 
Samsung announced this past Thursday that is has developed a micro-fuel cell and hydrogen generator that runs on water. Each little cell can generate up to three watts; which is apparently perfect for mobile devices. From the article,
“‘When the handset is turned on, metal and water in the phone react to produce hydrogen gas,’ explained Oh Yong-soo, vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ research center. ‘The gas is then supplied to the fuel cell where it reacts with oxygen in the air to generate power.’ Other fuel cells need methanol to produce hydrogen, while Samsung’s needs only water.”
The new cells could power handsets for up to 10 hours, or roughly twice the output of current rechargeable batteries. The only downside is that once those 10 hours are up — you chuck the cell in favor of a new one. Not only does this produce more waste, but it’s also going to hit your wallet. Thankfully, Samsung is already working on a handset that simply needs to be refilled with water to start functioning again. Let’s hope that’s the final design that hits the market in 2010.
via biz/tech
One Comment
without eing refillable the current version has no practical commercial application and is incredibly eco-unfriendly. But the concept if it works and can be made fillable is teriffic. I wouldn’t even mind having it slightly larger than my curent battery if long lasting and easy to refill.