Nanotechnology Boosts Laptop Batteries?

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060308-6343.html' target='_blank'>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...60308-6343.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Battery life is becoming an increasingly important issue for mobile computing users. With screens getting larger and brighter and laptop CPUs getting more powerful, the strains on batteries have continued to increase, and the technology just isn't keeping pace. Five years ago, my iBook routinely got five hours from a single charge, yet new laptops struggle to achieve the same results. Some alternatives, such as fuel cells, look promising, but size and weight issues continue to limit their potential. However, help may be at hand. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been working on (PDF file) an interesting new way of extending battery life. Their technique uses a device called an "ultracapacitor," which, unlike the time-traveling flux capacitor, actually exists as a product"</i><br /><br />An interesting writeup on the possible battery capacitors of the future. It would be very cool to not have to charge my laptop's batteries all that often. I find myself now only using it mostly when I know I'm near a power source, which really doesn't do much for the advertising that proclaimed my laptop "ultra-portable". Of course, that's why I have a Pocket PC!

[Mark Johnson]

I'm a litte unclear on how much this would help. Can an ultracapacitor be charged faster than a battery? Does it lack the "memory effect" problem? Does anyone know?

[shindullin]

Wow, those dudes over at Arstechnica are really smart and really mean. But I went through the posts and a did a little research and gleaned that the ultracapacitors CAN be charged faster than a standard battery (depending on the type of capacitor it would theoretically take minutes to many minutes). Didn't read anything specific about the "memory effect" problem but I would infer non-scientifically that these batteries would wear down like other batteries do, but probably not suffer from the "memory effect" problem you are referring to.
The bottom line though is that these capacitors are not coming any time soon. There are a lot of problems with mass producing carbon nanostructures that would have to be overcome even if this technology ended being viable. Also, the target market for this technology is hybrid cars, so any laptop battery applications would be ancillary products that would come only after the car battery applications were worked out and implemented. Finally, the biggest problem seems to be that the capacitors currently lack sufficient density to store a lot of energy. In other words, this experimental stuff has a lot of "ZAP!" but can't keep up that zap for very long. Great tech for accelerating a car from zero to sixty, but not useful for anything computer related unless all you really wanted to do was fry your circuit board or electrocute yourself. The MIT PDF on the subject has a project goal of reaching lithium ion type densities in the future, but they're nothing close to that type of density at present.

[ADBrown]

LiIon batteries don't suffer from the memory effect, so that at least is a moot point.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Yeah, 'memory effect' hasn't been a factor for quite a while now. More info here:

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

[gibson042]

Great tech for accelerating a car from zero to sixty, but not useful for anything computer related unless all you really wanted to do was fry your circuit board or electrocute yourself.
You're right about ultracapacitors not replacing batteries just yet, but they do appear to be the long-awaited advance in energy storage that we've all been clamoring for (the battery is dead, long live the battery!). And in the meantime, I wanted to point out that the slightly less boastfully named—but commercially available—supercapacitors have marvelous uses right now, such as making LED flashes on camera phones and PDAs useful (http://www.cap-xx.com/news/photogallery.htm#2).