Chapter 254 Radiation Power Conversion

After handing the original experimental data of the ATLCE detector to Chen Zhengping for processing, Xu Chuan rushed back to Shanghai without stopping.

The research and development of semiconductor materials in the second phase of the nuclear energy project has reached a critical node. He has to go back to take charge of the overall situation and speed up the production.

After all, it is now the middle of the twelfth lunar month, and the Little New Year will be celebrated in a few days.

After the Little New Year, the laboratory will almost be on holiday.

In Shanghai, in the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Academy of Sciences, Xu Chuan, wearing white polyester gloves, controlled the ion implanter in front of him to send the metal ion material in the equipment into the ALD vapor deposition instrument.

This is a critical step in the manufacture of semiconductor materials, injecting impurities into the semiconductor substrate.

Of course, this impurity is not an impurity in our traditional concept. It is somewhat similar to the semiconductor silicon-based chip used in our mobile phones.

As we all know, semiconductor refers to a material whose conductivity at room temperature is between that of a conductor and an insulator.

Its conductivity is controllable and is easily affected by trace impurities and external conditions.

Doping it with materials with different resistances such as phosphorus, arsenic, and gallium can form an NP pole as a gate to control the charge switch.

This is the core foundation of semiconductor materials.

Among them, photovoltaic power generation is very famous and is easily accessible in our daily life. It is also based on this foundation.

However, it uses another part of it - the "photovoltaic effect" unique to semiconductors.

Photovoltaic power generation is a phenomenon in which light causes a potential difference between different parts of uneven semiconductors or semiconductors combined with metals.

First, the photovoltaic panel converts photons (light waves) into electrons and light energy into electrical energy, and then forms a voltage.

With voltage, it is like building a high dam on a river. If the two are connected, a current loop will be formed.

This is the core principle of photovoltaic power generation and one of the principles of the mechanism of nuclear energy beta radiation energy aggregation and conversion into electrical energy.

However, traditional photovoltaic power generation technology has a big disadvantage, that is, the wavelength range of the spectral response of general solar cells is basically between 320-1100nm.

That is, only light waves at this wavelength can be used by solar panels, and it cannot be used if the wavelength is less than or exceeds the light wave.

This is destined to make the efficiency of ordinary solar panels unable to make a qualitative leap, and it is impossible to process the radiation emitted by nuclear waste.

Because the radiation emitted by nuclear waste, except for gamma rays, which are electromagnetic waves, alpha, beta, and neutron streams are not electromagnetic waves.

And even if it is gamma rays, their wavelength is shorter than 0.1 angstroms (1 angstrom = 10 to the negative 10th power of meters), which cannot be used by traditional photovoltaic panels at all.

To utilize these radiations, it is almost necessary to completely change the structure of traditional photovoltaic panels.

In his previous life, in order to solve this problem, Xu Chuan racked his brains and consulted countless physics experts and material experts, but he did not get an answer.

What finally inspired him came from a field he had never thought of - 'biology'.

His inspiration came from a butterfly called 'Red Swallowtail'.

This butterfly sounds like a red butterfly, but in fact, most of its body is black, and only the abdomen, face, chest and other places have some red features. It is widely distributed in East Asia.

And in this butterfly, biological scientists have discovered a very strange phenomenon.

Its wings are randomly distributed with irregular lattice structures of size and shape.

It is this lattice structure. It can help butterflies absorb more sunlight in cold seasons and regulate and preserve body temperature so that they will not be frozen to death in the cold winter.

In fact, it is not uncommon to get scientific research inspiration from organisms.

Many technologies actually come from various organisms.

Bionic robots, fin swimsuits, cold light lamps, radars and other common things are actually designed based on various organisms.

Xu Chuan found a way to absorb non-electromagnetic radiation energy and convert it into electrical energy from this lattice structure.

The principle lies in something called "structural gap band".

