energy arising from radioactive decay directly into electric current, offering a very long-term solution for powering low-consumption devices.

Carbon-14 battery, from nuclear waste to clean energy

The manufacturing process for these batteries intelligently tackles a complex environmental and economic challenge associated with managing nuclear waste.

The United Kingdom hosts almost 95,000 tonnes of graphite blocks originally used to moderate reactions inside power plants. Researchers have developed a method to heat such blocks, extracting the carbon-14 that concentrates on their surface in the form of gas.

This procedure allows to substantially reduce the radioactivity of the residual material, reducing long-term storage costs and difficulties. The extracted gas is subsequently processed to be transformed into an artificial diamond.

The mechanism of operation and safety

Unlike traditional power generation systems, which require interaction between magnets and coils, the diamond battery produces electricity in the absence of moving parts and requires no maintenance.

Carbon-14 emits beta particles during its natural decay process. When these particles pass through the semiconductor material, they release electrons and initiate a continuous electric current.

Because the artificial diamond is composed entirely of radioactive material, it is encapsulated within an additional layer of neutral synthetic diamond. This outer structure acts as an impenetrable shield.

Researcher Neil Fox highlighted how the short-range radiation emitted by carbon-14 is completely blocked by any solid barrier.

Being the diamond the hardest known material, safety is total: the device emits outward a level of radiation lower than that of a common banana. The protective shell also has the effect of increasing the efficiency of electrical generation up to nearly 100%.

Practical applications and prospects

The service life of this technology is determined by the half-life of carbon-14, set at 5,730 years. Accordingly, the battery will take almost six millennia for its delivery capacity to drop to 50%.

Although the stated power is modest compared to conventional technologies, delivering about 15 Joules per day per gram of carbon-14 compared with the rapid discharge of a typical AA battery, the advantages in specific contexts are extraordinary.

Equipment operating in inaccessible environments or where a charging procedure is impractical or too invasive could derive immense benefit from this invention.

Internal medical devices such as the pacemakers, satellites, high-altitude drones and spacecraft represent excellent candidates to harness energy capable of lasting as long as the history of our civilization.