A new direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has been launched by Toshiba which is designed to work with the company's Portege M300 notebook computer.

The announcement that the firm is to use the fuel cell in the computer will come as a major boost to the fuel cell development industry, as it provides consumers a major opportunity to discover how the technology can improve the way they live and work.

Fuel cell technology is increasingly moving toward the replacement of traditional batteries in small applications such as laptop computers and PDAs and there already exists a prototype mobile phone which uses the technology instead of the usual rechargeable battery.

The new offering from Toshiba is also a prototype at present, but the early signs from this testing are good, as the company claims the DMFC can offer "an energy density up to several times that of a typical lithium-ion battery".

Therefore, Toshiba believes that the new power source will allow for "much longer continuous operation" than is currently available.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd