Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, US have succeeded have discovered a new form of carbon produced by "activating" expanded graphite oxide, which is capable of storing more energy than storage devices based on available technology.

The researchers believe that the new type of carbon can be used to improve storage performance of several consumer electronics and other devices. It releases energy fast, recharges quickly and has a lifetime of about 10,000 charges.

The material contains tiny nanometre-sized pores and contains highly curved atom-thick walls. The researchers also found that this carbon performs very well as an electrode material for supercapacitors, allowing their adaptation in a wide range of devices.

Supercapacitors release energy quickly but were so far restricted by their ability to store only a little amount of energy. The new material could remove this restriction and make them available for any more devices.