Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends
How new technologies are modifying our way of life


lundi 19 janvier 2004
 

In "Membrane could rev up fuel cell industry," CNET News.com writes that "start-up PolyFuel has commercially released a membrane for creating fuel cells for laptops and cell phones, a milestone in the budding fuel cell industry."

The honeycombed membrane is for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC). On one side of the membrane is a mixture of methanol and water. The methanol becomes attracted to the membrane through an electrical charge and reacts to a catalyst, which then releases electrons that power the host device. The byproducts are carbon dioxide and water.

Here is a diagram of the DMFC prototype that replaced a lithium-ion battery on a mobile phone (Credit: PolyFuel).

The DMFC prototype from PolyFuel
Several Japanese manufacturers, such as Toshiba, have announced plans to integrate fuel cells into their products. Originally, fuel-powered notebooks and handhelds were supposed to come out in 2004, but most companies have pushed back their plans to 2005.
Thirty-five companies now have DMFC development programs, according to PolyFuel.
Government agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, also are looking at fuel cells to run surveillance cameras or sensors that are inconvenient to plug in, said PolyFuel CEO Jim Balcom.

Neither the article nor PolyFuel's website provide information about pricing and general availability. So it's hard to guess if this product will become a hit and if your next cell phone or PDA will be powered by such a device.

Source: Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com, January 18, 2004


12:32:08 PM   Permalink   Comments []   Trackback []  


Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website. © Copyright 2004 Roland Piquepaille.
Last update: 01/11/2004; 08:55:23.


January 2004
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Dec   Feb


Search this blog for

Courtesy of PicoSearch


Supported by
BigFitness.com

If you're tired to read about technology, it's time to take a break.
Try their exercise and fitness equipment.
Read more


Personal Links



Other Links

Ars Technica
Bloglines
BoingBoing
Daily Rotation News
del.icio.us
Engadget
Feedster
Gizmodo
I4U News
Mindjack Daily Relay
Nanodot
Slashdot
Smart Mobs
Techdirt
Technorati


People

Paul Boutin
Dan Gillmor
Lawrence Lessig
Jenny Levine
Karlin Lillington
John Robb
Dolores Tam
Jon Udell
Dave Winer


Drop me a note via Radio
Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.

E-mail me directly at
pique@noos.fr

Subscribe to this weblog
Subscribe to "Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends" in Radio UserLand.

XML Version of this page
Click to see the XML version of this web page.