Motorola Labs has demonstrated a prototype of a new miniature fuel cell that could replace traditional batteries in portable electronics ranging from laptop computers to cellular telephones. The new fuel cell which has 10 times the energy density of a conventional rechargeable battery was shown at the Power 2000 Conference in San Diego, California, this week. The prototype was developed in cooperation with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy. It uses a catalyst and air and the only byproducts are water vapor and carbon dioxide gas. There are no air pumps, heat exchangers or other devices used in conventional fuel cells.
Water produced by the reaction is recycled to mix with the methanol.
Hallmark said the fuel cells could be the breakthrough technology to make the dream of a cheap, lightweight energy source for electronics come true. Scientists said in a few years a fuel cell about the size of an ink pen cartridge would be capable of powering a cell phone for up to a month eliminating the need for battery chargers and adapters. It could also be used in digital cameras, PDAs and electronic games. A spent fuel cell could be thrown away like a dead battery. The basic concept of a fuel cell to convert a chemical reaction into electricity is 161 years old but the first practical application was in the 1960s when NASA developed a pressurized hydrogen fuel cell for the space program.