Super Capacitor Could Power Phone, Laptop for Days

[n2doc]

By Eric Bland
Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:05 AM ET


Drawing on the layered design of tear-inducing onions, scientists have created a new super capacitor that is powerful enough -- and cheap enough -- to replace the larger, heavier capacitors used in consumer electronics such as computers and cells phones.

If commercialized, the new super capacitor could be fully charged in a second and, coupled to a normal battery, provide enough energy to power a cell phone for weeks or a laptop battery for days.

"If you open any computer, you will see a lot of these small, cylindrical round capacitors," said Vadym Mochalin, a scientist at Drexel University and a co-author on the new Nature Nanotechnology paper.

Capacitors, like batteries, store energy, but that's where most of the similarities end. Generally speaking, a battery, like the one inside your cell phone or laptop computer, stores energy chemically. That chemical energy is then converted into electrical energy.


more

http://news.discovery.com/tech/super-capacitor-power-energy.html

[Canuckistanian]

1. ALL capacitors are "layered like onions"

The secret here is that the materials used make MUCH thinner and more numerous "onion skins" that hold a charge like batteries, but are stll able to discharge them quickly.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Not tantalum capacitors. They are more like sponges. nt

[HopeHoops]

5. And ogres. Ogres have layers.

[Canuckistanian]

6. And Parfait

Don't you just LOVE parfait?

[HopeHoops]

7. "Ain't nobody say 'man, I don't like no parfait'."

Not sure of the exact quote - haven't seen it in quite a while.

[rucky]

2. Great Scott!

[dkf]

4. This is how I want my money spent.

Technology is the solution.

[Locrian]

8. actual photograph of prototype