Samsung: Water-powered fuel cells for Cellphones by 2010

Samsung: Water-powered fuel cells for Cellphones by 2010. We've heard, Fuel Cells in 2009 will double the capacity of regular Li-ion Batteries, While others are working to bring methanol-powered fuel cells to the mobile phone market, Samsung is going one better and developing a water-powered fuel cell for mobile phones. Other fuel cells need methanol to produce hydrogen, while Samsung's needs only water.

Fuel cells work by harnessing the energy stored in hydrogen bonds when a water or hydrocarbons like methanol are broken down into hydrogen gas and byproducts. By exposing the water to metal, Samsung says that they can liberate energy stored in those H-O bonds and use it to power the cellphone in your pocket. The fuel cell churns out hydrogen gas and a single tank of water can run for about 5 days of average cellphone use

"When the handset is turned on, metal and water in the phone react to produce hydrogen gas," says 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."

The R&D gurus at Samsung are aiming to get their water-to-hydrogen fuel cell off the ground by 2010. Imagine recharging your mobile phone by topping off your fuel cell with a few drops of bottled water. Since the micro-fuel cell can generate up to three watts of electricity, it could be used in mobile devices, the company said. The new fuel cell could power a handset for 10 hours, twice as long as rechargeable batteries.

(source)