For the techies interested in a nuanced understanding of graphite/graphene supercapacitors’ composition and functioning, many articles have been published during the past few years by experts far more knowledgeable in the science of the topic than I am. For everyone else who wants an attempt at a simple explanation of the technology that is about to profoundly change the world, read on.

Just the words “graphene supercapacitor” sound as if the subject demands a certain amount of expertise to discuss.

Remember those little plastic circles from physics and chemistry class that could absorb, store, then release a charge that could be displayed by the clunky, old school electrometer?

Graphene supercapacitors essentially do the same thing — store and release energy. Graphene just does it using a single-atom-thick sheet of graphite.

However, graphene supercapacitors can store a considerably larger amount of energy for a given size than traditional batteries. The energy then can be stored and released gradually or, miraculously, instantly. The result: a capacitor capable of taking the place of modern batteries.

Although maximum computing power achieved is known to double roughly every 18 months, battery technology has been at a painful standstill. The efficiency of batteries has evolved through the years with gradual technological improvements, but, from the packs of Duracells bought and hoarded on Christmas day, to the production of batteries for automobiles, the basic process of energy storage has not changed much in the last decade.

Graphite-based capacitors have failed to competitively and widely substitute traditional batteries because, beyond relatively little information being known about the substance, it has been expensive to produce and difficult to physically incorporate into any functional consumer design.

Graphite needed an innovative method of production and application to ever fulfill the substance’s potential. As supporters of many promising technologies that never manifest frequently discover, success in lab under testing conditions does not guarantee success in application to daily life.

Last month, professor Richard Kaner and graduate student Maher El-Kady of UCLA very quietly changed the world from a research laboratory with no additional material than is located in most computer enthusiast’s supplies.

Kaner and El-Kady sprayed graphite oxide onto a standard blank DVD and inserted it into a DVD burner. The result: a microscopically thin, pure graphene film that can be peeled off, modified slightly and cut into slices which become the capacitor’s electrodes.

Two electrodes then are layered together with a middle layer of electrolyte. That’s it. A supercapacitor that will power the future was made in a DVD burner.

The possible results of such a breakthrough are staggering. Along with being a better medium through which to store energy, graphene supercapacitors are flexible and easily malleable to whatever shape products require. The pliable graphene supercapacitors potentially could power any electrical device requiring a charge, charge it instantly and hold a charge four times longer — all while being environmentally friendly when no longer usable.

Graphene supercapacitors potentially could be applied to everything from cell phones to automobiles to weaponry.

Graphene promises to change that industry narrative on its way to changing the world. Any device composed of and powered by graphene supercapacitors would be nearly indestructible; it takes an elephant standing on a pencil to break through a paper-thin sheet of graphene.

And the stuff never wears down. At all. During the course of 1,000 cycles of charge and release, graphene capacitors showed zero detectable degradation. Simply stated, graphene supercapacitors can store more energy, store and release energy instantly and never wear down.

Scientific progress often is punctuated. Decades of progress are made obsolete with a single, innovative bound forward. Last month, a university professor and his assistant applied an ordinary blank DVD with a graphene-based liquid substance and inserted it into an ordinary DVD burner. An industry materialized, and a way of life emerged. Five decades of theorizing and researching were validated, while a separate decade-spanning field of research largely was discarded.

Ten years from now, graphene likely will power the world. Fifty years from now, grandparents will be telling their grandchildren about how batteries used to be little metal cylinders that had to be aligned in a neat row inside a device being used, and then periodically switched out as they died.

Already sounds painfully archaic, doesn’t it?

Tyler Gross is a guest columnist at The State News and a social relations and policy junior. Reach him at grosstyl@msu.edu.