Capacitors to Replace Batteries?

An anonymous reader writes "MIT's Joel Schindall plans to use old technology in a new way with nanotubes. 'We made the connection that perhaps we could take an old product, a capacitor, and use a new technology, nanotechnology, to make that old product in a new way.' Capacitors contain energy as an electric field of charged particles created by two metal electrodes, and capacitors charge faster and last longer than normal batteries, but the problem is that storage capacity is proportional to the surface area of the battery's electrodes. MIT researchers solved this by covering the electrodes with millions of nanotubes. 'It's better for the environment, because it allows the user to not worry about replacing his battery,' he says. 'It can be discharged and charged hundreds of thousands of times, essentially lasting longer than the life of the equipment with which it is associated.'"

Comments

How about just smaller capacitors?

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

Honestly, when you get your new state of the art motherboard with quad-SLI and all the latest bells and whistles along with Dual Quad-core CPUs and 4 Dual-GPU video cards all in a lovely brushed aluminum case with see thru side panels and neon lights, it kind of breaks your heart when you see those big ugly Tin Can capacitors sprinkled over your system like warts. Transistors and resistors have shrunken in size, now its time for capacitors to become almost invisible as well.

Re:Oh great

[Captain Splendid]

So, in other words, she Bangs like a Bunny on Benzedrine?