Work at MIT's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) holds out the promise of the first technologically significant and economically viable alternative to conventional batteries in more than 200 years.
Images of different types of carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are key to MIT researchers' efforts to improve on an energy storage device called an ultracapacitor. Image / Michael Str̦ck, released under GNU Free Documentation License. Original image courtesy Wikipedia