Silicon stride
scientists have developed a semiconductor device that may lead to improved, long-life batteries. Employing some of the same techniques that are used to produce microchips, they have created a porous-silicon diode that converts low levels of radiation into electricity and can last several decades.
A team of researchers from the University of Rochester, usa, the University of Toronto, Canada, the Rochester Institute of Technology and BetaBatt, Inc. of Houston, usa, describe their new diode in the May 13 issue of Advanced Materials (Vol 17, No 10).
While producing as little as one-thousandth of the power of conventional chemical batteries, the new batteries, to be called BetaBattery, will be more efficient and potentially less expensive than others with similar design. If the new diode proves successful when incorporated into a finished battery, it could help power such hard-to-service, long-life systems as climate monitoring equipment and satellites. Such batteries will be robust