Why Betavolt chose nickel-63 for its 50-year nuclear battery

Betavolt’s coin-sized nuclear battery, the BV100, relies on nickel-63 as its radioactive power source, a choice the Beijing-based company made deliberately for safety reasons rather than performance alone, according to World Nuclear News.

Nickel-63 decays into a stable, non-radioactive form of copper, meaning that once it has fully decayed, the resulting material poses no ongoing radiation risk or environmental contamination concern. The isotope has a half-life of approximately 100 years and emits comparatively low-energy radiation that can be shielded by very thin layers of material — a property that has made it a common choice in experimental betavoltaic battery designs for decades before Betavolt’s product emerged.

The BV100 places a two-micron-thick sheet of nickel-63 between two ultra-thin diamond semiconductor converters. As the isotope decays, it releases fast-moving electrons that the diamond layers capture and convert into usable electric current, a process broadly similar in principle to how a solar panel converts light into electricity.

The device measures just 15 by 15 by 5 millimetres and generates 100 microwatts of power at 3 volts, suited to low-power uses such as medical implants and environmental sensors rather than consumer electronics.