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hot photovoltaics

radioactive doped photovoltaic cell
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Dilute waste radioactive material to levels so that the atoms can be used in boosting photovoltaic cells .

Would the minimal energy decay be enough to heighten the electron donator and help the electron's light induced gap jump ? Maybe the decay's wake would effect the atomic enviroment and allow the electron a easier passage .

wjt, Jun 06 2008


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       If you have a low-energy Beta emitter, this might just work..... but Alphas and high-energy Betas are going to cause too much disruption to the crystalline matrix, and break down the P-N junction.
8th of 7, Jun 07 2008
  

       This won't work to any relevant extent.   

       In any sane amount of radioactive material, you've only got a low number of decay events per unit time (say, thousands or millions per second, or even billions if you like). Each event is quite energetic.   

       In contrast, a photovoltaic cell is doing trillions of events per second, with electrons hopping up a little bit on getting hit by a photon. Each event is not very energetic.   

       At best, at very very best, you might get each radioactive decay to equate into the up-hopping of one electron, but you will still only recover a teeny amount of energy from that up- hopping. So, overall, you might increase the output of your device by a teeny, tiny, ever so little amount.   

       Basically, your quantum impedances are all out of whack, guvnor. Better to make a nuclear battery, by far.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 07 2008
  

       so a photovoltaic cell to supply the jump with a backing of a thin film nuclear battery to supply a source of all those important free electrons .   

       ? The more free electrons in 'travel state' the more point to point interactions on other electrons and the more the whole enviroment is just asking for light to pop more up ?   

       Are the free electrons on the metal surface of a Van de Graaff machine getting severely pushed around by light because of the electron packing ?   

       Then again - shivering cold rather than hot .
wjt, Jun 07 2008
  

       I'm probably not sure. I can imagine that an electrostatic charge (a la van de Giraffe) might have some meaningful interaction with a photovoltaic. But when it comes to radioactivity, I think the numbers involved (small numbers of atoms decaying very energetically, versus hunormous numbers of photons and electrons jumping about) are just too mismatched for the marriage to be a happy one. On the other hand, I may be bullshitting - I find it hard to tell.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 08 2008
  

       Strangely, for once , you aren't. But the swings versus roundabouts problem is that if you choose an isotope with a suffinecntly high level of activity, it's going to have a short half life; and that will limit the lifetime of the device as the primary nuclide decays. And what does it decay into ? The decay product might be punching out alphas at a completely different energy and so wreck the P-N junction.......
8th of 7, Jun 08 2008
  

       So there is absolutely no interaction between different energy frequencies if the actions don't touch ?   

       Putting it another way a truck and cyclist are different energy levels , if they touch there is carnage but if in close proximity the cyclist gets to draft .   

       I suppose it comes down to what 'the space' is made of .   

       A whole economy could be made out of buy and return PV cells if the energy was sufficient .(like the battery industry)
wjt, Jun 08 2008
  

       //your quantum impedances are all out of whack// [marked-for-tagline]
Voice, Jun 08 2008
  

       //if they touch there is carnage but if in close proximity the cyclist gets to draft//   

       Not a bad tagline in itself!
Jinbish, Jun 09 2008
  

       I doubt that you would want to handle such a product for an extended period of time. Trying to combine photovoltaics with other forms of energy production is pretty pointless unless they also need lots of sunlight and a connection to the grid. The energy density/danger ratio is far to high and frankly this is a NIMBY situation.
WcW, Jun 09 2008
  

       I had the idea (rightly or wrongly) that the leaf chloroplast electron chain didn't evolve because of the photon but because the of reaction chain itself . The added interaction of light lead the evolution in a novel more energetic direction .   

       My idea was that the photons add backing (increase) to an already working process .   

       Why would secondary processes need light ? They would probably synergize better without light (venn diagram type stuff ). I was thinking watch dial radioactive levels .
wjt, Jun 10 2008
  

       When an photon event stimulates an electron -   

       what is happening in the local spacial area around the event ?   

       Are there reactions /atoms to placed close by to enhance or diminish event ?   

       Designing enviroment as whole for the single process .
wjt, Jun 10 2008
  

       This was baked in the 60s: according to an old article posted on an alternative energy site, someone scraped the radium from old clock faces (the substance had been used extensively for 'glowing' numbers and hands on old clocks-- large wall clocks, for example, used large amounts of radium; radium use on clocks and wristwatches was discontinued by the 1970s). After carefully scraping the radium, they made into a paste and used 2 small Radio Shack 2 or 3 inch standard round solar cells, and after painting the surfaces with a thick coat, sandwiched them together and taped tightly. This 'radium solar' battery was above 1.5v and said to have lasted about 2 years. Replication not recommended.
elektronyzer, Jun 16 2008
  

       // Replication not recommended. //   

       Particularly if you've had your DNA battered by all the alphas from the Radium ......
8th of 7, Jun 16 2008
  

       //This won't work to any relevant extent. //   

       I disagree. I think the sub-ethna nullifier effect of the radon isotopes would generate sufficient excitement for the electron to do a booty dance with random elves.
nomocrow, Jun 16 2008
  

       Yes, but that would be an elverent extent, not a relevant extent. Do try to keep up.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 16 2008
  

       Sorry, [MB], looks like we've got the slow class again ...
8th of 7, Jun 16 2008
  


 

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