Coming soon … a green laptop that runs on water?

Green chemistry company SiGNa Chemistry has unveiled a new chemical process for generating hydrogen from water, which the company says could solve both of the most vexing hydrogen fuel cell problems: real-time hydrogen generation and storage.

SiGNa Chemistry’s CEO Michael Lefenfeld told me that the new process could make hydrogen fuel cells practical as a power source for consumer electronics like laptops and cell phones. Since the hydrogen is generated from water, this effectively means that you end up with a water-fueled laptop.

A fuel cell transforms the chemical energy of a fuel (hydrogen, methanol, natural gas, gasoline), and an oxidant like the oxygen in air, into electrical energy. Fuel cells have many similarities with batteries, but no electrodes are consumed in the fuel cell process. In a hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is then used as the fuel.

Coming soon … a green laptop that runs on water? | VentureBeat