Theoretical simulation of time-related electrical performance of 63NiO/ZnO integrated betavoltaic battery

The temporal electrical performance of a 63NiO/ZnO integrated betavoltaic battery is examined. Utilizing first-principles calculations combined with Monte Carlo simulations, we study the energy band structure and density of states of 63NiO, particularly when 63Ni undergoes a 12.5% decay. Our findings reveal that, when the 63NiO layer is 4 μm thick, the decay's impact is akin to substitution doping. Leveraging this insight, we employed Silvaco ATLAS software to simulate the time-dependent short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, maximum output power, and energy conversion efficiency of the 63NiO/ZnO integrated betavoltaic battery. These results were compared with those of a NiO/ZnO separate betavoltaic battery. At 6.93 years, the maximum output power of the integrated and separate devices was found to be 10.19 and 9.77 nW/cm2, respectively, corresponding to 8.67% and 88.79% of their initial values. Notably, prior to this point, the integrated device exhibited significantly superior performance; at 4.58 years, it demonstrated 2.28 times higher maximum output power compared to the separate device, followed by only a slight difference in performance thereafter.