The batteries that could power devices for decades were born from radioactive waste without ever recharged. Safe, long -lived and recyclable: will they really revolution our way of living, moving and communicating?
It could be said that connectivity, mobility and low environmental impact will shape our technological future. These objectives will be achievable if we are able to produce increasingly efficient, long -lasting and recyclable batteries. Already today these devices represent the cornerstone of modern technique, more than oil, labor and artificial intelligence itself. In fact, from cell phones to computers, from electric cars to bicycles, from drones to experimental planes, there is no means of communication or transport that does not entirely depend on the batteries.
Of the many possible types, it is above all on those with lithium ions that we are relyingeven if their use brings countless problems with them. There is first of all that lasting, since they degrade over time and lose capacity after 500-1,500 charge cycles. Another problem concerns the availability of resources and in particular the fact that the concentration of lithium, cobalt resources and other metals in a few countries creates economic instability and vulnerability in the supply chain. And finally, there is a pollution problem because both the extraction and the improper disposal of the batteries can lead to the contamination of soil, water and air from heavy metals and toxic electrolytes.
In a similar context, the news that some prototypes of batteries have been made that use the fuel of the nuclear power plants have been made. A series of research articles was presented at the recent American Chemical Society meeting. One of these was published on Optical Materials: X and concerns a battery powered by the Cesio-137 radioactive isobactive and cobalt-60s. Another describes a prototype that uses a radioactive form of carbon-14, generally used for the dating of organic samples. In both cases the radiation are shielded by special materials, for example by aluminum sheets, so as to make them safe for users. And, which is equally important, these batteries would last a very long time, assimilable to the average life of the isotopes they contain. Andrea Marchionni, researcher of the Institute of Chemistry of the organ-metallic compounds of the CNR (ICCOM-CNR) who has been working for about ten years in the recycling sector of batteries in Italy, explains: “The functioning of nuclear batteries is based on the fact that radioactive isotopes, such as Cesio-137 or cobalt-60, decaying high energy or gamma rays. Radio activity is absorbed by an appropriate material, triggering mechanisms that lead to the production of further low energy electrons collected by a semiconductor. In this way, a potential difference is created ».
The idea has already been successfully used in the space industry: The journey of probes such as Voyager and New Horizons in the Solar System is also due to Radioisotopi generators. «They are batteries that do not need to be recharged because the energy source comes from the decay of radioactive elements. The problem is that they were conceived for situations where there were no health risks »continues Marchionni. «What the researchers are trying to do now is to make them safe for their use on earth.
However, the prototypes developed so far have lower performance to those of today’s batteries, which make their applicability still limited to niche contexts ». In fact, the amount of energy per unit of volume of nuclear batteries is for now low. Just to give an example, when Cesio-137 was used, the battery was four cubic centimeters large and produced 1.5 microwts of power. As if to say that it was a battery capable of keeping a sensor on for at least thirty years (the halving time of Cesio-137). “Energy density can be improved with an appropriate choice of materials, but study and development is still needed. However, the possible applications are already numerous and interesting now, such as obtaining pacemakers who last for the whole life of the patient without the need to intervene surgically to replace the batteries. We must not even underestimate the fact that these devices recycle material, that is, the radioactive waste of the power plants, which should be disposed of ».
It is early to say what decisions will be made on a political level in the case of nuclear batteries. But for those with lithium ions, the road is obliged since they can be recycled by taking the materials inside them: “Europe is financed many research projects to carry out a lithium battery supply chain on its soil, from their production to disposal. We are now dependent on China, which has its own production chains from which materials from cobalt mines in Congo or lithium in Canada, Australia and Bolivia refine. If we manage to produce and recycle in Europe, they will remain here by decreasing our request for new materials »concludes Marchionni. However, a possible development of nuclear batteries with performance comparable to current lithium batteries could radically change all geopolitics games.