Through nanotechnology, semiconductors constructed using atomic cycle technology are processed into a material with a special nano gap.

And materials with this special gap can absorb and utilize radiation energy, and combined with the characteristics of semiconductor materials, it can be further converted into electrical energy.

This is another technology in the nuclear energy β radiation energy aggregation and conversion of electrical energy mechanism technology that is equally important as "atomic cycle": "radiation gap band".

After waiting for more than six hours in the laboratory, the first semiconductor material used for vapor deposition processing finally completed the gap filling and thin film step coverage.

After a long wait, Xu Chuan put on gloves, masks, goggles and other protective equipment again, opened the vapor deposition furnace and took out the processed materials.

The first batch of processed materials was not large, with a side length of only 30*30cm, but as an experimental object, it was enough.

It is worth mentioning that although its area is not large, its thickness is much thicker than the materials that generally need to be processed by vapor deposition equipment, nearly two centimeters thick.

After all, it is used to treat nuclear waste. If it is too thin, it cannot completely absorb the radiation emitted by nuclear waste.

In fact, this is not the first time he has made this kind of semiconductor material.

In the previous period, he had made three completely different new semiconductor materials, but the test results were not satisfactory.

Of course, this was intentional. After all, it was a bit incredible to succeed in one go.

The three failed materials gave him enough adjustment data from the test and theory, and it was much more reasonable to complete the research and development of the materials.

Although compared with the material development process of other laboratories and research institutes, this is still much simpler.

You should know that many laboratories or research institutes may fail dozens, hundreds or even thousands of times to develop a new material.

"Wang Yuan, take some materials and do a comprehensive routine test first."

In the laboratory, Xu Chuan first observed the synthesized materials in his hand, and then spoke to the researcher beside him.

This researcher named Wang Yuan was the young man he met when the Cray Institute called before.

Although he likes gossip, he is very careful and talented. In addition, he is not very old, so he brought him with him and asked him to help.

For an ordinary researcher, following a Nobel Prize winner to do chores, is that called chores?

"Okay, professor."

Wang Yuan calmly took the material from Xu Chuan, cut off a small part, and then quickly left the laboratory.

As for Xu Chuan himself, he took the remaining materials to the radiation room and personally tested the actual conversion ability of this material.

The test method is not complicated. This material is made into a device similar to a solar panel, and then tested with nuclear waste of different radiation intensities.

From the most critical power generation capacity, to the damage of ionizing radiation to this semiconductor material, to the conversion efficiency and other aspects, see if it can meet the specified indicators.

If it can, it means that this new material has been successfully developed. If not, it is necessary to see where the problem is, and then check for omissions.

However, Xu Chuan is full of confidence in the new material in his hand.

This new semiconductor material was fully optimized in the previous life and has been verified by actual use.

It is completely reliable in terms of performance and safety.

It took some time, with the help of other researchers in the laboratory, Xu Chuan processed this new semiconductor material into a simple device.

The various testing equipment connected to it makes it look a bit like the engine on the front of an old tractor.

Although it looks a bit ugly, it is truly the most advanced and cutting-edge technology.

The core of the whole set of equipment is composed of semiconductor radiation power conversion materials + previously developed protective materials. The former completes the conversion of radiation energy to electrical energy, and the latter is a safety protection measure to prevent nuclear radiation leakage after accidents in the equipment inside.

As for the various detection equipment connected to it, they need to be removed after completion.

Wearing protective clothing made of lead-free nano-composite reconstructed protective materials, a laboratory worker used equipment to send a piece of nuclear waste with strong nuclear radiation into the fully enclosed inner laboratory through a lead glass.

The moment the nuclear waste was taken out of the closed lead box, various radiation detectors placed in the fully enclosed laboratory screamed and beeped, and various alarms kept ringing.

In another observation room in the laboratory, Xu Chuan, Han Jin and others were observing the entire experiment through monitoring.

