Originally posted by Peter Bmn:
As capacitors have negative and positive charges seperated by a thin layer, you would get a strong compression force across the layer. There would also be fairly large repulsive forces acting along both surfaces of the insulating layer..>.....................................>....
With one or both surfaces covered in carbon nano tubes, there would also be a repulsive force along the surface of the tubes, tending to make them stretch in length and in diameter. However each tube would also be attracted towards the layer by the opposite charges on the other side. The carbon nano-tubes would thicken the layer of charge on either side of the insulating material.
Its extremely unlikely than both surfaces would be covered in a layer/or layers of Carbon nano-tubes, in the conventional accepted way. For the reason that the huge surface area of a C-n-tube would not be utilised.
A better answer would be, that a single C-n-tube was charged up to a single potential both internally and externally. With a second C-n-tube charged with the opposite potential, both tubes ENDS, would be brought close together, but not touching. Exactly as if you were to place your index fingers almost together.
This should give you maximum electron/ion storage, due to the huge surface area involved.
In practice, imagine two household brooms placed with their bristles facing each other. For bristles, read C-n-tubes.
The 'heads of the brooms' would be of metal, in which the nano-tubes were grown/inserted, acting as the terminals.
I envisage that a huge capacity could be achieved in this way, prehaps running into millions of Farads? Only dependant upon Cap: size.
I foresee 3 problems in running a motor for powering a car.
1/ Finding a suitable (organic?) Electrolyte, that the Carbon fibres were immersed in.
2/ Its 'wetability', needed for perfect fibre coverage.
3/ A specially designed motor, in series with a variable resistance (Ohms) so as not to wastefully discharge Capacitor.
Prehaps a better method for 3/ would be to initially separate the two opposing Carbon bristles, within their Electrolyte, when the Capacitor was fully charged. Closing their spacing as dischage occurred? Thus regulating the motor torque without wasteful Ohms.