The Fuel Cell Phone

Alan Scheurman
FuelCellStickerTMlp.jpg

If your path toward living a sustainable life hasn't quite led you to anarcho-primitivism and you're still using hand-held electronic devices to communicate, myFC has developed a way to make charging such devices eco-friendly by using just two natural elements, air and water.

The Swedish-based company has unveiled the FuelCellSticker, a .11 inch thick, .2 ounce charger in stackable sticker form that provides .9 watts of power at .5 volts.  Its small size and flexible design "makes it conformable and adaptable to the demands of portable electronics," according to myFC.

Just imagine how much less coal we'd have to use by eliminating electrical chargers.  There could be no more worrying about finding outlets on weekend retreats, or unplanned nights away from home.  Horror movie directors would be forced to adapt yet again to the evolution of the telephone in their plot twists.  The possibilities are endless!

The company explains how the fuel cell technology works:

"A proton-conducting polymer membrane is sandwiched between a cathode and an anode. At the anode, upon reaction with a catalyst, the hydrogen gas separates into protons (positively charged hydrogen ions) and electrons. The protons are conducted to the cathode, through the polymer electrolyte membrane, while the electrons travel along the circuit, producing a current. The electrolyte plays a key role in only allowing the positive hydrogen ions to pass though, obstructing the negatively charged electrons. The chemical reaction would be short circuited if free electrons were to pass through.

At the cathode, the hydrogen ions and electrons combine with oxygen (from the air), forming water vapor/water. The fuel cell will generate electricity as long as it is supplied with hydrogen and oxygen from the air"

FuelCellStickers are not yet available for the market, so in the meantime, keep paying attention to how you use electronics and unplug devices that are not being used.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-primitivists

http://www.myfc.se/technology.html

Comments

I've seen other interesting fuel cells...

Submitted by vivifidal on Wed, 11/26/2008 - 14:11.
Like ones that run on ethanol, I could see sitting in an airport bar...I'll have a pint of stout and a shot of Stoli for my laptop...guess I'll have to pay for both, laptop says he left his paypal account on his other hard drive, bluh'y lil cyberpunk, he sticks me w/ the check everytime, "whats that? you're eyein the pink I-book in the booth and want me to send her a drink and put it on my tab, why you cheeky...."