Tests Show a Motorola Phone Being Powered by Hydrogen

The Canadian firm, Angstrom Power says that it has successfully completed a six month trial running a Motorola mobile phone on a hydrogen based fuel cell. The replacement fuel cell was clipped to the phone as a direct replacement for the existing battery - and importantly, did not increase the overall size of the mobile phone.

Angstrom has also demonstrated research results showing twice the talk-time of the equivalent battery-powered devices in side-by-side testing. The fuel cell can also be recharged in less than 10 minutes.

Stuart Robinson, Director of Handset Component Technologies at Strategy Analytics Ltd, commented, "Our research shows that insufficient battery run time ranks as one of the leading considerations in the adoption of handheld devices with rich multimedia functionality. Development of Lithium batteries is too slow to meet the growing energy demands of cellular handsets. Angstrom's achievement, the world's first successful integration of micro fuel cell technology into a standard mobile handset, demonstrates the potential of micro fuel cells to provide a better solution for demanding mobile energy applications."

Angstrom Power's Micro Hydrogen fuel cells use hydrogen gas stored in a metal hydride and oxygen from the air to make electricity. The only by-product is water vapor and small amounts of heat. The key to Angstrom PowerÃ's fuel cell technology is the ability to pack a large amount of surface area into a small volume using proprietary micro-structured topology.

Angstrom is currently collaborating with battery manufacturers, portable electronic device makers and mobile service providers towards the commercialization of its Micro Hydrogen technology. The addressable market for Angstrom's technology is estimated to exceed a billion units annually by 2010.

On the web: Angstrom Power

Posted to the site on 9th January 2008