Don’t you wish your notebooks, music players and digital cameras can all be charged in a matter of seconds instead of grueling hours? The future is looking great for those of you who shouted “Yeah!”.
M.I.T researchers have revealed that they have been working on a breakthrough battery technology that could make fast-charging and long-lasting rechargeable batteries possible. But instead of developing something new, they turned to improving a technology from the past! And it turns out to be the capacitor, which was invented some 300 years ago.
The problem with capacitors is their size. The storage capacity is relative to the surface area of the capacitor’s electrodes, which makes current capacitors 25 times less capable than similarly sized current batteries.
300 years later, the M.I.T researchers of today finally solved this problem by employing nanotechnology. By covering the electrodes with nanotubes that are 30,000 times thinner than human hair, the capacitor can now store many times more energy.
“It could be recharged many, many times perhaps hundreds of thousands of times, and … it could be recharged very quickly, just in a matter of seconds rather than a matter of hours,” says Joel Schindall, a member of the M.I.T research team.
This is good news for the environmentalists as well, as this means the number of disposed batteries would be significantly reduced.
Schindall expects a prototype to be finalized in just a few months, and hopes to see the batteries on the market in less than five years.
I’m definitely looking forward to this, are you?
June 11th, 2006 at 6:44 am
Imagine how easy it would be to steal and sell energy with one of these. You could load up a car and head by all the open outlets you can find, then suck your battery full then make the meter turn backwards at your house.
June 12th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
LMAO, i love it how the first comment is about how you could steal electricity, good idea though.
can’t wait to see these batteries in action should be revolutionary =)
June 12th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
This kind of technology would absolutely revolutionize everything overnight. Imagine electric cars that would not need gasoline and could charge up in an hour vs 8 to 24 hours. I sincerely hope this comes to fruition because it could really have the potential to change the world. The global community absolutely NEEDS this.
June 12th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
But capacitors dont release charge at a slow and steady rate like a battery which is why they are not used in the same way, its not the amount of energy thats ever been the problem, so i cant see how this helps.
June 12th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
You know, I think those “morons” at MIT have probably thought about that quick release problem (hence the announcement of the technology touting these capacitors as batteries). Using just a simple resistor will slow the discharge of a capacitor…. I’m stoked for this, I just don’t think certain oily goons are gonna let this get out any time soon.