Charging ahead - Cover story

Invented more than 250 years ago – in 1745 to be exact – the humble capacitor has been a mainstay of electrical and electronic engineering, almost wherever energy needs to be stored. Billions of circuits have been built containing them. But a device that could transform the world? Hardly. However, if the potential of a new generation of supercapacitors turns out to be as great as proponents claim, the world really will become a different place. Such devices could transform the entire nature of electrical storage and make today’s most advanced batteries look positively primitive. And it could happen at both ends of the power storage spectrum: tiny units for consumer electronic products; and massive ones for the automotive industry. Both markets might – possibly – be in for a true revolution.