Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Diamond battery, brought to you by unicorn

Self-charging batteries, the NDB company promises. Marketed for electric aircraft - specifically the eVTOL, which is a sort-of helicopter drone.

As for the charging, by "self" they mean "air" which is oxygen.

But the core of it is "isotopes" - that is, something with a wonky number of neutrons... that is, radioactivity. Elsewhere I see they're talking Carbon-14. They're shielding these isotopes with your basic C-12 diamond. Which, I am told, has to be grown organically over a long long time. But never mind that. Is this something that charges by pulling in oxygen, or by internal radioactive decay?

The decay would be into Nitrogen-14. I am told that "dopes" the crystal and makes it, well, brittle and impure.

Thunderf00t LOLs hard at the story. I cannot say I'm impressed either.

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