Chip Maker ST Eyes Fuel Cell to Power Mobile Phone

STMicroelectronics said on Wednesday it had created technology for a tiny fuel cell to power mobile phones and increase the time between battery charges to 20 days.
The fuel cell could be commercial in a few years' time, depending on demand from cell phone manufacturers, ST said.

Fuel cells, which generate energy through an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, could replace current batteries, which are heavier and not as efficient.

ST says the new batteries would be as small as current mobile phone batteries, which, containing toxic metals, are also environmentally unfriendly when disposed of.

The fuel cell would be filled with an alcohol such ethanol and contain no toxic heavy metals, an ST spokesman said.

"This is a very promising technology. One cell will give a phone 20 days of standby time and there will be no toxic metals which are one of the major environmental concerns with today's batteries," he said.

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle....toryID=3419080