DoCoMo develops advanced fuel cell
08/17/2006
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
NTT DoCoMo Inc. has developed a prototype fuel cell that it says is the world’s smallest designed for cellphones.
DoCoMo is using polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) technology, which produces hydrogen from water.
Aquafairy Co., a venture based in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, provided the catalyst for hydrogen production.
Fuel cells generate electricity through chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Many conventional systems extract hydrogen from methanol.
The PEFC prototype is about one-fourth the size of a methanol-based prototype DoCoMo developed in 2005.
DoCoMo said the technology enables larger output and higher power density than methanol-based fuel cells.
The prototype recharger measures 2.4 centimeters by 2.4 cm by 7 cm. A prototype fuel cartridge can be used more than three times.
It takes about as long as conventional rechargers to recharge a cellphone battery. DoCoMo aims to market rechargers for several thousand yen and fuel cartridges for several hundred yen.

However, the text the above clearly states “Water is injected into a fuel cartridge where a catalyst converts it into hydrogen.” Weird hey? The diagram above and the press releases calling literally a “Hydrogen generating agent”. Something is fishy.

The PEFC can operate on reformed hydrocarbon fuels.
The electrode reactions in the PEFC are analogous to those in the PAFC. Hydrogen from the fuel gas stream is consumed at the anode, yielding electrons to the anode and producing hydrogen ions which enter the electrolyte. At the cathode, oxygen combines with electrons from the cathode and hydrogen ions from the electrolyte to produce water. The water does not dissolve in the electrolyte and is, instead,
rejected from the back of the cathode into the oxidant gas stream. As the PEFC operates at about 175 °F (80 °C), the water is produced as liquid water and is
carried out of the fuel cell by excess oxidant flow.

A liquid cooling system is required. This means that there is pure water inside the cells. Ballard has tested the fuel cell at below freezing temperatures and there was no damage to the stack. It appears that the stack coolant must be drained after shutdown. I do not know what repeated freeze-thaw cycling would do to the hydrated stack even if drained.

D’oh!

—->“We do fuel cell stuff here at UCLA as well. Send a grant.”

Sure! Your Japanese check is in the mail, hee, hee.

(Hint: Japanese checks are don’t exist in real life—few Japanese have ever seen a check.)

Anyway, this is some sort of PEFC, Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (Sulfonated Polyimide sulfonic oxidation poly-ether electrolyte membrane ). Since 2002 METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) dumping money in polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) system demonstration projects

——–
Docomo’s “Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell” {aka PEFC type fuel cell)
PEFC system:
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (the solid high-molecular type fuel cell which designates hydrogen as the fuel). Directly it is the fuel cell which generates electricity by reacting hydrogen and oxygen hydrogen as a fuel, high output and high energy density conversion are expected in comparison with DMFC system.This charger actualizes, although structure of the mechanism and the generation of electricity cell which generate hydrogen being simple, because efficiency of generation of electricity is high, the former development item (2005 July 6th reporting announcement) with by comparison, size of 1/4 or less, output of 2 times or more (power).

FUEL: Water + 水素発生剤 “hydrogen occurrence medicine” 10cc (cartridge that can be exchanged)

I don’t know if this is what ‘Aquafairy’ is actually doing, but they do need a “fuel” in addition
to a “catalyst”. I suggested metallic sodium and water — I seem to remember my high
chemistry class.

Water-Powered Cellphones? Really?
TueJuly182006 – Gizmodo
…It’s not exactly creating power out of water, but outputs its 2 watts by using Aquafairy’s thin film power unit technology, a fuel cartridge that serves as a catalyst for turning water into hydrogen which runs the fuel cell. The thin film unit still needs fuel (what type of fuel isn’t mentioned), but it looks like a great storage medium to provide plenty of power on demand—enough to charge your cellphone in the same amount of time it takes when using an AC adapter.