Time is like water in the toilet, and it will always pass by as the button is pressed.

...

"Now scientists from all over the world regard α-volt batteries as the way to nuclear batteries, but they don't know that their path has long gone astray..."

Close the library's online query page, Jiang Li sighed helplessly.

After reading the information in the morning, Jiang Li also had a clearer understanding of current nuclear battery research.

It took only one morning for Jiang Li to read the research results of the physics industry for more than ten years. If anyone else saw this scene, he would definitely be shocked to open his mouth.

Such a shocking behavior of others is just a basic operation for Jiang Li.

Every time the brain power is developed, it will improve thinking, memory, reaction and acuity.

With the strong support of 5% brain power, Jiang Li has long possessed the potential of a top researcher.

He originally thought that even if the research on nuclear batteries is progressing slowly, it should be at least very different, but he didn't expect that he was still too optimistic.

The dilemma of nuclear battery research is even more serious than he imagined.

Even the most basic raw material selection has entered a dead end!

Nuclear battery.

Also called a radioisotope temperature difference generator.

Or atomic battery.

Unlike the principle of nuclear power plants generating power through fission or fusion, nuclear batteries utilize the decay characteristics of radioactive elements themselves.

The former converts nuclear energy into internal energy, then converts internal energy into mechanical energy, and finally converts it into electrical energy. The process is very complicated and a large amount of energy is lost in the intermediate link.

The latter uses a specially made transducer to directly convert internal energy into electrical energy.

There are two kinds of decay principles of nuclear battery raw materials.

α decay and β decay.

Both use the natural decay of elements to release huge heat and rays outwards, and then absorb them with a special energy converter to convert the heat generated into electrical energy.

The difference is.

α decay is a new nucleus that releases an α particle and converts it into a new nucleus with a mass reduction of 4 and a nuclear charge reduction of 2. Because α particles are the same as a helium nucleus, α decay is essentially a microscopic application of quantum mechanic tunneling effect.

During the decay process, the kinetic energy of α particles is about 5     mev, the speed is 15,000km/s, and the speed is relatively slow, only one-twentieth of the speed of light, and its mass is relatively large, so they can easily interact with other atoms and lose energy.

Even a layer of air that is several centimeters thick can be completely absorbed.

In addition to being slow and difficult to utilize, α decay also has a more difficult disadvantage.

That is, the kinetic energy of the α particle is far lower than the 20 megaelectron volts of the Coulomb barrier!

According to classical mechanics, due to the barrier of the Coulomb barrier, the α particles cannot run outside the nucleus, so it doesn’t matter whether they are discharged or not.

It was not until the 1920s that quantum mechanics was born that the essence of α decay was explained from the perspective of quantum tunneling effect.

Scientists have discovered that when a few radioactive elements such as ‘plutonium’ are decayed, the alpha particles have a certain chance of penetrating barriers and running out of the nucleus...

As a result, the current space nuclear battery was born!

The most typical example is the plutonium 238 nuclear battery used on rovers and spacecraft. According to scientists' calculations, its half-life can reach 87 years.

Unfortunately, it has very little power.

Because the energy density of plutonium 238 is very low, a world-class RTG energy center has a self-weight of 45 kilograms, but it can only generate about 110w of power, which is similar to the power of a mobile phone charger.

You should know that the power of mainstream electric vehicles has reached 70kw to 250kw.

The difference between the two is more than a thousand times!

At the same time, plutonium will not only release α particles when decays, but also neutrons and gamma rays!

The gamma ray is the one that shines on the Hulk in Marvel movies!

In addition, the cost of plutonium 238 is also ridiculously high. 1g of plutonium 238 costs tens of millions of dollars!

With the ultra-low energy utilization rate of plutonium 238, if it really comes in handy, its quality must be calculated based on kilograms...

That's billions of dollars!

Except for Xia Kingdom and Beautiful Kingdom, few countries in the world can afford such consumption!

And this is the real reason why Jiang Li said that the research on nuclear batteries has gone astray today.

In his opinion.

