We've been huffing the vaporous promise of methanol fuel cells for so long now that we sold all our furniture and live in a cardboard box. Nevertheless, Sharp's in a tizzy over its direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) prototype. Sharp's cell is able to provide 0.3 Watts of power per cubic centimeter making it the world's most powerful DMFC cell for its size. Availability? Sharp has no idea but "it won't be commercialized soon," according to a spokesperson. Kudos for honesty, but that gnawing angst for a refillable battery replacement for traditional lithium-ion batteries continues to taunt us.

P.S. Sharp didn't offer any photos with the press release so we tossed in an old Toshiba concept just to annoy them.

[Via PCWorld]

Finally we can all sleep at night, safe in the knowledge that Sony has created a prototype fuel cell system that fits in the palm of your hand. The combination lithium-polymer battery, backup battery, and control circuit are destined for future mobile devices. According to a company engineer, "We have been aiming to mount (a fuel-cell system) in mobile devices and finally reached a level of commercial design." The tiny power-pack uses methanol as a fuel and controls supply with a hybrid pump, which allows it to regulate the amount of power used based on a system's needs. The company claims that just 10ml of methanol can power a mobile device through 14 hours of 1seg movie watching. Sure, it sounds good on paper, but does this mean soon we'll have to visit tiny, methanol refilling stations manned by a team of mice in jumpsuits? Probably not.

No word on a production run, but we thought you'd like to peep the latest iteration of DMFC (direct-methanol fuel cell) technology coming out of Samsung. If nothing else, they've at least cleaned up the design of that dock we last peeped back in December. A good sign that they're still intent on releasing this one-month, refillable battery by the end of 2007.

While we've been seeing methanol fuel cells pop up in all kinds of concept devices for a while now, there have been precious few actual shipping products that get their juice on with a fuel cell. That might be slowly changing, as a research team at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan has come up with a novel filtration system that increases the efficiency of methanol cells to potentially usable levels. The system, which is 10 times more efficient than conventional waste pumps, features a series of 100 50-micron holes that allow waste CO2 to escape out of the cell, while excess water is pulled off by a hydrophobic Teflon ramp (boy do we love those hydrophobic Teflon ramps!) that drives H20 molecules away from the methanol and into a collector. Since this method doesn't require any power to work, it's well-suited to cell phones and laptops, as the cells can be made smaller and quieter. While this doesn't mean we'll be seeing fuel cell Zunes anytime soon, you can bet those guys in Texas with the booze-powered robots just crossed a big X off their dev charts.

(Photo is of an unrelated Toshiba fuel cell concept.)

[Via DailyTech]

Speaking of liquid fuel, we've just caught wind of another liquid fuel cell that may be available a little sooner than LG's ebook concept laptop. Casio has apparently developed a new prototype fuel cell that could make our long-standing desire to live a totally wireless life possible. According to DigitalCameraInfo, Casio's new technology draws in methanol "to produce an electrolyzed liquid that is emitted as hydrogen gas." Then, apparently after some chemical hocus-pocus, the power source can remain autonomous and continuous. The Cas says that it's made this system work in a digital camera and also said that it will be shipping the micro fuel cell technology beginning next year, which we assume means they've worked out the volatility issues we mentioned before. Assuming all goes as planned, our next question is: where's our nearest supplier of methanol?

[Via DigitalCameraInfo.com]

If you're trying to get away from that gas guzzling wheelchair, but feel a bit awkward rolling in the less-than-glamorous solar-powered edition, Suzuki Motors has got your back. Taking a leap forward from its previous lead-acid battery-powered electric wheelchair, the MIO is a motor-driven cart that gets its juice from an ultra-green fuel cell. The cell works in conjunction with a "large capacity Li-ion secondary battery," and while we aren't certain of how quickly this bad boy can streak down the quarter mile, it can supposedly cruise for 25 miles on a single fill up (four liters) of methanol solution. Aside from the power source, the MIO sports armrests that serve double duty as safety barriers, ergonomic handlebars, a comfortable mesh seating surface, and even an LCD panel that shows such useful data as fuel level and power status. While Suzuki insists the unit is simply a prototype, and refuses to hand out pricing details while it "judges consumer interest," the MIO should still be a bit easier to acquire than the sold out Tesla should it ever hit stores.

[Via Far East Gizmos]