Gallium Nitride Schottky betavoltaic nuclear batteries

Radioluminescent nuclear batteries with different phosphor layers

“…A nuclear microbattery, which is used to transform the decay energy of radioisotopes into electrical energy, is a potential candidate as an energy supply for MEMS [1]. Among the numerous competing types of nuclear microbatteries, betavoltaic microbatteries have been extensively examined [2][3][4][5][6][7]. The development of miniature satellites resulted in higher density requirements for the power supply, motivating the exploration of high-energy radioactive isotopes, such as 147 Pm and 241 Am.…”

Review of using gallium nitride for ionizing radiation detection

“…23 The performance of GaN-based beta-voltaic devices is still far from its theoretical calculated values, and further improvement largely relies on the availability of high quality, thick GaN. High purity GaN would result in a wide active region with low recombination and trapping effects, 25,29 increasing the energy conversion efficiency. In addition, the structure of the device should be optimized by using a thin electrode layer to minimize the dead layer and backscattering for electrons, 28 and a thin passivation layer to decrease the leakage current.…”

“…[25][26][27] In one of their p-i-n devices, using a 63 Ni source with activity of 2 mCi, an open-circuit voltage of 1.62 V, short-circuit current density of 16 nA/cm 2 , filling factor of 55%, and energy conversion efficiency of 1.13% were obtained. 26 Another group lead by Lu studied both Schottky and p-i-n structures, 23,28,29 reporting a p-i-n device with an open circuit voltage of 1.07 V, short circuit current of 0.554 nA, and a filling factor of 24.7% using a 147 Pm source. 23 The performance of GaN-based beta-voltaic devices is still far from its theoretical calculated values, and further improvement largely relies on the availability of high quality, thick GaN.…”

“…For X-ray detectors, Schottky Metal-Semiconductor-Metal (MSM), 15 Schottky diode, 16,17 and p-i-n structures 22 have all been reported. For electron detection, the applications for making betavoltaic energy converters, 23,24 using pn, 25 p-i-n, 23,[26][27][28] and Schottky type 29 structures have now been tested. Thermal neutron detection using a 6 Li converter in a sandwich structure has been recently reported.…”

A betavoltaic microcell based on Au/s-SWCNTs/Ti Schottky junction

“…Consequently, longevity plus low toxicity, easy preparation and adequate but moderate energy density decides that 63 Ni will become a prominent candidate of radioisotope chosen to power BV cells. Since the first Si BV battery was reported by Rappaport in 1954 [5], a series of semiconductive materials have been utilized to make betavoltaic cells, such as GaAs, SiC, porous silicon, and GaN [6][7][8][9]. However, most of these microcells are limited to the low current density and energy conversion efficiency.…”