WHILE THE THEORETICAL BOUNDS ON THE ENERGY STORED BY AND THE POWER OUTPUT OF ELECTROCHEMICAL POWER SOURCES ARE WELL DEFINED BY THERMODYNAMIC AND PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS, THE DEGREE TO WHICH ONE CAN APPROACH THE THEORETICAL BOUNDS IS DETERMINED BY

WHILE THE THEORETICAL BOUNDS ON THE ENERGY STORED BY AND THE POWER OUTPUT OF ELECTROCHEMICAL POWER SOURCES ARE WELL DEFINED BY THERMODYNAMIC AND PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS, THE DEGREE TO WHICH ONE CAN APPROACH THE THEORETICAL BOUNDS IS DETERMINED BY CONTRAINTS IMPOSED BY THE DESIGN OF THE ELECTRODES AND PACKAGING MATERIALS. THIS RESEARCH DEALS WITH AN INNOVATIVE CONCEPT FOR MATERIALS AND PACKAGE DESIGN WHICH, IF SUCCESSFUL, WILL MAKE POSSIBLE A SUBSTANTIAL ADVANCE IN THE POWER DENSITY OF FIELDABLE ELECTROCHEMICAL POWER SOURCES. THE RESEARCH FOCUSES ON A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS DESIGNED TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF ELIMINATING THE DUCTING AND MOST OF THE ELECTROLYTE NOW FOUND IN FUEL CELL DESIGNS. THE MATERIALS CHOSEN PERMIT OPERATION AT TEMPERATURES THAT PERMIT THE DIRECT ELECTROXIDATION OF METHANOL, AND AT TEMPERATURES WELL IN EXCESS OF THOSE NORMALLY ENCOUNTERED IN OPERATING BATTERIES.