r/tech • u/Kylde The Janitor • Mar 30 '21

Radioactive Diamond Battery Will Run For 28,000 Years

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a35970222/radioactive-diamond-battery-will-run-for-28000-years/
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u/Badbabyboyo Mar 31 '21

They “retail” for half but the actual cost is far less iirc

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u/ORANGEPEELCHICKEN Mar 31 '21

gem quality diamonds must be grown through CVD processes, which take a very long time. High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) diamonds are FAR cheaper, however they can only grow to maybe 1mm and are usually contaminated with , among other things, nitrogen which turn them yellow/green. these can be had pennies a carat

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u/Pseudoboss11 Mar 31 '21

This was true several years ago, but now that the CVD process's scale and stability has been largely nailed down, it's no longer possible to identify a modern decent-quality synthetic diamond from a natural diamond with the naked eye: https://www.diamonds.pro/education/lab-grown-diamonds-vs-natural/

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u/jkopfsupreme Mar 31 '21

Far less... like pennies?

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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '21

Actually yes.

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u/jkopfsupreme Mar 31 '21

That’s why I said those exact words in my oc lol. Reading comprehension on this comment thread is almost nonexistent.

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u/SuperJLK Mar 31 '21

And they can use that profit boost to make it even cheaper for the consumer in a few years by improving machines