Compared with thankless alpha decay, beta decay is the ideal way out for nuclear batteries!

As the name suggests, β decay is the decay of a nucleus that releases a β particle.

Its essence is the process of converting a lower quark into an upper quark by releasing a w-boson, and the w-boson then decays into an electron and an anti-electron neutrino.

Compared with the α decay of gambling probability, β decay is easier to control, and the energy conversion rate is also higher.

The principle is to use a high-energy electron beam to enter the capture layer through the window channel, turning the particles inside the semiconductor material into an excited state, thereby forming an electron-hole pair, and finally forming a macroscopic voltage to discharge.

This mechanism is similar to the photovoltaic effect, so it is also called a β-volt battery.

The most important thing is that it is cheap!

Uranium 235: The main raw material for nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, the black market single gram is priced at 10,000 US dollars!

Plutonium 238: The main raw material for the decay of nuclear batteries, the price per gram is tens of millions of US dollars, and it is strictly controlled. You can't buy it even if you pay for it!

Compared with them, the raw materials for β decay are much more "people-friendly".

Common c14, nickel 63, etc. are the most widely used low-energy β radioactive sources in the world. Although the price is not cheap, it is still within an acceptable range.

Among them, the decay period of c14 is 5,000 years, and nickel 63 also has 100 years, both exceeding the 87 years of α decay plutonium 238.

Unfortunately, because of its natural properties, the power generation efficiency of c14 is really minimal, and the nickel 63 is not optimistic. The power of the nuclear battery made of it is only about 1 watt.

Yes, you heard it right.

At the current scientific research level, the power of β-decay nuclear batteries is less than one percent of that of α-decay!

This is also the fundamental reason why scientists give up β decay and fight against α decay!

We also know that β decay is good, but I really can't do it!

Compared to the illusory β decay, it seems that α decay is a little more realistic.

“Hey…”

Jiang Li couldn't help but sigh.

It seems that he still has a long way to go if he wants to sound the horn of the fourth energy revolution.

If you want to truly change the world, it is far from enough to rely on α decay alone.

Beta decay is the future!

"Then use beta decay as the direction!"

After setting the goal, Jiang Li immediately started to take action.

The first thing to do is to change the energy conversion method of β decay, re-formulate a new framework, and completely solve the problem of low power generation efficiency of β decay!

Jiang Li is very clear about the bottlenecks in nuclear battery research.

One is that the energy conversion efficiency is low, and the other is that the radiation is very harmful.

Compared with these two centuries of difficult problems, the mathematical model he designed before can only be regarded as an appetizer.

As for the choice of raw materials, it needs to be carefully considered.

There are 118 elements in the periodic table, of which 1-94 is a natural element and 95-118 is an artificial element.

Among them, only from No. 84 to No. 94 has strong radioactivity. Except for the cheaper plating and uranium, the others are either not available or a single gram of tens of thousands of yuan.

As for No. 95 to No. 118, these things are artificial elements and are super expensive. For example, No. 98's carbide costs more than 100 million yuan per gram, which is more expensive than plutonium.

Even most countries can't afford such an exaggerated price, let alone push it to all mankind.

If it cannot be popularized, it means it can only exist in the cutting-edge fields of a few countries, which runs contrary to the original intention of Jiangli's plan to promote the fourth energy revolution.

Fortunately, the half-life of these artificial elements is very short, some of which are even less than 1 second, and do not have the ability to continuously discharge, so they are not within the scope of consideration.

From a scientific point of view, suitable decay materials need to meet at least the following characteristics:

Long decay cycles require a certain power density, small radiation, easy processing, low cost, etc.

And plutonium and uranium are too expensive.

Although c14 has an ultra-long decay cycle of 5,000 years, its energy density is terrible. It can be said to be a toothpick water shaving tank when used as a battery.

Finally, Jiang Li focused on Nickel 63.

No one has considered it before.

It is because the energy density of nickel 63 is too small.

200 pieces can only be added together to achieve a 1μw output power, and the energy density can only be 10mwh/kg.
To be continued...