Casio Computer Co. Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) announced that it will unveil its newly developed fuel cells at a chemical engineering conference on March 27, 2002. The new fuel cell technology is suitable for use in laptop computers, digital cameras, PDAs and pocket television receivers.
Within the reformate fuel cell, a reformer produces hydrogen from fuel or alcohol, and electric energy is generated from the hydrogen through a generating cell. The reformer, a micro-reactor formed on a silicon wafer, causes a chemical reaction to reform methanol to hydrogen gas in the presence of catalyst at a reforming rate of more than 98 percent. The generating cell, which brings a chemical reaction between oxygen and the produced hydrogen, has a high-power-generation efficiency per area and provides energy.
Casio aims to commercialize the fuel cell in 2004 and will advance research and development to improve performance and develop applications to various devices.
