Fuel Cells: The Green Energy for Portable Devices

A Swedish tech company specialized in power gap solutions, is bringing to users of portable devices a new type of battery that is greener than the ones currently used. (Fuel cell LAMINA by MyFC)

Power gap, the difference between the amount of energy available and the amount of energy needed, could be the responsible for much of the struggle with smart devices battery. Every smartphone user has certainly experienced the rapid loss of power characteristic of those devices. It feels as if the smarter the device, the more charging its battery needs.

Some coffee shops have even installed instant charging stations at their tables to make it easier for customers to use their phones and tablets. The world has also seen an increase in production of power banks as if there was an unspoken understanding that portable devices will never have enough power to function more than 24 hours; if they even last that long. Unfortunately, the combustion based energy pollutes more the environment than it helps protect it. That would explain the study of greener sources of energy; one of them being the Fuel Cells.

A fuel cell, as opposed to usual batteries, uses hydrogen to create energy. The cell is composed of an electrolyte contained between an anode and a cathode. Energy is generated from a electrochemical reaction, in this case hydrogen goes through an oxidation reaction causing a flow of protons and electrons between the anode and cathode. The advantage of this system is that it produces electricity for as long as the electrolyte as well as air are available. With that feature, fuel cells might be the “immortal” battery. As more research is conducted to expand the applications of the fuel cells, a company from Sweden, MyFC, is out trying to take over the world with its fuel cell designed for smartphones and other mobile devices.

MyFC’s chief executive officer, Bjorn Westerholm predicts that the company’s fuel cell, LAMINA, will beat other batteries by the end of the year 2020. Based on his predictions, the world can expect lighter smartphones as fuel cells replace generic batteries. In addition, LAMINA might help reduce the cost of mobile devices since MyFC is working on lowering the overhead costs related to the production of the fuel cells. Furthermore, LAMINA is said to produce more energy than generic batteries.

Now with the expansion of fuel cells, maybe it is a revolution in the industry of energy that is in the making. Fuel cells could power cars and many other tools that require a generic batteries at the moment. Besides solving the energy gap, fuel cells are also reliable in the sense that they present no danger to users. More importantly, fuel cells might also be a viable tool to reduce the carbon footprint associated with the use of generic batteries including power banks; even more reason to get excited about the introduction of the fuel cells.

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