Lightweight Power: myFC's Fuel Cell Sticker
Lost At E Minor points out an interesting development in portable power. Sweden based myFC are developing a tiny fuel cell sticker that can be used in a variety of mobile applications. The current prototype is flexible and skinny – at only 0.11 inches thick, the sticker can generate 0.9 watts of power at 0.5 volts. It uses fuel cell technology, which means as long as it's exposed to hydrogen and oxygen in the air, it will generate power.
The myFC site explains:
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that transforms the chemical energy of a fuel (hydrogen, methanol, natural gas, gasoline etc.) and an oxidant (air or oxygen) into electrical energy. The fuel and the oxidant react at two different electrodes – the anode and the cathode – and are separated by an electrolyte that transmits ions (e.g. H+, OH- etc.) from one electrode to the other. Fuel cells have many similarities with batteries, but with the fundamental difference that the electrodes are not consumed in the process – a fuel cell will run as long as fuel and oxidant (air) is provided to the electrodes.