Betavoltaic Cells and Nuclear Batteries for Long-Term Micro-Power
This research community develops semiconductor devices that convert beta radiation from radioactive isotopes into electrical energy, creating batteries designed for long-term, low-power applications.
The work centers on the design and optimization of betavoltaic cells and nuclear batteries. Recurring materials include diamond, silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and silicon, often structured as Schottky junctions or heterojunctions. Isotopes such as tritium, nickel-63, and strontium-90 serve as the radiation sources. The research focuses on improving conversion efficiency, open-circuit voltage, and structural stability through simulation, modeling, and experimental validation of these radiation-voltaic energy converters.
The community is most prominent in promethium research, where it accounts for 4.0% of all tracked papers, and in gallium research, representing 0.1% of that element's literature. It also appears in arsenic and nitrogen research, each at 0.1% of their respective fields.
There are 505 papers in this community, published primarily in Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Applied Physics Letters, and AIP Advances.
Recent work continues to explore diamond-based nuclear batteries, silicon carbide Schottky diodes, and perovskite-based betavoltaic cells, with a focus on enhancing output performance and structural optimization for long-term micro-power applications.
Papers behind this description
- Micronuclear battery based on a coalescent energy transducer — Nature, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07933-9
- Betavoltaic Nuclear Battery: A Review of Recent Progress and Challenges as an Alternative Energy Source — The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2023 — doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c00684
- Beta-voltaic nuclear batteries – review of recent developments, challenges and future research directions — Journal of Energy Storage, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.est.2025.116701
- High-efficiency 90Sr radio-photovoltaic cells based on waveguide light concentration structure — Light Science & Applications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01875-1
- Recent progress in diamond radiation detectors — Functional Diamond, 2021 — doi:10.1080/26941112.2021.2017758
- High open-circuit voltage nuclear batteries enabled by integrated stacked p-diamond/n-Ga2O3 heterojunction — Journal of Energy Storage, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.est.2025.118454
- Heterojunction betavoltaic Si14C-Si energy converter — Journal of Power Sources, 2024 — doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2024.234896
- Recent progress and perspective on batteries made from nuclear waste — Nuclear Science and Techniques, 2023 — doi:10.1007/s41365-023-01189-0
- Review—Betavoltaic Cell: The Past, Present, and Future — ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 2021 — doi:10.1149/2162-8777/abe423
- Novel perovskite-based betavoltaic cell: dual additive strategy for enhanced FAPbI 3 α-phase stability and performance — Chemical Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1039/d4cc05935b
- Multiple-year battery based on highly efficient and stable dual-site radioactive isotope dye-sensitized betavoltaic cell — Journal of Power Sources, 2024 — doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2024.234427
- Enabling ULV Fully Synthesizable Analog Circuits: The BA Cell, a Standard-Cell-Based Building Block for Analog Design — IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, 2022 — doi:10.1109/tcsii.2022.3199250
- High-open-circuit voltage diamond alpha-voltaic battery with interface reconstructed by amorphous gallium oxide — Carbon, 2026 — doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2026.121251
- Research Progress on Radiation Volt‐Effect Isotope Cells — Carbon Neutralization, 2025 — doi:10.1002/cnl2.70039
- A review for nuclear batteries based on diamond — Functional Diamond, 2025 — doi:10.1080/26941112.2025.2601399
- Comparative Monte Carlo study of transparent protective layers for beta radiation attenuation in betavoltaic applications — Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2025.112358
- Epitaxial layer to boost betavoltaic performance in SiC Schottky diodes — Applied Physics Letters, 2026 — doi:10.1063/5.0322188
- Experimental and simulation study of ZnO nanowire/Si heterojunctions as radioisotope batteries for long-term micro-power applications — Results in Physics, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.rinp.2025.108569