[NEWS] - Toshiba claims fuel cell breakthrough

[Handruin]

The latest prototype fuel cell weighs less than nine grams and could be commercially deployed within two years

Toshiba announced on Friday that it has built what it claims is the smallest ever direct methanol fuel cell.

The device, which is only a prototype at present, is designed to be used in small electronic devices such as MP3 players and wireless headsets.

The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) measures 22mm by 56mm by 9.1mm (including the fuel tank), and when full will weigh 8.5g. According to Toshiba, the DMFC will be able to deliver 100 milliwatts of power for up to 20 hours, from a single 2cc shot of methanol. The Japanese company says that topping up the device with additional methanol will be an easy process.

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[sechs]

But methanol is such an unhappy chemical to keep around your house....

 

[jtr1962]

100 mW for 20 hours = 2 watt-hours. That's about what you can get out of a 2000 mAh NiMH AA cell. I know this is a first generation product but I'm hard pressed to see any advantage over standard rechargeables other than the "instant recharge" feature. However, I've seen 15-minute rechargeable NiMHs, so if you're in a hurry and/or forget to keep spares recharged that's nearly as good as instant (not really instant BTW-I'd guess the average person takes a couple of minutes to refill the cell). It's always a good idea to have spares anyway for redundancy reasons since batteries have a habit of crapping out at the worst times. While you use one set you recharge the other. I really don't see that instant recharge offers any great advantage other than maybe in electric automobiles where the main battery might take a few hours to recharge.

At least the byproducts (CO2 and water) aren't toxic but I'd be less than thrilled keeping methanol around the house. The refills sound like they would be pricey compared to the 1/20th of a cent of electricity needed to recharge a comparable AA cell.

 

[sechs]

Methanol wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't go through latex gloves.

 

[LunarMist]

Who wants to have to keep buying and refilling compared to recharging? And won't it be fun traveling on airplanes with a 3-week supply of fuel? :eekers:

 

[sechs]

I'm pretty positive that they wouldn't allow that much onboard....