An American university announced a 'leap forward' in technology which could replace current battery technology.
So-called supercapacitors have advantages over standard battery technology in that they offer much faster charge times and many more charge/discharge cycles but these benefits come at the cost of capacity which has so far restricted their use beyond specialist applications.
Researchers from Rice University used carbon nanotubes to boost the charge carrying performance of supercapacitors, adding that "nothing on nothing on Earth has more potential for packing a lot of surface area into a small space than carbon nanotubes."
The technology is aimed at replacing a gel-like electrolyte in existing supercapacitors with the tiny carbon tunes making up a new solid-state electrical storage device
"All solid-state solutions to energy storage will be intimately integrated into many future devices, including flexible displays, bio-implants, many types of sensors and all electronic applications that benefit from fast charge and discharge rates," said Rice lab chemist Robert Hauge.
The technology has the capability to be formed into any shape with Hauge suggesting one possible scenario of an entire electric car body being a solid-state battery.
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