A diamond battery for Valentine’s Day?

If you’re looking to make a commitment for Valentine’s Day, this diamond gift gives new meaning to the phrase “everlasting love,” since the battery has a 5,700-year lifespan.

With the nuclear-powered battery’s potential to support devices for thousands of years, scientists and nuclear advocates are forgiven if they get a little mushy when they consider the huge range of applications, beginning with medical uses, space exploration, security devices, and beyond.

A closer look: The diamond battery uses the radioactive decay of carbon-14, which has a half-life of 5,700 years, to generate low levels of power. It’s encased in a diamond—one of the hardest materials known—and it safely captures radiation to produce power, according to the UKAEA news release.

The short-range radiation emitted from carbon-14 is absorbed by diamond casing, ensuring safety while generating low levels of electricity. The battery operates similarly to solar panels, but instead of converting light into electricity, it uses fast-moving electrons from radioactive decay, according to diamond battery team scientists.

Reimagining nuclear waste: The carbon-14 used in the batteries is extracted from graphite blocks that come out of nuclear fission reactors. The technology repurposes the radioactive material, thus reducing nuclear waste while creating a valuable energy source, according to Interesting Engineering.

The IE article added that to grow the diamond structure, the process involves using a plasma deposition rig, which is a specialized device developed by the collaborative team from UKAEA and the University of Bristol.

Potential uses: IE also reported that the biocompatible diamond battery could be used in health care to power implants such as pacemakers, hearing aids, and ocular devices, which have always relied on traditional batteries that need frequent replacing.

Then there are extreme environments—both in space and on Earth—where the diamond batteries could be used because it is not practical to replace conventional batteries, according to the UKAEA news release.

“Our micropower technology can support a whole range of important applications,” said Tom Scott, materials professor at University of Bristol. “We’re excited to be able to explore all of these possibilities, working with partners in industry and research, over the next few years.”