PolyFuel Sets New Record For Portable Fuel Cell Performance -- Again.New, Ultra-thin 20-Micron Membrane Material Beats PolyFuel's -- and Industry's -- Best by 40% MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- PolyFuel, Inc., a world leader in engineered fuel cell membranes Cell membrane The membrane that surrounds the cytoplasm of a cell; it is also called the plasma membrane or, in a more general sense, a unit membrane. This is a very thin, semifluid, sheetlike structure made of four continuous monolayers of molecules. , revealed today that its new, ultra-thin membrane delivers over 40% more power than any fuel cell membrane previously available. The new 20-micron hydrocarbon membrane, when used in direct methanol fuel cells Direct-methanol fuel cells or DMFCs are a subcategory of proton-exchange fuel cells where, the fuel, methanol (CH3OH), is not reformed, but fed directly to the fuel cell. (DMFC DMFC Direct Methanol Fuel Cell ) being developed for micro power applications such as notebook computers and cell phones, produces an unprecedented 200 milliwatts of peak power per square centimeter centimeter (sĕn`tĭmē'tər), abbr. cm, unit of length equal to 0.01 meter, the basic unit of length in the metric system. The centimeter is the unit of length in the cgs system. It is approximately equal to 0. of material at 70C -- a level which allows for a significant reduction in the size, weight and cost of the fuel cell "stack", a key component in the fuel cell system. Such small fuel cell power supplies are being developed by leading manufacturers to deliver the extended runtimes that consumers desire from their portable electronic devices. Fuel cell membranes -- often called the "heart of the fuel cell" -- allow an electrochemical electrochemical /elec·tro·chem·i·cal/ (-kem´i-k'l) pertaining to interaction or interconversion of chemical and electrical energies. e·lec·tro·chem·i·cal adj. reaction to occur that generates electricity directly from a solution of fuel -- in this case a combination of readily-available methanol -- and water. Previous records in this area were set by another PolyFuel hydrocarbon membrane, one 45 microns thick, from which 140 milliwatts of peak power per square centimeter was obtained at similar conditions. Other materials, such as fluorocarbon fluorocarbon /flu·o·ro·car·bon/ (floor´o-kahr?b?n) any of the class of organic compounds consisting of carbon and fluorine only. membranes -- considered by many to be at their "end of life" stage -- have not been able to demonstrate such high power while maintaining acceptable efficiencies. The new membrane also allows more than twice the amount of water to diffuse through it than previous membranes, which can simplify the design of the fuel cell. During operation, water in the fuel-water solution is consumed on one side of the membrane -- the anode anode (ăn`ōd), electrode through which current enters an electric device. In electrolysis, it is the positive electrode in the electrolytic cell. anode Terminal or electrode from which electrons leave a system. -- only to reappear reappear Verb to come back into view reappearance n Verb 1. reappear - appear again; "The sores reappeared on her body"; "Her husband reappeared after having left her years ago" on the opposite side -- the cathode -- as a by-product by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. by-product Noun 1. . PolyFuel's new membrane allows the water to diffuse back from the cathode to the anode, where it can once again participate in the reaction. This "molecular-level recycling" can eliminate the need for pumps, which are especially problematic in products intended for smaller applications such as cell phones or PDAs. Samsung engineers indicated recently that the new membrane is a breakthrough from their perspective. They recently conducted a rigorous series of tests on every fuel cell membrane that they could find, and PolyFuel's 20 micron material outperformed all of the others in terms of its combination of power and efficiency. Samsung is among the leaders in consumer electronics in trying to find alternatives to extend the runtime for portable electronic devices, which, with the rapid rise in consumer-demanded features such as video, are becoming increasingly power hungry -- beyond the capabilities of even today's best available batteries. Moreover, the recent unfavorable publicity that such batteries have received due to catching fire while in service in laptop computers -- and the resultant high-profile product recalls - is only hastening the search for alternative long runtime power supplies. Micro power fuel cells are viewed by many as the best, and increasingly viable, solution. Said one of Samsung's Principal Engineers, "A fuel cell can never deliver too much power, or be too efficient. We expect that the new material, plus the strong support that PolyFuel is providing, will enable us to achieve a new performance milestone." The market for handheld devices alone is currently estimated at over one billion units per year, and includes mobile phones, handheld industrial computers, printers, scanners, and various communications and surveillance devices used in homeland security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States applications. Each of these requires a reliable, long-running power source. Because of this demand, coupled with recent improvements in fuel cell design and manufacturing technologies, it is widely believed that a commercial portable fuel cell market is imminent. A 2006 report from Frost and Sullivan, for example, has predicted that sales of consumer portable fuel cells will reach over 38 