Abstract—The concept of directly collecting secondary electrons
created by beta emission through an electrical insulator has been
proposed as an attractive low-voltage nuclear battery termed a
secondary emission cell (SEC). In this paper, a MATLAB computer
simulation of an SEC is conducted using Mott scattering,
the Penfold–Katz slowing approximation, Bethe’s ionization loss
expression, and energy and momentum conservation. The goal of
the simulation is to compare the efficiency of an SEC to that of a
vacuum direct collection cell. It is found that the SEC efficiency
is typically ≤1%. Energy losses in the insulator prevent it from
having an efficiency advantage over a vacuum direct collection cell
which offers higher efficiencies, especially at high voltages. However,
operational simplicity and ease of construction still make the
SEC attractive for some applications.