British scientists create a diamond energy source that works for 6,000 years

Scientists at the UK Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA), along with engineers at the University of Bristol, have created a diamond energy source that could work for thousands of years, and the researchers are now working on a prototype.

Scientists say diamond's semiconducting properties convert radioactivity into electricity, and its superhardness protects the source and prevents radioactivity from damaging it.

Carbon-14 is used by archaeologists to date fossils and loses only half of its radioactivity every 5,700 years. in the year 4000, then it will still have about half of its charge. The raw material for carbon-14 is graphite blocks, which are waste from nuclear power plants.

Special equipment used in fusion research was used to grow a unique diamond based on carbon-14.

“Diamond batteries offer a safe and stable way to provide a constant power level of a few microwatts,” said UKAEA's Sarah Clark.

“We can use it [the power source] in small satellites, computer chips and remote-controlled wristwatches,” the scientists said.

“We can have a real impact on people's lives because we are proposing a technology where you don't have to change the battery because by human standards it will last forever,” the researchers added.