From the radiation count on the display screen, it can be seen that the radiation measurement in the radiation room where the experiment is being carried out has exceeded one thousand millisieverts (mSv), and this value is constantly rising due to the influence of nuclear waste.

Without any protection, humans entering this intensity of radiation environment basically means death.

This is still treated nuclear waste, and its radiation intensity, radiation amount and other aspects have been processed. If it is the nuclear fuel rods burning in the nuclear power plant, its intensity is much more terrifying than this.

The radiation in the laboratory did not continue to accumulate and increase. After the nuclear waste was placed in a dedicated device and fully enclosed, the alarm on the detector began to decrease, and the radiation measurement formed by the nuclear radiation began to gradually weaken due to the absorption of other equipment in the laboratory.

However, for nuclear radiation, this weakening is limited.

When the absorbing material is saturated, the absorbing material will become a new radiation source to a certain extent, continuously releasing radiation pollution until hundreds or thousands of years later, the nuclear radiation will be dissipated.

This is why after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, even if the Red Soviet Union at that time dealt with and cleaned 21 million square meters of "dirty soil", there is still a large area in Ukraine that is still too polluted to live, and it will take many years before it can be safely cultivated.

The pollution emitted by nuclear waste requires too long to decay.

However, this original defect is a huge advantage for Xu Chuan today.

Long radiation time means that its power generation duration is also long. It can be said that no fuel can "burn" longer than nuclear waste.

If it can be made into the size of an ordinary battery, mobile phones and computers in the future may not need to be charged.

But for now, this idea is just a fantasy. Due to safety issues, it is impossible to make it that small.

Unless the performance of the protective isolation material for nuclear radiation can be further upgraded.

As the converter storing nuclear waste was sealed, detectors deployed outside began to send back various data.

In the observation room, a researcher responsible for observing data stared closely at the current display screen. When the data on it began to jump, the expression on his face also jumped.

"Current generation detected!"

After confirming that the data on the display screen was real, the researcher pushed away the chair under him, stood up suddenly, and reported loudly, his voice trembling and excited.

Hearing this, everyone standing in the observation room was shocked. Academician Peng Hongxi, who was standing next to Xu Chuan, even ran over quickly with one pair of legs.

This old man happened to be having a meeting here in the Magic City these days, and he came over to take a look at the situation on the spur of the moment. He happened to catch up with this test experiment, so he followed him curiously.

Pushing away the original observer, he stared with turbid eyes at the constantly beating and steadily increasing current data on the computer screen.

"4.7C, really, really did it!"

Looking at the beating data on the screen, Peng Hongxi could no longer suppress the shock in his heart.

In fact, it is not impossible to convert radiant energy into electrical energy. Whether it is using metal materials to generate potential energy differences, or using multi-walled carbon nanotubes, gold and lithium hydride materials to absorb radiant energy, it can be done.

However, the above methods are very low in conversion efficiency.

For example, the potential energy difference generated by metal materials is converted into electrical energy of less than a few milliamperes. This intensity of current can only touch a sensitive detector and cannot be used to generate electricity at all.

Today's test was like a miracle falling out of thin air.

Leaving aside other issues for the time being, in terms of radiation energy conversion rate, based on current data, it is already comparable to traditional solar power panels.

The photovoltaic conversion efficiency of traditional monocrystalline silicon solar panels with higher efficiency is only about 20%.

Calculated from the current output current, the conversion rate of the 'radiation electric energy conversion equipment' placed in the closed laboratory to internal radiation energy has reached about 15%, and this value is still increasing as time goes by. .

The conversion rate is 15%, which means that there is no problem in converting radiation into electrical energy, and it can fully use the converted electrical energy.

As long as the key material in the equipment, the new type of semiconductor, can last longer in the face of nuclear waste and can reach commercial standards, then this method can be fully promoted, and from today on, nuclear waste will no longer be difficult to process. Waste, it becomes a treasure that can be used to generate electricity.