Efficient Nuclear Battery

The battery can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While the scientists found a way to make them smaller but more powerful, problems can arise when the battery is much bigger and heavier than the device itself. University of Missouri researchers are developing a nuclear energy source are smaller, lighter and more efficient.

“To provide enough power, we need specific methods with high energy density,” said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope batteries can provide power densities of six-fold higher than the chemical battery.”

Kwon and research teams have been working to build a small nuclear battery, the current size and thickness of a penny, is intended to power a variety of micro / nanoelectromechanical systems (M / NEMS). Although nuclear batteries may cause concern, Kwon said they were safe.

“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said. “However, the sources of safe nuclear power is turned on various devices, such as speed-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”

His innovation not only in the size of the battery, but also in semiconductors. Kwon’s battery using a liquid rather than solid semiconductor semiconductors.

“The critical use of radioactive batteries is that when you harvest the energy, part of the energy of radiation can damage the semiconductor lattice structure of solids,” Kwon said. “By using a liquid semiconductors, we believe we can reduce the problem.”

Kwon has collaborated with J. David Robertson, professor of chemistry and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, and worked to build and test the battery at the facility. In the future, they hope to increase the battery power, reducing the size and tried with various other materials. Kwon said that the battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair. They also apply for a patent while.

Kwon studies have been published in the Journal of Applied Physics Letters and Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. In addition, last June, he received an “excellent paper” award for his research on nuclear batteries in IEEE International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems in Denver (Transducers 2009).