Liquid transducer radioisotope-powered nuclear voltaic system

A nuclear voltaic power source comprising:

• a radioisotope enclosed within an ultra-thin glass encapsulation;
• a liquid transducer chamber configured to receive an interchangeable liquid-state transducer medium adjacent to the glass encapsulation;
• and
• an adaptive transducer contact interface (ATCI) layer adjacent to the liquid transducer chamber, the ATCI layer being selectively configurable as:
• (i) a wide bandgap semiconductor photon converter when the liquid-state transducer medium is a liquid scintillator;
• (ii) an ohmic or Schottky contact layer when the liquid-state transducer medium is a liquid semiconductor or liquid metal;
• or (iii) an electrolytic contact layer when the liquid-state transducer medium is an ionic liquid.

A method of converting nuclear radiation energy into electrical power, the method comprising:

• (a) providing at least one radioisotope source enclosed within an ultra-thin glass encapsulation layer;
• (b) disposing a liquid-state transducer medium adjacent to the glass encapsulation layer, the liquid-state transducer medium selected from the group consisting of a liquid semiconductor, a liquid scintillator, a liquid metal, and an ionic liquid;
• (c) converting ionizing radiation from the radioisotope into at least one of electron-hole pairs, photons, free electrons with metal ions, or free ions within the liquid-state transducer medium;
• and
• (d) extracting electrical charge from the liquid-state transducer medium through an adaptive transducer contact interface (ATCI) layer configured to match the charge extraction function to the energy conversion mechanism of the selected liquid-state transducer medium.

A nuclear voltaic power source comprising:

• a radioisotope source configured to emit ionizing radiation;
• a liquid scintillator transducer disposed to receive the ionizing radiation, the liquid scintillator generating scintillation photons upon interaction with the ionizing radiation;
• a wide bandgap semiconductor layer disposed adjacent to the liquid scintillator transducer, the wide bandgap semiconductor layer absorbing the scintillation photons and generating electron-hole pairs therefrom;
• and
• electrical contacts configured to extract current from the wide bandgap semiconductor layer.

A nuclear voltaic power source comprising:

• a radioisotope source configured to emit ionizing radiation;
• an ionic liquid transducer layer disposed to receive the ionizing radiation, the ionic liquid undergoing radiation-induced ionization to produce free ions;
• a pair of electrodes disposed on opposing sides of the ionic liquid transducer layer, the electrodes applying a potential difference across the ionic liquid to facilitate directional migration of the radiation-generated free ions;
• and
• an external circuit connected to the pair of electrodes for extracting electrical current generated by the directional ion migration.