Sharp Corporation (News - Alert) announced today that it ahs achieved the world’s highest power density, 0.3W/cc, for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) for mobile equipment, saying it can build battery cells that will last much longer than traditional lithium-ion batteries but have the same cell volume.

 

Sharp officials said they’ll research the practical application of fuel cells for mobile equipment such as PDAs, electronic dictionaries, and notebook computers.

 

The new technology was unveiled this week at The 15th Fuel Cell Symposium in Tokyo, an event sponsored by the Fuel Cell Development Information Center.

 

Sharp Corporation develops innovative products and core technologies that play a key role in shaping the future of electronics. With liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and digital technologies, Sharp officials say the company offers consumer electronics, information products and electronic components, while also creating new network businesses.

 

Power in a DMFC is generated by a chemical reaction between methanol, supplied directly to the power generation, and oxygen in the air. Since the fuel cells have great potential for future use in mobile equipment, active research and development on DMFC is intensifying all over the world, according to Sharp. Apart from some hiccups that can be sorted out soon, their low power density that increases the size of the power generation part and, as a result, increases the total cell volume, according to Sharp.

 

Special attention has been given to the power generation part’s stack structure. Sharp has developed the three-dimensional highly integrated stack structure through the use of thin cells made by micro-fabrication. This structure can be created by the alternate lamination of reed-shaped thin cells arranged in parallel at fixed intervals and reed-shaped (porous) spacers, with the cells and spacers running perpendicular to each other like a grid. This structure enables the formation of uniformed and continuous spaces to increase the cell surface area per unit volume and smoothly circulate the air that is one of the sources for power generation.  

 

Sharp has improved power density per unit volume and achieved the world’s highest level, 0.3W/cc (about 7 times greater than previous Sharp technology, according to Sharp). In the future, through continuing to pursue the development of this elemental technology, cell volume can be further miniaturized, and the creation of cells with the same volume but a longer lifespan than the currently mainstream lithium-ion batteries can be achieved, according to Sharp.

 

Sharp has promised to sponsor this tech and dedicate itself to produce longer lifespan batteries.