Batteries (lithium ones that is) have been getting a bad rap in the press for the last month because of all the kerfafle with the grounding of the wonderful new Boeing 787 commercial jetliners after a couple smoky electrical incidents.
Well, a solution may be near - Supercapacitors. Imagine charging your iPhone for 30 seconds to store up enough charge for the entire day! This can be applicable for everything from our smartphones to electric cars to passenger jets. It really shines in high charge-discharge applications, such as electric hybrid drivetrains. All this with a technology that will be friendlier to the environment than the batteries we have today, and supercapacitors will likely outlast the host devices they power.
A bit more development is required before supercapacitors gain widespread adoption in consumer devices. But it is already being used in large scale industrial/commercial/military applications. The biggest breakthrough at the moment is the announcement by UCLA researchers that they have successfully fabricated graphene based supercapacitors using nothing more than a consumer brand DVD burner. So I am sure we will see supercapacitor-powered consumer devices on the market very soon.
Without further ado, check out the following video ...
Read this article for more information about the application of supercapacitors.
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