A major breakthrough in the development of fuel cell technology has been achieved that could bring their use in mobile devices a step closer.

Fuel cell membrane developer PolyFuel has announced that it has created a membrane which it claims can significantly increase the power availability of the micro-power class of fuel cells.

The firm claims that the new membrane will see an immediate 33 per cent improvement in power density for methanol fuel cells.

Jim Balcom, PolyFuel chief executive, claims that the new development should put fuel cells at the forefront of future development and enable them to become the main power sources as mobile devices become increasingly popular.

Commenting on the potential for fuel cells, Mr Balcom explained: "The truth is that, according to our customers, a consumer's daily mobile power requirements in 2007 will be at least four times what the best-available batteries can deliver today."

He continued: "As a mature technology, batteries are essentially tapped out."

News of the PolyFuel development comes just days after KDDI launched a prototype fuel cell-powered mobile phone.


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