Photo from Wired
The modern day smartphone might come with its fair share of bells and whistles, but then again, it falls short in terms of battery life as opposed to the old school Nokias which were able to last the distance – up to 5 days of use before requiring a trip to the charging station. Well, that is the trade-off with which we should pay if we want to enjoy modern day smartphone apps and features. There might be hope yet in the form of new fuel cell technology that claims to power handsets up to a week.
The South Korean researchers behind this particular fuel cell technology also laid claim that it is capable of powering drones to remain in the air for more than an hour, as opposed to the mere quarter of an hour runs that we are now used to.
This group of researchers who hail from Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea have come up with a fuel cell technology design that has been dubbed as a miniaturized solid oxide fuel cell, keeping fingers crossed that it will soon replace existing battery technology – be they in smartphones, tablets, other mobile devices, or even drones. This technology can even be scaled up to be used in electric vehicles, now how about that?
Being the first fuel cell in the world that merges porous stainless steel with thin-film electrolyte and electrodes which are are “of minimal heat capacity”, one gets the best of performance and durability. The thing now is, how soon will they release a market-ready version for the masses? [Press Release]