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Introduction
Since the discovery of radioactivity at the end of the 19th century, there has been a considerable worldwide effort to understand and explore potential applications for this unique phenomenon. A process known as radioactive decay involves the spontaneous emission of energy and particles or high-energy beams of light from an unstable nucleus [1][2]. These unstable nuclei are called radioisotopes.
Radioactive decay can be observed in three main processes, alpha, beta, and gamma decay. Alpha particles are Helium nuclei comprising two positively charged protons and two neutral neutrons, Beta particles are fast electrons and Gamma rays are photons that are electromagnetic radiation but at much higher energy than visible light photons. Decay processes are named after the particles or electromagnetic radiation emitted by the unstable nucleus [3]. Therefore, the alpha decay process emits an alpha particle from the nucleus.
NDB Inc., as an advanced energy technology company, carries out R&D in new smart and clean power generation and storage systems. Innovative radioisotopic electric generator structures with simplified designs are optimized to produce economical, pollutant-free electricity from radioactive materials. The basic cell is a radioisotope electric generator-based device that can provide clean energy to power numerous applications over the entire lifespan and overcome the limitations of the existing energy generation/distribution solutions. Essentially the lifetime of the cell is determined by the half-life of the radioactive decay which is the time taken for the radiation intensity to drop to approximately half its value.
The lifetime and performance are ensured by converting the radioactive decay energy from radioisotopes into electrical energy either by directly inducing a current in a semiconductor structure or by the heat generated by absorption of the radiation in a heat shield and conversion of the heat into an electric current. enhanced device performance and highly sophisticated safety features. It is costeffective, and scalable from chipset to industrial applications such as space electronics, medical, consumer electronics, and many more.
Radioactivity
Nature of Radioactivity
We can define activity as the rate at which the radioactive emission decays, if A is the number of decays per second, which depends on the isotopic species, we can define a decay constant, X (lambda), which is the "probability" that a particular nucleus will decay per...