Joel Schindall's team looked at the battery's capacitor, which was invented nearly 300 years ago, and concluded that was the weakest link.
Rechargable and disposable batteries use a chemical reaction to produce energy. This is pretty effective, but after many charges and discharges the battery loses capacity and has to be chucked out.
The MIT researchers covered the electrodes with nanotubes which increased the surface area. This enabled the capacitor to store more energy.
In tests, the batteries could be recharged many times and it could be recharged in a matter of seconds rather than a matter of hours.
The technology would be good for laptops, hearing aids and battery powered cars. Of course having batteries that are recharged quickly take humanity one step closer to total redundancy of the male.
More here.