Talk:Betavoltaic device

I would love for someone knowledgeable to incorporate into this article any useful info from this page critical of recent betavoltaic claims: http://www.phact.org/e/z/betavoltaic.htm

The first half of the "Drawbacks" section can be rephrased as "Betavoltaic batteries will discharge over time." To which one is tempted to ask "You mean, as opposed to every other battery type out there?". Someone is reaching. 70.113.95.84 (talk) 01:00, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

A laptop computer for example requires a minimum of say 25W to operate. It cannot operate on say 20W; so a betavoltaic would start out producing 40W (say) but after a half-life of 12 years for tritium it would only produce 20W. The battery would have to be supplemented by a small Li-ion battery and only operate 19 hours a day. Granted this is not the end of the world (boo-hoo, a battery that only lasts 12 years), so maybe this should be taken out. The real reason why this kinds of battery probably won't be used is because people will precieve them as "nuclear" and therefore "dangerous". Can an expert in the subject enlighten us? Would this battery be any more dangerous than say the mercury in monitors and light bulbs, or the lead in old batterys?98.207.171.2 (talk) 13:19, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

It is difficult to compare radiological hazards (e.g. beta emitters) with chemical (e.g. mercury or lead).

The dangers of beta-voltaics can be minimal. Beta particles are easily shielded, and a betavoltaic can operate without increasing the user's external radiation dose rates. Tritium is especially a very weak beta emitter, and it will not increase the user's external radiation dose. Certain beta emitters do not produce radioactive daughters (e.g. tritium decays to He-3), and thus are generally used for betavoltaics. If the radioactive material is suspended or incorporated into a solid material, radioactive contamination is minimized. Even with all that, there is still the danger of internal radiation dose (a person inhales dust from a crushed betavoltaic, a person ingests it, etc.). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.167.53.3 (talk) 19:30, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Very very low power
I have the feeling that one gram of tritium generates less than a watt of raw power. If I multiply the mean electron energy by the number of Becquerels or if I use E=mc² with the mass loss from tritium to helium-3, I get approximately the same figure. The MIT blog (near the end) explains that the experimental device generated some nanoWatts. I can also imagine that one gram of tritium is very very very expensive and that you'll never find enough tritium to power many consumer devices. -- Xofc (talk) 19:32, 22 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Output is indeed low and I wouldn't expect to power a wireless mouse this way but the widespread use of Tritium radioluminescence suggests there may be uses for small amounts of electric power. Jim.henderson (talk) 23:25, 22 July 2017 (UTC)

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Efficiency
What would be the typical efficiency? And are there issues with combining that mode of power conversion with thermal processes? Like having betavoltaics convert the betas to power and a separate system (e.g. Steam generator) convert the waste heat from gammas hitting the shielding or so... Hobbitschuster (talk) 21:44, 27 February 2022 (UTC)