Radioactive ‘diamond battery’ could power spacecraft for thousands of years

Scientists in the UK have successfully created the world’s first carbon-14 diamond battery, which could power low-energy devices like satellite communication equipment for over 5,000 years. The battery is made of the radioactive isotope carbon-14, encased in a thin layer of synthetic diamond. As the carbon-14 decays it emits electrons. The diamond acts like a semiconductor, converting these electrons into electricity. Since carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,700 years, scientists expect the b