Radionuclides for Betavoltaic Nuclear Batteries: Micro Scale, Energy-Intensive Batteries with Long-Term Service Life

Product miniaturization of micro-engineering technology with energy consumption at the level of milli- and microwatts requires a corresponding reduction in the characteristic dimensions of personal energy sources and an increase in the duration of their operation, otherwise it will not be possible to ensure the proper autonomy and service life of the promising developments. The most actual problem manifests itself in the field of information technology, medicine, and space activities. According to this need, there is a constant improvement of traditional (chemical, piezoelectric, etc.) sources within significant objective limitations. Significant new prospects are associated with the use of the energy released during radioactive decay as an energy source. The power density reserve (per unit mass) of radionuclides exceeds that of the best chemical sources by hundreds of thousands of times. The known radionuclides, which meet the relevant requirements and can be used to solve the problem of development and mass production of long-term radiation-safe betavoltaic atomic batteries are considered in the study.