Neutrons don’t have an „outer shell“. They are made of three quarks held together by strong nuclear forces that have a quantum-electrostatic nature. Also, neutrons don’t beta decay, the nucleus does, which emits an electron or positron depending on the emission type.

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> neutrons don’t beta decay

Is this a new thing? I am not up to speed in particle physics but, in the past, neutrons decaying was indeed a thing. Maybe the wording has changed?

Yes free neutrons do beta decay with a half life of about 10 minutes.