Moto's prototype hydrogen-powered phone
Fuel cell maker Angstrom Power and mobile phone maker Motorola have teamed up to create a prototype mobile phone that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell.
Hydrogen is produced by cracking water molecules with a desktop fueling station and then inserted into a metal hydride storage container on the phone, says Aron Levitz, manager of business development for Angstrom. When the hydrogen molecules pass through a membrane in the fuel cell, electrons are stripped away and get diverted to run the phone.
With a hydrogen fuel cell, you never have to go to the store to get fuel feedstock. You get it out of the faucet. Basically, you can think of it as a water-powered phone.
The water-to-hydrogen generator can also be powered by solar panels, making the phone about as green as you can get. Hydrogen proponents point out that, although the hydrogen highway may not be built yet, the small molecule can be used to provide power to boats, fork lifts, and electronics.
With Motorola's mobile phone manufacturing arm on shaky ground of late, a super-green handset may be just what Moto needs to shift focus from some of the bigger players.
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Blah
20/02/2008 04:43 PM
did i just hear a pop in my ear?
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ozboi
21/02/2008 07:53 PM
This is really just a gimmick. Why not have the solar panels directly recharge the phone battery? Certainly that is more "green" than the energy used to pump the water to your faucet to fill the generator to make the hydrogen to power the phone.
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sowrabhb
22/02/2008 10:02 AM
AWESOME! ... hopefully the phone wont succomb to water damage.. haha...
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Andy
22/02/2008 10:41 AM
How does the storage efficiency compare to LiPo batteries. These are getting very good now so the density, lifetime and mass of this system must be better to compete.
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