Beta voltaics
Betavoltaics is the principle of generating electricity by irradiating a semiconductor with fast electrons .
Mode of action
The high-energy electrons ( beta radiation ) released during radioactive decay generate numerous secondary charge carriers through collision processes in the Pn junction of a semiconductor, which, as in photovoltaics , are separated from an external voltage by the field of the space charge zone , so that electrical power can be drawn.
Research and trials began in the 1960s. The low level of efficiency was seen as a problem with this technology . Neither the search for new materials with a larger band gap and less radiation damage, nor the enlargement of the semiconductor surface through surface structuring (porous silicon) has produced satisfactory results.
The first commercial application of beta voltaics was the promethium battery ("Betacel"), which was used, among other things, as an energy source for operating a pacemaker unit .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ B. Lanning, D. Martin: Survey of Current and Next Generation Space Power Technologies , AFRL-Report AFRL-VS-PS-TP-2006-1041, 2006, quote: In a habitat power study by NASA (50 kW), Both alpha and beta voltaic (tritium in amorphous silicon and tritium-phosphorus in Si converter) were effectively eliminated from the study as a result of poor mass scaling above the mW level.
- ^ "Nuclear Battery", [1] , Larry C. Olsen, Stephen E. Seeman, Bobby I. Griffin and Charles J. Ambrose
- ↑ https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-66187-7_25