Advancement Of Tritium Powered Betavoltaic Battery Systems FY16 EOY Report
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)
The goal of this work is to increase the power output of tritium-powered betavoltaic batteries and investigate the change in power output and film resistance in real-time during tritium loading of adsorbent films. To this end, several tritium-compatible test vessels with the capability of measuring both the resistivity of a tritium trapping film and the power output of a betavoltaic device in-situ have been designed and fabricated using four electrically insulated feedthroughs in tritium-compatible load cells. Energy conversion devices were received from Widetronix, a betavoltaic manufacturing firm based in Ithaca, NY. Thin films were deposited on the devices and capped with palladium to facilitate hydrogen loading. Gold contacts were then deposited on top of the films to allow resistivity measurements of the film during hydrogen loading. Finally, the chips were wire bonded and installed in the test cells. The cells were then baked-out under vacuum and leak checked at temperature to reduce the chances of tritium leaks during loading. Following the bake-out, IV curves were measured to verify no internal wires were compromised, and the cells were delivered to Tritium for loading. Tritium loading is anticipated in October, 2017.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 1329210
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2016-00605; TRN: US1700362
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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