Abstract:
Radiation voltaic isotope batteries have long service life and are easy to miniaturize, making them an excellent choice in the field of micro energy. The use of wide-band gap semiconductor materials as battery transducer elements theoretically has higher energy conversion efficiency, but the energy conversion efficiency of the samples prepared in the experiment is still low, only at the level of 1%. This article comprehensively analyzes the factors affecting efficiency and points out the importance of the preparation process. Through theoretical calculations and numerical simulation methods, the theoretical output performance of the isotope battery under four representative semiconductor materials was compared and analyzed. The results show that the theoretical efficiency of the PIN structure SiC battery is the highest, reaching 17%. Combined with the level of preparation technology, optimized design for PIN-type SiC battery and sample preparation were carried out. Under 3.7×10
8 Bq
63Ni source irradiation conditions, the battery samples obtain short-circuit current 8-10 nA, open-circuit voltage 0.45-0.82 V and efficiency 0.26%-0.60%. Compared with the theoretical design value, the experimental test results still have a certain gap. Through analysis, it is clear that the surface technology is the focus of improving battery performance in the future.