million units by 2009, with commercial product introductions projected to begin in the 2007 to 2008 timeframe. Virtually every major consumer electronics company and battery company worldwide has extensive, internal fuel cell development efforts underway. PolyFuel was the world's first company founded specifically to nano-engineer exotic membranes for fuel cells, and rapidly rose to a widely-acknowledged leadership position. Now, with the introduction of its ultra-thin, high-performing 20-micron membrane, fuel cell developers and manufacturers have a wide range of PolyFuel membranes to meet differing design criteria Noun 1. design criteria - criteria that designers should meet in designing some system or device; "the job specifications summarized the design criteria" criterion, standard - the ideal in terms of which something can be judged; "they live by the standards of their . Unlike "legacy" fuel cell membranes made from fluorocarbon polymers such as the one found in non-stick Teflon[R], PolyFuel's higher-performing membranes utilize a hydrocarbon polymer chemistry Polymer chemistry or macromolecular chemistry is a multidisciplinary science that deals with the chemical synthesis and chemical properties of polymers or macromolecules. . Jim Balcom, Chief Executive Officer of PolyFuel, commented: "The characteristics of PolyFuel's hydrocarbon membrane chemistry, such as high power density, low methanol crossover, and now high water back diffusion, allow for significantly improved flexibility in the design of portable fuel cells." The performance results achieved by PolyFuel's new 20 micron membrane were obtained using a commercially-available Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey plc (LSE: JMAT) is a British chemical company which has its headquarters near Holborn in central London. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. catalyst, and commercially-available gas diffusion layers (GDLs). Total catalyst loading was 5.6 milligrams of platinum per square centimeter. About PolyFuel PolyFuel (www.polyfuel.com) is the world leader in engineered membranes that provide significantly improved performance in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) and hydrogen fuel cells, particularly for portable electronic and automotive applications. The state of the art of fuel cells is essentially that of the membrane, and PolyFuel's best in class, hydrocarbon-based membranes enable a new generation of fuel cells that for the first time can deliver on the long-awaited promise of clean, long-running, and cost-effective portable power. PolyFuel has an unmatched capability to rapidly translate the system-level requirements of fuel cell designers and manufacturers into engineered polymer nano-architectures. Such capability -- based on PolyFuel's over 150 combined years of fuel cell experience, world-class polymer nano-architects, and a fundamental patent position covering more than 23 different inventions -- also makes PolyFuel an essential development partner and supplier to any company seeking to advance the state of the art in fuel cells. Polymer electrolyte electrolyte (ĭlĕk`trəlīt'), electrical conductor in which current is carried by ions rather than by free electrons (as in a metal). fuel cells built with PolyFuel membranes can be smaller, lighter, longer-running, more efficient, less expensive and more robust than those made with other membrane materials. PolyFuel is working with most of the world's leading portable fuel cell system developers, the majority of whom are household brand name consumer electronics manufacturers. To-date, every company that has completed their evaluation testing of PolyFuel's membrane has gone on to purchase PolyFuel's membrane products. Several of the largest Japanese and Korean consumer electronics companies rank PolyFuel's membrane as the best portable fuel cell membrane available in the world today. To date, Sanyo, NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. and now Samsung have disclosed they are using PolyFuel membranes. PolyFuel was spun out of SRI International (company) SRI International - One of the world's largest contract research firms. Founded in 1946 in conjuction with Stanford University as the Stanford Research Institute, they later became fully independent and were incorporated as a non-profit organisation under U.S. (formerly the Stanford Research Institute Stanford Research Institute - Former name of SRI International. ) in 1999, after 14 years of applied membrane research. The company is based in Mountain View, California For the census-designated place, see Mountain View, Contra Costa County, California. For other places called "Mountain View", see . Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains. , and is publicly listed on the AIM stock exchange in London. Editors, note: All trademarks and registered trademarks are those of their respective companies. Additional background information is available at www.roeder-johnson.com. This news release may contain forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. , including with respect to the development of the fuel cell market. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. PolyFuel securities have not been registered under the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons (within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act) unless the securities are registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act is available. Hedging transaction involving any such securities may not be conducted unless in compliance with the Securities Act. |
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