It’s a sandwich of C14 and diamond… doesn’t really matter… the power output is so low (100′s of microwatts) that the applications are limited… even if it could be scaled up, it would need to be 10000 times larger just to get a watt…. better to use the RTGs that put out 100s of watts… they have a half life of 88 years, instead of 1000, but that’s fine for any applications we are likely to have…

Again, beta decay batteries are not new, they just have very low power output and so are only useful in very limited applications.

“Diamond batteries offer a safe, sustainable way to provide continuous microwatt levels of power. 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.

I could be way out in left field here, but the way I interpreted it was there would be carbon-14 put directly into a diamond shell, encasing it. Not the carbon in the actual diamond but pure carbon-14 encased in a diamond.

I am completely misreading this?

If you are making a diamond out of that carbon 14, it would be huge- 500 carat….

Not sure what you mean by ‘encase’…? I assume the diamond simply has a high isotopic percentage of carbon-14- diamond is simply crystalline carbon, you could make a diamond that is rich in carbon 14….

Again, the example you cite has a power of 0.2 milliWatts, yest it lasts a long time, but 0.2 milliwatts simply isnt a lot, and as I said, scaling it up is not easy…

Its neat, it might power a sensor , or some other EXTREMELY low power device for a long time…. its just not useful for devices that need significant power…

I have no expertise in this I’m just looking at the numbers. And the article indicated this was a workable possible technology.

Here is what a 1 gram diamond looks like:https://www.diamondandgoldwarehouse.com/products/12160/5-carat-oval-lab-grown-diamond-engagement-ring-Dallas/

15 Joules per day is 15 Joules/86,400 seconds or 0.00017 Watts of power…

It might be fine for powering small low power sensors, but it is not much power, and its not terribly scalable…

I worked on developing a process using femtosecond lasers to weld diamond to metal- even polycrystalline (not a single large crystal) diamonds are limited to being quite small and are quite expensive… I was nervous using my IRAD funds to buy tiny diamond wafers 5mmx5mmx0.5mm … not cheap at all… there are probably other cheaper beta decay battery materials, but none provide much in the way of power…

A single nuclear-diamond battery containing 0.04 ounce (1 gram) of carbon-14 could deliver 15 joules of electricity per day. For comparison, a standard alkaline AA battery, which weighs about 0.7 ounces (20 grams), has an energy-storage rating of 700 joules per gram.

From google:

One gram of Carbon-14 would be microscopically small, roughly equivalent to a tiny grain of sand, as a single carbon atom is extremely small, measuring around 0.0914 nanometers in diameter; therefore, even a gram of it would be invisible to the naked eye due to its atomic size.

So even 100 grams of Carbon-14 would be extremely small and generate 1500 joules per day for 11,000 years. I would think that might be adequate to power the mini cell phone size subs we are talking about.

Certainly upscaling this tech could power future spacecraft as well. and diamonds can be made artifically now so that is not a show stopper.

Product Dimensions:
3.54 X 1.97 X 1.18 Inches

Item Weight:
3.17 Ounces

Item Description
Specifications: Condition: 100% new Weight: 90g / 3.2oz Color: Yellow Voltage: 5V, 12V, 80V (optional) Maximum outputVoltage: 80 V (1.2 mpa) Maximum output current: 220 mA (12 V) Line-to-line resistance: 10.5 ± 0.5 Ω Insulation resistance: 10 mΩ (DC100 tramegar) Maximum pressure at closed outlet: 0.6mpa Maximum open outlet pressure: 1.2mpa Starting water pressure: 0.05mpa Axial clearance: 0.2-1.0mm Mechanical noise: 55dB Generator life: 3000h Package list: 1 x Microgenerator

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