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Investigation of nickel‐63 radioisotope‐powered GaN betavoltaic nuclear battery
Author(s) -
Aydin S.,
Kam E.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.4871
Subject(s) - materials science , open circuit voltage , optoelectronics , semiconductor , voltage , energy conversion efficiency , monte carlo method , electrical engineering , engineering , statistics , mathematics
Summary This work describes the theoretical and experimental investigation of an in‐house produced 63 Ni radioisotope‐powered GaN‐based direct conversion (betavoltaic) nuclear battery. GaN p‐n junction device with 1‐mm 2 area was fabricated and irradiated by the 63 Ni plate source. Short‐circuit current and open‐circuit voltage of the battery were measured, and current‐voltage curves were plotted. The energy stored in battery, maximum power, and efficiency parameters were calculated. Monte Carlo modelling was used to investigate radioisotope's self‐absorption effect, the optimization of semiconductor and source thickness, transport, and penetration of beta particles in semiconductor junction. A large fraction of beta particle energy emitted from 63 Ni source is absorbed within 1 μm of the semiconductor junction on the basis of the simulation results. Epitaxial growth of GaN was performed using metal‐organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) system. Monte Carlo simulation with MCNPX was used to determine optimum 63 Ni radioactive film thickness. 63 Ni film was electroplated on one face of 1‐mm 2 copper plate and mounted 1 mm over the semiconductor device. A 63 Ni source with an apparent activity of 0.31 mCi produced 0.1 ± 0.001 nA short‐circuit current ( I sc ), 0.65 V ± 0.0022 open‐circuit voltage ( V oc ), and 0.016 nW ± 0.0002 maximum power ( P max ) in the semiconductor device. The filling factor (FF) of the betavoltaic cell was 25%, and the conversion efficiency ( ɳ ) was 0.05%. Finally, experimental results were compared with theoretical calculations.