Tiny Propane-Burning Fuel Cell Packs a Punch
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Caltech researchers have developed a propane-burning fuel cell that is almost as small as a watch battery but produces more power for longer periods.
Two of the devices could power an MP3 player, chemical engineer Sossina Haile and colleagues reported in this week’s issue of the journal Nature. Previous cells have suffered because the high surface-to-volume ratio cools them to temperatures too low to maintain a reaction. The new device burns a small part of its fuel to maintain its internal temperature.
