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Fujitsu has made progress in development of a key component for direct methanol fuel cells, which are viewed as a future power source for portable equipment. The company is the second in as many weeks to announce development of a new membrane that should help lead to smaller and more efficient fuel cells.
The membrane is at the heart of a fuel cell and separates a mixture of water and methanol from a catalyst. A high concentration of methanol to water is desirable because it lengthens running time, but if this concentration is too high fuel can leak across the membrane and be wasted. Many current direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) prototypes use a membrane that allows a concentration of up to 10 percent methanol to water.
Fujitsu's new membrane allows for a concentration of up to 30 percent, says Scott Ikeda, a company spokesperson.
Applied to a prototype fuel cell with 300 milliliters of 30 percent methanol, the new membrane allows the fuel cell to delivers enough power to run a notebook computer for between eight hours and 10 hours. The same fuel cell using the old membrane and 10 percent methanol concentration provided power for one-third the time, says Ikeda.
Product Plans
A similar development was claimed a week ago by PolyFuel. The California-based start-up has already begun supplying samples of its membrane to fuel cell developers and says it will allow concentrations in excess of 50 percent with the result being smaller, lighter, and cheaper fuel cells.
By detailing its development work on the new membrane, Fujitsu has also confirmed that it too is working on fuel cell technology. Several other major Japanese electronics companies, including NEC, Toshiba, and Hitachi, are also developing fuel cells for use in portable electronics applications.
Fujitsu says it has no firm commercialization plan for the technology at present although some of the other companies do. The most advanced appears to be NEC, which has already shown a prototype and promised a fuel cell for use with notebook computers will be available this year.
