Fully charge your camera in a just a couple of seconds....

[Ezookiel]

Recharge your camera in just seconds, or even your electric car in just a minute:
This could be quite a game changer .... http://www.upworthy.com/see-the-scientific-accident-that-may-change-the-world-or-at-least-your-battery-l?g=3
Unless they make them the size and shape of a camera battery, I'm not sure it will help us straight away as it would take a while to filter down to camera batteries, but given that the world is now so demanding on portable power, it would be only vested interests like battery makers that might hold it back.
If it has the power to discharge rapidly, it would definitely have a market with flash makers.
Imagine how much weight you could take out of a camera with this technology, especially if you need to add a battery grip to ensure power for a full wedding shoot etc, it would sure help if they were very light batteries.

Since the majority of our cameras now use batteries, I posted this in f/stop, because it would seriously alter the way our cameras are built and operated. But if you think it's better in OOF then feel free to move it.

[wedgtail]

Amazing find by accident incorporate this into the body of a camera and eliminate the need for a battery all together incorporate a solar panel and it would self charge, not silly I have a watch that uses solar to keep the battery charged.

[Steve Axford]

All a bit vague, but I presume they are talking about something like nano tubes. These have been touted as the next great leap for batteries for many years now, but they have proved harder to manufacture than was first hoped (something to do with electrons repelling each other and making the nano tubes very prone to breaking). I hope they get there, as it really would be a big leap forward. It would make electric cars really possible, and solar power, and .... The list goes on. Mobile phones and cameras are unlikely to benefit very much at first, but other things really would.

[arthurking83]

supercapacitors have been touted as the only real way forward for electric vehicles for many years now.

Similar technologies already exist for some electric tools. Maxwell make a product line of ultracaps suitable for many applications(including tools).
Very expensive stuff tho!

Given time, this technology will most likely become the power requirement of electric vehicles.

My only concern tho(from experience) is that capacitors do have a tendency to explode if failure is imminent. I've had two explode in electronics devices, and also a series of them swell up to close to exploding point on a PC motherboard a few years back.

[Ezookiel]

I wonder if these carbene ones would explode, or have that capacity?
There's not a lot of detail so it's hard to tell, but it would seem that charged carbon should be pretty safe.
It will certainly require a means of charging a car in the same time it takes a person to fill with normal fuel, before electric cars could really take off.

But I do like the idea of not having to carry spare batteries for the camera, and just grab a refill in a couple of seconds at the nearest powerpoint or from the 12v socket in the car. You probably still would carry spares, but at least it would be slightly less critical when you can charge up that fast. Charging in the car is a slow process, so spares have always been an absolute necessity for camping trips where I'm gone for 4-5 days and taking hundreds of shots, but almost instant refills would be fantastic. It's been ok so far, as the camera battery lasts way longer than the couple of hours the spare takes to charge, but any improvement would be a good one.

[Steve Axford]

I think carbon plus lots of energy has every potential to produce an explosion. I think anything plus lots of energy could be dodgy. I think we will have to wait a while yet before usable super-capacitors are available.

[arthurking83]

Late last year a university or company(can't remember) rearranged the structure of the internals of current battery technology(lithium batteries) in such a manner that they reckon it allows the battery to charge 100x faster than current technology batteries ... simply due to the way that the cathode or anode is manufactured.
More of the charge gets onto the surface of electrode which allows it to charge quicker, or word to that effect.

Hopefully we'll see this sort of technology in our batteries sooner, rather than later .. and most likely before this carbon nano tube super cap comes to fruition anyhow.

So instead of 2hrs to charge the battery, it could only take a few minutes or so .. say 5mins tops.