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Abstract:
With increasing demand for higher energy densities, major fuel cell system manufacturers are working
on developing hybrid systems of fuel cells and batteries to satisfy growing power requirements of mobile devices. This demand is due to the inability of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) systems to offer higher output.

Power Surge Requirements in Mobile Devices Drive Power and Battery Systems

PALO ALTO, CA | Posted on March 26th, 2007

New research from Frost & Sullivan ( http://www.ti.frost.com ), Power and
Battery Systems for Mobile Devices, finds the rapidly rising demand for
power motivates fuel cell and battery manufacturers to exploit the
developments in nanotechnology and introduces new sources such as microfuel
cells and postage stamp-sized ultracapacitors for powering mobile devices.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides
manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of
the latest analysis of the Power and Battery Systems for Mobile Devices,
then send an e-mail to Johanna Haynes -- Corporate Communications at
with the following information: your full name,
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Currently, batteries are not one of the preferred energy storage
systems for mobile devices and are slowly losing their importance with the
growing demand for relatively higher energy output from mobile devices.

"Primary lithium-ion batteries are presently not being used by mobile
phone manufacturers as there are several issues such as thermal runaway
issues, aging, cost constraints, operating temperature constraints,
durability, safety concerns regarding electrolyte leakage, poor
conductivity in Li ion polymer batteries and anode passivation," says Frost
& Sullivan Research Analyst Viswanathan Krishnan. "Even nickel-based
batteries are being restrained by memory effect, environmental issues,
formation of dendrites, cost constraints, reverse charging issues, high
self-discharge rate and nickel toxicity."

Another technology facing challenges is DMFCs in which the crossing
over of methanol from the anode side to the cathode decreases the
efficiency of fuel cells. Hence, the performance of DMFCs in PCs is not
satisfactory in terms of power density when compared to batteries and
conventional proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Conventional
PEMFCs fueled by H2 can easily achieve a power density of over 200mW/cm2,
while the power density of DMFCs remains under 70mW/cm2 at ambient
temperatures.

"To address the energy and power density problems posed by DMFCs, fuel
cell system manufacturers are likely to develop direct borohydride fuel
cells (DBFCs), encouraging some of the major consumer electronic giants to
choose fuel cells as the power source for mobile devices," notes Krishnan.
"Key participants in the fuel cell system industry have also tried ethanol
with borohydride to develop ethanol fuel cells to achieve higher power
densities."

Researchers at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology, China have studied various DMFC
systems that operate under passive conditions such as air breathing and
passive methanol solution supply. This type of passive DMFC can receive
greater attention in the area of small fuel cells as it offers the
advantage of being simple, compact and relatively more efficient than
active DMFCs.

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