Theoretical prediction of output performance of 63NiO-Si heterojunction betavoltaic cell

Abstract

For the 63NiO-Si heterojunction betavoltaic nuclear battery, the energy deposition of the energy conversion material itself was simulated by Monte Carlo simulation, and the structure of the 63NiO-Si heterojunction was optimized based on the theoretical calculation results. When the thickness of 63NiO is 4 μm and the doping concentration of Si is 1 × 1015 cm−3, the short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor, and maximum output power density of the nuclear battery are 1.22 μA · cm−2, 3.17 V, 0.95, 3.67 μW · cm−2. In addition, the output performance of 63Ni/NiO-Si heterojunction betavoltaic nuclear cell was calculated in this study. Under the condition that the activity of the radioactive source and the thickness of NiO(63NiO) are the same in the two structures, the proposed structure (63NiO-Si) has greatly improved the output performance of the nuclear battery by reducing the energy lost from radioactive source self-absorption.