Researchers have begun prototyping a pair of tighty-whiteys coated with the requisite carbon electrodes to make electrochemical computing a reality, as it turns out the nether regions are a prime place to measure chemicals excreted in one's sweat.

ENGADGET: Scientists create sweat-monitoring underwear, break them in (video)

Existing ultracapacitors get their extra surface area by using electrodes coated with carbon and etched to produce holes, rather like a sponge.

ECONOMIST: Electricity storage

Germany's SGL Carbon (6, SGG) has fallen 33% since May and has yet to recover as it supplies primarily the hard-hit steel and semiconductor industries with carbon and graphite products, which include electrodes, laboratory components and furnace linings.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Instead of digging holes in the electrodes, they are coating them with a forest of carbon nanotubes, each five nanometres (billionths of a metre) wide.

ECONOMIST: Electricity storage

Other research projects in the field of artificial retinas are currently focusing on carbon-based materials like nanocrystalline diamond and graphene, but those are intended for replacing silicon electrodes, like the Argus 2.

FORBES: Artificial Retina From A Photovoltaic Polymer