Fueling longer mobile battery life
Motorola, the US mobile handset maker, has made an undisclosed investment in Tekion, a fuel cell company, according to the ExtremeTech website.

Tekion’s fuel cells are powered using formic acid (the same substance ants use to protect their nests), because it is not flammable like other alternatives such as methanol, and because it has a high energy density, enabling a lot of power to be packed into a small amount of fuel.

Fuel cells are carbon neutral and provide an instant recharge – just top up the cell with extra fuel and you get instant, new battery life. No plugging in a charger and having to wait. They produce electricity when oxygen enters the cell and they react to it.

Tekion has already demonstrated its technology on a Nokia phone. It is developing a hybrid product with both a lithium ion battery (as commonly found in mobile phones) and a fuel cell for the satellite phone market.

The company did not say exactly what it was doing for Motorola but said funding from the company would be used to commercialise the technology in time for a planned 2007 launch. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1884404,00.asp