In its current configuration , the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) delivers from 12 to 20 watts of power and provides up to five hours of notebook PC operation with a single cartridge of fuel. Commercial availability is slated for next year.

Engineering Challenges Met

Energy cells using liquid fuels, such as methanol, hydrogen or ethanol, are recognized as cleaner and stronger alternatives to lithium-ion batteries in laptops, phones and PDAs. The challenges for engineers have been to make them smaller and to enable more efficient fuel delivery.

To address such concerns, Toshiba has developed a system that uses the water produced as a by-product of the power-generation process to dilute the methanol to the concentration required for the chemical reaction that generates energy.

Thus, the methanol is stored at a much higher concentration and requires a fuel tank one-tenth the size of those containing already-diluted fuel. This, in turn, makes the fuel cells -- which are attached to the laptop or other device -- much more practical. In addition, Toshiba said it has miniaturized other fuel cell components, such as the interface, electric circuits and sensors.

The fuel cell is compatible with lithium-ion batteries and can connect to portable devices in the same way they do, but it is still larger than integrated batteries.

Applications for Handhelds

Advanced capabilities of notebook PCs, cell phones, PDAs and other portable devices require faster procesors, higher-resolution displays and wireless connectivity -- all of which increase the demands on power supplies and underscore the limitations of current lithium-ion batteries.

The Toshiba methanol fuel cell could have applications for handheld mobile devices. "It is still too large for cell phones and PDAs," said Sara Bradford, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, "but research in recent years by Toshiba and others has created fuel cells that are getting smaller and smaller," she told NewsFactor.

Among the major players in the micro fuel cell market are Energy Related Devices, a subsidiary of Manhattan Scientific, MicroFuel Cells and Mechanical Technologies. These companies are ahead of major electronics manufacturers -- such as Motorola, Samsung, Toshiba, Casio and Sony -- that also are researching fuel cells for phones, PDAs, laptop PCs and other mobile devices.

From Small to Micro

By 2008, Frost & Sullivan predicts, some 3 percent of mobile telecommunications devices, or 2 million units, will be powered by fuel cells. Mobile phones will be targeted as consumers seek more battery life to handle such power-draining 3G applications as color screens, imaging , games and Web downloads.

The battery-life issue has to be addressed to meet the power-consumption needs of advanced mobile chips. Users eventually will demand more power on the processor side to support more comprehensive applications accessed on mobile devices, according to Gartner vice president Ken Dulaney.

For the foreseeable future, he told NewsFactor, the quest for power is likely to proceed about as fast as Moore's Law, which postulates that the data density of integrated computer circuits is likely to double every 18 months.

"Users can expect new features at the pace of Moore's Law, with about two days of battery life -- like on cell phones -- for the next five years," Dulaney predicted.