Nation's first C-14 nuclear battery developed in Gansu
Ammon News - Chinese researchers have developed the country's first carbon-14 nuclear battery, marking a milestone in the research and development of micro-nuclear battery technologies.
According to a news release from Northwest Normal University in Gansu province's capital of Lanzhou, researchers from the university and Wuxi Beita Pharmatech, a private nuclear medicine company in Jiangsu province, have jointly made the world's first model of silicon-carbide semiconductor-based C-14 nuclear battery.
Named "Zhulong" after a mythical creature symbolizing light in Chinese classic Shan Hai Jing, this nuclear battery uses energy from the decay of high-specific-activity C-14, a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 5,730 years, to generate electricity.
The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the amount of time it takes for one-half of the radioactive isotope to decay.
As C-14 decays, it emits beta particles that interact with the siliconcarbide semiconductor, producing a steady flow of electrons. The device is expected to have a century-long operational lifespan, which means it can provide long-lasting power supply to polar and deep-sea exploration as well as aircraft and spacecraft.
It features full intellectual property covering core materials and energy conversion components and boasts zero emission, according to the university.
The battery demonstrates a short-circuit current of 282 nanoamps, open-circuit voltage of 2.1 volts and maximum output power of 433 nanowatts, achieving an eight-percent energy conversion efficiency.
When integrated with energy storage modules, it successfully powered a Bluetooth radio-frequency chip for signal transmission and reception. An LED light using Zhulong 1 as source of power has operated continuously for nearly four months, completing over 35,000 pulse flashes, the release said.
Taking advantage of the 5,730-year half-life of C-14, the battery offers theoretical service life spanning millennia and can withstand extreme temperatures from — 100 C to 200 C. It also boasts an energy density 10 times higher than commercial lithium-ion batteries. Ecns.cn
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ammon
6 days ago
- Ammon
New rare wild orchid seen in UK for first time in 100 years
Ammon News - A new lady's-slipper orchid, once believed to be extinct in the UK, has been spotted in the wild for the first time in 100 years following a decades-long conservation drive, experts said Tuesday. Over-picking by Victorian collectors, gripped by the orchid craze of the time, was thought to have made the yellow cup-shaped and purple-petalled plant extinct by the early 1900s. But a single plant was discovered in a remote location in the Yorkshire Dales in northern England in 1930. Its location was kept secret and volunteers have since provided round-the-clock monitoring to prevent it from being stolen. Last summer, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust supported by various conservation groups discovered the first new lady's-slipper orchid to appear in the wild since then, it said Tuesday. It is the culmination of a decades-long bid to bring back the flower, and has sparked hopes that it could one day be restored across its former range in northern England. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust secured a grant from Natural England's species recovery programme two years ago to protect the habitat, rearing many new orchids and reintroducing plants into suitable terrains. The new plant was spotted at one of the reintroduction sites, meaning planted-out orchids had produced seeds that had germinated into new plants. Jono Leadley, managing the project on behalf of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, called it a "truly thrilling moment". "To see a healthy population of lady's-slipper orchids back in their native area that are now reproducing themselves gives us real hope for the future," he said. The orchids were propagated by London's Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, after a call for help was issued in the 1990s. That led to a small number of privately-owned, wild-sourced orchids being offered as part of a breeding programme. "Trying to save the lady's slipper orchid in England has been one of RBG Kew's flagship conservation projects for many years," said RBG Kew's senior research leader Mike Fay.
Ammon
02-06-2025
- Ammon
Astronauts in space for 9 months didn't know if they would 'be able to make it back'
Ammon News - When astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore approached the International Space Station (ISS) last year with failing thrusters on their Boeing Starliner capsule, they were unable to fly forward to dock. And if they couldn't dock, they didn't know if they could make it back home again. "Docking was imperative," Mr Wilmore told BBC News, two months after he and Ms Williams finally made a successful return to Earth. "If we weren't able to dock, would we be able to make it back? We didn't know." The astronauts had been travelling on a test flight that was meant to last eight days. Instead, they ended up staying in space for nearly 10 months. The first challenge was to dock safely and successfully at the ISS, which they managed to do within several minutes after Mission Control on the ground helped them restart the craft's thrusters. Mr Wilmore said that the possibility they might never see Earth again "definitely went through our minds". But both astronauts said they didn't communicate the worst-case scenarios out loud in those moments, because they were trained to move on with solving problems. The pair's saga began in June 2024. They were taking part in the first crewed test flight of the Starliner spacecraft, which was developed by aerospace company Boeing. But after a number of technical problems during their flight, the option of Starliner carrying the astronauts home as planned was deemed to be a risk not worth taking - given that the pair could instead be brought back by another company, SpaceX. For that reason, they stayed in space until they hitched a ride back on a SpaceX capsule. For its part, Boeing maintained that its own capsule was safe to use - and was proven right when the craft returned, uncrewed, in September 2024. After months of experiments aboard the space station, Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore eventually returned to Earth on 18 March. During this phase of their mission, the pair were repeatedly described as stranded, implying there was no means for them to get off the ISS. But that was not the case, as the space station always has spacecraft attached to it - which could have acted in an emergency as a lifeboat to carry the astronauts back to Earth. Nonetheless, the pair's stay was longer than expected - though the Nasa pair embraced this. After two months back on the ground, both astronauts say they are feeling fit and well, because the workouts that they undertook while in their zero-gravity environment paid off. Exercising in zero gravity means your body doesn't need much time to recover from the daily squats and deadlifts, Mr Wilmore explained. He said he performed squats and deadlifts "every single day for almost 10 months", meaning that he returned to Earth "literally stronger than I've ever been in my life". Ms Williams agreed - she went running days after landing back on Earth and once ran a full marathon in space strapped to a treadmill - but said it's not always easy to readjust to the weight of the world. "Just getting gravity back on your head and your back and all that kind of stuff is a little bit painful," she said. Since their return, the pair have been working with Nasa and Boeing to fix problems with the malfunctioning spacecraft that took them into space last summer. "We are very positively hopeful that there will be opportunities to fly the Boeing Starliner in the future," Mr Wilmore said. And both astronauts said they would personally fly in the craft again - once those technical issues were resolved.
Ammon
02-06-2025
- Ammon
Archaeologists unearth ancient bread that survived underground for 5,000 years
Ammon News - Archaeologists recently unveiled a rare culinary find: a well-preserved loaf of ancient bread. The artifact was found during an archaeological excavation at the Kulluoba site in the Eskisehir province, located in central Turkey. Excavators unearthed the loaf in Sept. 2024, but it wasn't unveiled to the public until this month. The bread is roughly 5,000 years old and was baked during Turkey's Bronze Age. Researchers say the bread was burnt and buried under the entrance of a dwelling dating back to 3,300 B.C. Some of the bread, which measures about 5 inches in diameter, was torn off before it was buried. An image of the loaf shows that it's blackened and crumbled with age — but it still retains the shape of bread. Murat Türkteki, archaeologist and director of the excavation, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that ancient bread is a "rare find," per Turkish Minute, a local outlet. "Bread is a rare find during an excavation. Usually, you only find crumbs," he said.
