Water Powered Cell Phones

Running out of juice on the cell phone? Just fill it up with water.

Samsung has announced a micro fuel cell and hydrogen generator that will be capable of powering small electronics such as cellphones for 10 hours on nothing but good old water.

The fuel will be in the form of hydrogen cartridges that must be changed every four days or so if you use the phone for four hours a day. Later, Samsung plans to evolve the design so all you'll need to do is put some water in your cellphone and you're good to go.

"When the handset is turned on, metal and water in the phone react to produce hydrogen gas," explained Oh Yong-soo, vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics' research center. "The gas is then supplied to the fuel cell where it reacts with oxygen in the air to generate power." Other fuel cells need methanol to produce hydrogen, while Samsung's needs only water.

Since the micro-fuel cell can generate up to three watts of electricity, it could be used in mobile devices, the company said. The new fuel cell could power a handset for 10 hours, twice as long as rechargeable batteries.

Don't expect anything like this anytime soon, though, because the first water-powered phones will not hit the market until 2010.