A 28,000-year battery?

A battery which uses nuclear waste called a ‘nano-diamond battery’ could last for 28,000 years without charging, researchers say.

Last year, Californian start-up NDB developed what it says is a highly-efficient nano-diamond battery, researchers believing the technology will benefit EVs because of the battery’s longevity and efficiency.

The first commercial prototype battery could be available soon, according to a report published in AZoNano.

But doubts about the nano-battery’s use in EVs surfaced after New Atlas investigated the nuclear diamond battery claims late last year.

Some say the battery would need to be larger than the EV to do the job and that the carbon-14 used in the battery can’t produce energy fast enough to be useful in a device needing sustained high-power draws, New Atlas says.

It’s planning a follow-up interview with NDB after initially being told an EV battery like that in a Tesla could be replaced with a more powerful, cheaper one which might last 90 years without needing to recharge.  

How the nano-diamond battery works and what it could apply to are covered in both stories.

New Atlas interviewed the University of Bristol team leader professor Tom Scott about claims around the nano-diamond battery – the team first publicising the invention of that battery in 2016.

The publication also talked to Morgan Boardman, an industrial fellow and strategic advisory consultant with the Aspire Diamond Group at the South West Nuclear Hub of the University of Bristol.

He is also Arkenlight chief executive – a new company created to commercialise the Bristol team’s diamond battery technologies (including other radioisotope-driven power sources).

Boardman generally agrees “betabatteries” produce power too slowly to replace the cells in your iPhone or Tesla and that one could be built for those purposes but may have to be several times the size of the device it is powering.

He explains the University of Bristol took out patents covering all devices that embed radioisotopes in diamond structures, and that Arkenlight now holds those patents.

We will update you with any further developments around the nano-diamond battery – including whether such a battery would be allowed in New Zealand under the country’s nuclear-free legislation.