China's first ultra long life carbon-14 nuclear battery has been successfully developed
Recently, the first domestic carbon-14 nuclear battery "Zhulong-1" jointly developed by Northwest Normal University and Wuxi Beta Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. was officially released. This is the world's first micro power nuclear battery based on silicon carbide semiconductor materials developed by China, marking a significant breakthrough in the fields of nuclear energy technology and micro nuclear batteries.
The prototype of the "Zhulong-1" carbon-14 nuclear battery has completely independent intellectual property rights, from the research and development of core materials to the manufacturing of energy conversion devices. The research team has successfully overcome key technological bottlenecks such as low energy conversion rate and poor stability, and has mastered multiple breakthrough technologies. Due to the half-life of carbon-14 isotope reaching 5730 years, this battery not only has an extremely long lifespan of thousands of years, but also can withstand extreme temperatures ranging from minus 100 ℃ to over 200 ℃, with an energy density of "2200mWh/g" (2200 milliwatt hours per gram), and a performance degradation rate of less than 5% within 50 years.
As of now, the LED lights connected to carbon-14 nuclear batteries have been working continuously for nearly 4 months, with a total of 35000 pulse discharges and energy conversion efficiency exceeding 8%, reaching the leading level of similar international products. This achievement has a wide range of application scenarios and is expected to provide sustainable energy supply in extreme environments such as medical devices, polar exploration, deep-sea equipment, and aerospace. The launch of "Zhulong No.1" will empower China's new energy industry chain to achieve leapfrog iterative upgrading and promote the industry to reach new heights.