If there is one thing almost all smartphone users want, that's life span of the battery.While the processors, memory and other components have advanced by
leaps and bounds, advances in battery technology has been much slower in
the last two decades.All
these people you see charging their phones at airports, cafes and other
public places are a testimony to the frequency batteries die during the
day. So while engineers are fighting against the chemistry and physics to
improve current lithium-ion cells, is there a better way to recharge?One answer might be fuel cells, which produce electricity through a chemical reaction and provide instant power anywhere. Unlike portable batteries, they do not need to be charged in advance. You just need a fuel cell cartridge.
The promise has been there for some time. A few years ago, the electronics companies have tried to popularize methanol based fuel cells but failed to take off. This time the focus is on hydrogen.Since hydrogen gas enters the fuel cell through a membrane, the electrons are pulled out and travel through an external circuit which is the flow of electricity. At the output of the fuel cell, the electrons recombine with the ionized oxygen and hydrogen from the air, so that the only byproduct is water.There is already a hydrogen fuel cell on the market, with another promised for this year. Both were exhibited at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.