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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, energy converters, which contain a GaP–Si heterojunction and Si-based Schottky barrier diodes with Al, Ti, Ag, and W, are used to convert 2 μm-thick 63Ni radioactive source energy into electrical energy. First, energy deposition distributions of the 63Ni radioactive source in these converters are simulated by using the Monte Carlo method. Then, the electrical output properties of the 63Ni/GaP–Si cell and 63Ni/metal–Si cell are determined through the numerical calculation. For the 63Ni/GaP–Si cell, with the optimized thickness of the GaP layer and doping concentration of Si, the maximum output power density and the conversion efficiency are 0.189 µW cm−2 and 1.83%, respectively. For the Si-based Schottky barrier cells with Al, Ti, Ag, and W, the 63Ni/Al–Si cell has the best electrical output properties with the same thickness of the metal layer and doping concentration of Si. When the thickness of metal Al is 0.1 µm and the doping concentration Na is 1 × 1013 cm−3, the maximum output power density and the conversion efficiency are 0.121 µW cm−2 and 1.18%, respectively. The calculation results indicate that the 63Ni/GaP–Si battery has better electrical output properties than the 63Ni/Al–Si Schottky battery. These results are valuable for fabricating practical batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]