“Some companies have said they ran laptops for 10 to 20 hours on a single methanol charge,†said Jason Harrington, one of the project's graduate students.
While conventional batteries have to either be completely replaced or charged from a wall outlet, neither method is needed to charge a direct methanol fuel cell, according to Swanson. A methanol-charged refill canister the size of a lighter is all that is necessary to instantly restore the fuel cell to full power.
Traditional batteries are also limited by number of charges they can take and are difficult to dispose of because of the toxic chemicals they contain. In contrast, direct methanol fuel cells offer almost zero pollution and can be recharged indefinitely, according to Harrington.