China Develops Nuclear Battery That Reportedly Can Last Thousands of Years

One of the main limitations technology has faced to date is battery life across different devices and services.

Nuclear energy has been viewed as having great potential due to its multiple applications, and it has just been revealed that China, through a collaboration between Northwest Normal University and domestic technology companies, has developed a new generation of nuclear batteries called "Qianjiyuan."

The model is based on the radioactive decay of carbon-14. Thanks to this process, the breakthrough opens the door to becoming an energy source that could last thousands of years, since the battery releases energy gradually until it is depleted.

According to estimates, it could take more than 5,700 years to fully discharge.

This steady release of energy generates electricity, but that does not mean any device integrated with this battery will last that long, since the rest of a device's components degrade over time.

Another key aspect of this battery is that, according to researchers, it can operate within a temperature range of -100 to 200 degrees, eliminating a performance problem that traditional batteries face.

Both extreme heat and extreme cold are highly damaging to batteries, causing them to wear out faster, but the fact that this model can function within such a range opens the door to its use in extreme environments.

According to the developers, these batteries reach an output power of 1.13 microwatts, making them powerful enough to run small, low-consumption devices that need to operate for long periods without maintenance.

They are ideal for scientific instruments placed in remote, hard-to-reach locations, space devices, monitoring systems, or even medical devices.

However, their electrical output is still too low to power high-consumption devices such as mobile phones, computers, or electric vehicles.

For now, this means their focus is on maintaining a constant energy source for as long as possible rather than producing large amounts of electricity.