Nuclear batteries can be classified by energy conversion technology into two main groups: thermal converters and non-thermal converters. The scientific principles are well known, but modern nano-scale technology and new wide-bandgap semiconductors have created new devices and interesting material properties not previously available. Since RCA's initial research and development in the early 1950s, many types and methods have been designed to extract electrical energy from nuclear sources. In 1954 RCA researched a small atomic battery for small radio receivers and hearing aids. The field received considerable in-depth research attention for applications requiring long-life power sources for space needs during the 1950s and 1960s. Nuclear battery technology began in 1913, when Henry Moseley first demonstrated a current generated by charged particle radiation. They are very costly, but have an extremely long life and high energy density, and so they are typically used as power sources for equipment that must operate unattended for long periods of time, such as spacecraft, pacemakers, underwater systems and automated scientific stations in remote parts of the world. Although commonly called batteries, they are technically not electrochemical and cannot be charged or recharged. Like nuclear reactors, they generate electricity from nuclear energy, but differ in that they do not use a chain reaction. For the generation of radioactive isotopes, see radionuclide generator.Īn atomic battery, nuclear battery, radioisotope battery or radioisotope generator is a device which uses energy from the decay of a radioactive isotope to generate electricity.
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