China creates a nuclear battery that lasts for centuries.

The Carbon-14 Nuclear Battery

Imagine a battery capable of generating electricity not just for days, months, or decades, but for thousands of years—a device that could power elevators in inaccessible regions, space equipment, or future medical implants for periods far exceeding a human lifetime.

Chinese scientists are developing a new generation of miniaturized nuclear batteries based on carbon-14, a radioactive isotope with a half-life of approximately 5,730 years. Nuclear batteries are not a recent invention; for decades, similar technologies have powered space missions where replacing or recharging a battery is simply impossible.

The challenge has always been to shrink these structures and boost their efficiency.

To overcome this hurdle, Chinese researchers developed a compact architecture that bypasses traditional heat conversion, instead directly capturing the energy released by the radioactive material. The key lies in a silicon carbide transducer; functioning much like a solar cell, the semiconductor absorbs particles emitted by carbon-14 and converts a portion of that energy into direct current (DC) electricity.

The new architecture employs a three-dimensional stack that reduced the required volume by 17%, increased peak power output 2.6-fold, and significantly lowered the amount of radioactive material compared to the previous generation—though there is a fundamental distinction between longevity and power output. The prototype generates approximately 1.13 microwatts—enough energy to directly charge a smartphone or power high-consumption equipment.