• i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de
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    8 hours ago

    3V at 100 microwatts significantly limits its usefulness.

    They say they’re planning to make a 1W version, which I assume will be either be much larger or have a much shorter lifespan. How does it work? Does it have a way to stop the reaction or does the 1W battery generate 1W of heat when there’s no load attached?

      • i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de
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        5 hours ago

        Some microprocessors in deep sleep mode can consume less than 100 microwatts, so I guess it could be possible with this version, but you’d need to charge for a long time. The power consumption of an active ESP32 can reach 700,000 microwatts.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      5 hours ago

      I agree that’s low. claim of 3300mWh per gram, also has decay over 50 years. 100 microwatts over 24 hours is 2.4mWh. 600 microW solar for 4 hours is the same. 1 cm2 solar is 25mW, and so more daily power with just 6 minutes of sun per day.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      They use a more efficient process. Something about a diamond semiconductor that turns beta particles into electricity instead of relying on heat.

      • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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        7 hours ago

        You mean like Microwaves? Or Smoke detectors? Granite countertops etc. Or watches, and Energy Efficient CFLs?

        • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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          3 hours ago

          In smoke detectors and tritium watches the quantity of radioactive material is minuscule compared to the beta emitter in the battery, as in multiple orders of magnitude less. None of the things you mentioned have radioactive material in any significant quantity. If you swallowed or inhaled this battery you’d be exposed to significant amounts of radiation.

          A microwave is not an ionizing radiation source.

          • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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            6 hours ago

            Sure, but they are radiation sources and beyond microwaves, “nuclear” material exists in several consumer products, so that isn’t really a reason we haven’t had consumer nuclear batteries.

            • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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              3 hours ago

              “Drinking hot tea is safe so drinking boiling water, which is also hot, should also be safe”

              The quantity of radioactive material and what form of radiation it emits is extremely relevant to this discussion.

              We have seen nuclear batteries - it’s decades old technology at this point. They were used in pacemakers. They stopped in the 80s because it’s too expensive and dangerous. You have to track radiation sources like this.