Breakthrough In Use of Graphene For Ultracapacitors

Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have achieved a breakthrough in the use of a one-atom thick graphene for storing electrical charge in ultracapacitors. They believe their development shows promise that graphene could eventually double the capacity of existing ultracapacitors. 'Through such a device, electrical charge can be rapidly stored on the graphene sheets, and released from them as well for the delivery of electrical current and, thus, electrical power,' says one of the researchers. Two main methods exist to store electrical energy: in rechargeable batteries and in ultracapacitors, which are becoming increasingly commercialized but are not yet well known to the public. Some advantages of ultracapacitors over traditional energy storage devices such as batteries include: higher power capability, longer life, a wider thermal operating range, lighter, more flexible packaging and lower maintenance. Graphene has a surface area of 2,630 square meters, almost the area of a football field, per gram of material."

Re:Still...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mac users, however, will still be getting 1 1/2 hour of unbuttplugged life, tops :)

Re:How?

[paul248]

You should learn about this magical new discovery known as "the third dimension." It lets you make flat things all squiggly and stuff.

Re:surface area of a football field

[RuBLed]

45 miles per gallon, which I say is not bad...

Re:surface area of a football field

[tekrat]

That would be a football field to the power of a football field.

I think a more relevant question is: if 1 gram of graphene has the surface area of a footbal field, what weight are the football players? And is that "football" or "Soccer"?

Re:How?

[Diamo]

So why not just use toilet roll as a capacitor?

Re:How?

[Anonymous Coward]

But you wouldn't even be able to taste the carbon on your football field that way. Seems silly to me.

Re:Still...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we all know it depends on what you're doing with those hours. Lets put our dicks back in our pants now.

Re:surface area of a football field

[Whiteox]

Forget Rhode Island or Texas... always use Wales.
http://www.simonkelk.co.uk/sizeofwales.html [simonkelk.co.uk]

Re:How?

[Perf]

If you wanted a thin layer of carbon, wouldn't it be easier just to toast the bagel?

Re:How?

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone already tried it. Results were crappy.

Re:Here's the deal

[NotBornYesterday]

You're obviously not looking in the right places, or you are extremely picky, or your tastes in porn run to a very narrow, seldom-seen set of fetishes.

If it is the latter: "seldom-seen fetishes" good news! You have found an under-served area of the over-saturated porn market, and are in a position to make a fortune by developing and operating a site serving that particular segment. Congratulations, and good luck. Let me know if you are looking for a cameraman, and/or MySQL admin with some PHP experience.

Re:Here's the deal

[TapeCutter]

Speaking of expanding..."Graphene has a surface area of 2,630 square meters, almost the area of a football field, per gram of material."... As a young man I plugged a large 12v capacitor into a 240v outlet because I thought....hmmm....if a 9v battery make that big a spark....Ten minutes later I had it screwed to a wooden booard with a domestic power cord attached....KABOOM!!!....my room was covered in sticky silvery confetti...you get where I'm going, graphene would go off like a fuel air bomb! All this leads me to the conclusing that .....

If you car has a graphene ultracapacitor, resources consume you! /sorry

Re:How?

[NotBornYesterday]

American football, probably. No reason to cover a soccer or rugby field with cream cheese, that I can think of.

Re:Here's the deal

[Joebert]

Yes, a lot of it was just hiding behind Hydrogen atoms, so you couldn't see it.

Re:How?

[Jesus_666]

I just tried it. I don't have the pictures anymore, but the explosive capacity is high enough to take out a digital camera and a kitchen table. Pretty impressive, those toilet paper supercaps.

Re:Here's the deal

[NotBornYesterday]

What, doesn't everybody like that stuff?

Re:Here's the deal

[mazarin5]

We don't seem to have expanded to use all oxygen yet, we don't seem to have used up all the salt water, both are freely available to a great many people.

We're working on it. :)

Re:How?

[TimTheFoolMan]

My experience has been that they are not nearly as absorbent.