What is a Nuclear Battery ? | Radioisotope Batteries | Atomic Battery | Nuclear Battery

An atomic battery, nuclear battery, radioisotope battery or radioisotope generator is a device which uses energy from the decay of a radioactive isotope to generate electricity. Like nuclear reactors, they generate electricity from nuclear energy, but differ in that they do not use a chain reaction. Although commonly called batteries, they are technically not electrochemical and cannot be charged or recharged. In comparison they are very costly, but have an extremely long life and high energy density, and so they are mainly used as power sources for equipment that must operate unattended for long periods of time, such as spacecraft, pacemakers, underwater systems and automated scientific stations in remote parts of the world.

Radioisotope batteries provide reliable batteries with high energy density. They are valuable when long life is needed and recharging or refueling is difficult. Many of the conversion technologies can function in harsh environments. They can be very useful as onboard MEMS power sources.

Applications:
*Long-lived cell phone batteries
*Self-powered sensors on automobiles
*Self-powered sensors in humans
*Sensors for tracking animals
*Building/bridge sensors
*MEMS
*Micro-robots
*Smart Dust Networks

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