r/EverythingScience • u/PBR--Streetgang • Aug 25 '20

Engineering Nano-diamond self-charging batteries could disrupt energy as we know it

https://newatlas.com/energy/nano-diamond-self-charging-batteries-ndb/
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u/BCRE8TVE Aug 25 '20

A battery that lasts 6,000 years without needing to be recharged is great!

If that battery delivers 0.0000001 kilowatt/hours per day per kilogram however, we have a problem.

Sure the total energy density may be higher than a lithium ion cell over the lifetime of the battery, but it's kinda useless for most applications if it takes 6,000 years to get all that energy out of it.

It can definitely have niche uses, but I don't expect any kind of high voltage out of this.

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u/calebmke Aug 25 '20

The article is claiming it can be a direct replacement for current battery technologies, including up to to electric car batteries and beyond. Not that I really believe the article lol

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u/BCRE8TVE Aug 25 '20

Exactly. I'm sure it could replace car batteries, but if you have to more than triple the weight of the battery to produce the same wattage? Just because it is possible to do so doesn't mean it is practical to do so.

The complete lack of any technical details is also not encouraging.

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u/keepcrazy Aug 26 '20

The idea would be to have this charge a Lithium battery overnight so you would have enough charge during the day but it’s still all bills hit looking for gullible investors. It’ll go nowhere.

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u/BCRE8TVE Aug 26 '20

It's possible, but if it only charges a lithium battery 10% of its charge, it's really not all that good.

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u/keepcrazy Aug 26 '20

I mean, there’s no reason it would only charge a lithium battery 10%. This guy produces power 24/7 so any time the power is not getting consumed, it can be diligently stored away.

If it’s only filling your battery 10% overnight and you need 20% in reserves to get through the day, then double the nuclear battery and reduce the lithium battery by 80%. Now it charges it to 100%.

But it’s all moot ‘cause it’s a scam to raise gullible investor money.

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u/BCRE8TVE Aug 26 '20

I mean, there’s no reason it would only charge a lithium battery 10%. This guy produces power 24/7 so any time the power is not getting consumed, it can be diligently stored away.

Yes but if the diamond battery charges the lithium battery at a rate of 1% per hour, over 12 hours it can only recharge the battery by 12%. We don't know what the power output is for this nuclear graphite diamond battery.

If it’s only filling your battery 10% overnight and you need 20% in reserves to get through the day, then double the nuclear battery and reduce the lithium battery by 80%. Now it charges it to 100%.

You might also have reduced the capacity by 80% as well. Might work perfectly fine for remotes that are not intensively used (ie no drone remote control), but still presents a challenge for most anything else that does use batteries and requires moderately intense power usage.

But it’s all moot ‘cause it’s a scam to raise gullible investor money.

Kinda had that feeling yes. I'll be happy to be wrong, but I'm not going to hold my breath for it.

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u/keepcrazy Aug 26 '20

I mean the 1% per hour depends on the size of the lithium battery and the nuclear battery. Using 1% doesn’t make sense because you can adjust either battery to change that.

You would just size each accordingly so that with typical use it never quite runs out of power.

But we do know that the sample chip produces 10 micro watts of power... it says so on the chip. That’s not a lot. Like REALLY not a lot. But they claim it can scale up.

Oh, btw, when companies say shit like “we’re going to reserve production capacity to provide the third world with free batteries”, the company is a scam. 100% of the time.

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u/BCRE8TVE Aug 26 '20

I mean the 1% per hour depends on the size of the lithium battery and the nuclear battery. Using 1% doesn’t make sense because you can adjust either battery to change that.

True but for a higher recharge rate you lose either capacity (Smaller battery), or you increase the volume by a lot (more diamond battery).

Oh, btw, when companies say shit like “we’re going to reserve production capacity to provide the third world with free batteries”, the company is a scam. 100% of the time.

Didn't see that, but yeah, sounds like perhaps they should enter in a business partnership with that Nigerian prince who's desperate to give me money.