Boston Globe states "MIT RESEARCH MAY SPELL END FOR THE BATTERY"

Although the Boston Globe on June 26 headlined "MIT RESEARCH MAY SPELL END FOR THE BATTERY," I would not bet on carbon nanotube capacitors eliminating the end of batteries.

Hiawatha Bray reported: The [MIT] researchers are working on a new device that uses carbon nanotubes to store and release electrical energy in a system that could carry as
much power as today's lead or lithium batteries.

IPBiz notes that the idea of capacitors as an electrical storage device is not new.

The article continues: In a basement laboratory at MIT, [Joel] Schindall and his colleagues are using acetylene gas to deposit carbon nanotubes on pieces of silicon.
Schindall says that the technology isn't much different from the kind used to produce
microchips, and so mass production shouldn't be too difficult. [IPBiz: that statement won't improve the patent prospects!] Still, he said, "It's one thing to postulate it, but that's a long way from being commercially viable and competitive in price." Schindall says he hopes to have a finished example by the fall.

The article says: During the 1960s, scientists discovered that they could make more
powerful capacitors by coating their electrodes with finely ground charcoal a
form of carbon. The charcoal crystals [IPBiz: charcoal crystals !?!?] greatly increased the surface area of each electrode, allowing it to collect a greater electrical charge.