My latest TheFeature article is about ways to make tiny batteries last for years.
At Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., researchers are trying to make a nuclear-powered battery with a very long life span. They've built prototype batteries that use a speck of nickel-63 (a radioactive isotope) to vibrate a tiny cantilever. The cantilever could be made from a piece of piezoelectric material, which could supply power to the sensor. Nickel-63 has a half-life of around 100 years, so it could provide power for several decades. Nukes make people nervous, but there's not enough radioactive material in the prototype to cause a mini-meltdown — it's comparable to the amount found in a smoke detector. Still, researchers acknowledge that they have a perception problem to overcome.