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[Richard230]

Yes they are getting really tiny and will change the world.  Just let me know when I can buy some to power my electric motorcycle.  In the meantime a few million dollars ought to keep the research going for a while.    Interesting and well-written article, though: 

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/materials/how-a-microscopic-supercapacitor-will-supercharge-mobile-electronics

[MotoRyder]

Very Interesting Richard, thanks for posting !!
It'll be interesting to see how this changes energy storage in electrical/electronic equipment.

For computing, communications, audio & visual equipment, etc., small form-factor supercapacitors have compelling reasons to entice changes to the designs.

I'd also like to see if it can be successfully scaled up so that the technology can be applied to things like EV's and integrated on the backside of Solar Panels.

[protomech]

Typical practice today is to use batteries for this application, but supercapacitors would be better because they can extract charge much more efficiently and with minimal losses.

Not sure about that; lithium battery charge/discharge is pretty efficient.

The hybrid device is only one-fifth the thickness of a sheet of paper; its footprint can vary from a few square micrometers up to the centimeter scale. The centimeter-scale devices would have capacitances in the range of 400 to 1,000 millifarads—easily enough to power an LED flashlight for an hour.

1000 millifarads (which sounds more impressive than 1 farad) isn't a lot of capacitance. Charged to 3V it can supply approximately 1 milliwatt-hour of energy. I don't know of many milliwatt flashlights that would be worth using.

Here's a similar, shipping ultracapacitor from Maxwell.
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Maxwell-Technologies/PC10/?qs=JV7lzlMm3yIvqrhyPYluUA%3D%3D

It's rated at 10F and can be charged up to a maximum of 2.7V. It weighs 6g and measures 30 mm x 24 mm x 4 mm in size. (compare to "centimeter-scale")

This device stores a little more energy - maybe 8 milliwatt-hours of energy. There are lots of applications that don't need much stored energy; RFID devices, smart credit cards, microlasers, etc etc. But unless this can store a much higher voltage than other ultracapacitors or can scale up much farther than current, it's unlikely to be of interest in EVs.

[NoiseBoy]

I think that is a little over simplified protomech. The voltage of a capacitor declines linearly to 0V as it discharges, unlike a battery. So although it may hold 3 mWh of energy, the usable energy is a lot less.

[Erasmo]

Actually Voltage drop in a capacitor is more exponential than linear.

[mrwilsn]

This device stores a little more energy - maybe 8 milliwatt-hours of energy. There are lots of applications that don't need much stored energy; RFID devices, smart credit cards, microlasers, etc etc. But unless this can store a much higher voltage than other ultracapacitors or can scale up much farther than current, it's unlikely to be of interest in EVs.

The article states:

Another interesting feature of our direct laser-writing technique is the ability to link any number of microsupercapacitors together to produce modules with both high voltage and high current output. That beats yoking many cells together with clumsy wiring. More important, we can pack far more high-voltage supercapacitors into a very small volume than any scheme could accomplish today.

The article also suggests producing the supercapacitors by using an engraving laser over a conveyor belt with a roll of graphite oxide.  It seems like you could then just stack sheets to create a pack.

It seems like this could actually lead to a 3D printed battery.....eventually