Simulation of energy deposition of β particles in betavoltaic battery transducer materials

BackgroundThe energy deposition behavior of β particles in transducer material is an important issue in the simulation of a betavoltaic battery, which is usually performed by Monte Carlo software Casino and MCNP (Monte Carlo N Particle Transport Code). However, it is difficult to simulate the continuous energy spectrum of β particles by Casino software. The commercial software MCNP is subject to many restrictions on its copyright, it is very necessary to study the energy deposition of β particles in transducer materials based on the universal open-source Monte Carlo program Geant4 (GEometry ANd Tracking, version 4).PurposeThis study aims to develop a model based on Geant4 to study the energy deposition of β particles in betavoltaic battery transducer materials.MethodsBased on the framework of Geant4 software, a general simulation model of energy deposition behavior was developed. The continuous β spectrum, the self-absorption of radioactive source, and the backscattering of β particles on the source-transducer interface were taken into account completely in this model for the Monte-Carlo simulation study, and the computation results were compared with that of Casino software.ResultsSimulation comparison results show that this simulation model can accurately simulate the energy deposition behavior of β particles in the transducer materials of betavoltaic battery.ConclusionsSimulation model proposed in this study can be used to study the energy deposition of β particles in the transducer materials with advantages of convenient application, open software and easy extension to other source-transducer combinations.