Researchers at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) have built a new mobile-phone recharger based on fuel cell technology. The handset rechargers, which contains the fuel cell, will cost around US$30, while the fuel itself will come in small blue plastic tubes for about US$0.30 each. The real innovation by ITRI is the fuel for the recharger, plasticized solid-state hydrogen. The plastic is soft enough that it can be shaped to suit the needs of different devices. It's designed to react with water to release the hydrogen to a fuel cell to produce electricity.
People using the handset recharger will get a two-hour charge per $0.30 tube of fuel, then they'll need to buy a new tube.
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