We all know the burden of running out of battery on our favorite devices. It seems no matter how long their charge lasts, it’s never enough. But what if a full charge lasted thousands of years? That’s the ambitious vision of a California-based company, Nano Diamond Battery (NDB), which aims to revolutionize energy storage with its Nano-Diamond batteries powered by nuclear waste.
Another pertinent question is cost. After all, we’re talking about a product that is made of both diamonds and nuclear materials. According to digitaltrends, the cost is already falling, from $2.4 million per kilogram all the way down to $40,000 in 2018 (according to Dr. Golsharifi).
NDB claims its batteries will last anywhere from a few decades to an astonishing 28,000 years. These batteries are designed to be nearly indestructible, making them ideal for a variety of applications, including electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and even medical devices. In addition to their impressive longevity, NDB promises that these batteries will be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than current lithium-ion options.
“Our team is bringing together leaders in the nanotechnology, nuclear science, and diamond fields with military, academic, and research backgrounds, and combining our unique mix of expertise has made it possible for us to crack the code in developing this groundbreaking, life-changing solution,” said in a press release Nima Golsharifi, CEO and co-founder of NDB.
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One of the most appealing aspects of NDB’s batteries is their potential to significantly reduce environmental impact. Since these batteries derive their energy from recycled nuclear waste, they offer a sustainable solution to both energy storage and waste management problems.
“As members of society, we are extremely concerned about the welfare of the planet and are focused on lowering climate change to protect our planet for future generations,” Golsharifi added. “With the NDB battery, we have achieved a massive, groundbreaking, proprietary technological breakthrough of a battery that is emission-free, lasts thousands of years, and only requires access to natural air to power devices.”
Technology Behind the Battery
The NDB battery utilizes layers of nano-diamonds to create a high-power diamond-based alpha, beta, and neutron voltaic battery. These miniature diamonds are cultivated using a chemical vapour deposition process, which is energy-intensive and costly. However, the resulting diamonds are excellent conductors of heat, making them ideal for electronic devices.
The battery generates electricity through the decay of radioactive isotopes sourced from nuclear waste. These isotopes, embedded within the diamond layers, produce heat, which is then converted into electrical energy by the diamond transducers. This innovative approach not only extends the battery’s life but also ensures it remains safe and stable.
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According to popular mechanics, The diamonds in NDB’s battery have a beautiful blue hue, thanks to the trace amounts of boron contained in their carbon structure. These blue diamonds are artificial but are reminiscent of true blue diamonds, which are some of the rarest gemstones on Earth. According to findings from an August 2018 study in Nature, they’re formed in Earth’s lower mantle, which is about 410 to 1,680 miles below the surface. As such, you can only find blue diamonds in three mines in the entire world, which helps explain their hefty price tag: roughly $15,700 for a 0.3-carat light blue diamond, and $75,000 for a 0.25-carat dark blue diamond.
Safety is a paramount concern when dealing with nuclear materials. NDB assures that their batteries are designed with multiple layers of synthetic diamond, which contain radiation and make the batteries completely safe for human use. The company emphasizes that the radiation levels emitted by these batteries are lower than those naturally occurring in the human body, making them suitable for everyday use in devices like smartphones and laptops.
In August of 2020, NDB had completed two proof-of-concept tests, achieving a 40% charge. The company is now developing a commercial prototype and has signed its first beta customers. NDB aims to have a working product by 2023. The potential applications of these batteries are vast. They could revolutionize the aerospace industry by providing a long-lasting power source for space missions.
They could eliminate the need for frequent recharging, addressing one of the major drawbacks of electric vehicles. Medical devices like pacemakers and hearing aids could also benefit from the extended lifespan of these batteries, ensuring uninterrupted operation for the lifetime of the device.
The idea of a battery that can last thousands of years and use nuclear waste as fuel sounds almost too good to be true. Critics argue that the scalability and cost-effectiveness of producing such batteries on a large scale are still unproven. Additionally, the energy output per battery cell is relatively low, requiring the combination of multiple cells to power larger devices, which could increase costs and complexity.
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Only time will tell if NDB’s ambitious technology will live up to its promises and become a market-ready solution. If successful, nano-diamond batteries could herald a new era in energy storage, offering a sustainable and virtually limitless power source. However, until these batteries are commercially available and their claims are independently verified, the public remains cautiously optimistic about this potential game-changer in the energy industry.
