CMR Fuel Cells Limited, based in Cambridge, UK, is dedicated to the development of a revolutionary flow-through fuel cell utilising mixed reactants.

CMR (compact mixed-reactant) is a radical new fuel cell stack technology; the patented design architecture aims to make fuel cells 10 times smaller and more powerful, and up to 80 per cent cheaper than competing products, thereby overcoming the key hurdles delaying mass-market global sales.
Whereas current fuel cells are typically complex, tightly toleranced stacks of individual multi-component cells with precious metal catalysts, CMR delivers a radical architecture simplification and a robust porous 'solid-state' stack with dramatically fewer and cheaper components.
In the CMR system, a mixture of fuel and oxidant flows through a fully porous anode-electrolyte-cathode assembly, with no need for expensive, bulky, flow-field plates. Whatever the specific geometry or chemistry, CMR cells require selective electrode catalysts; these have been identified and are now being used in the development of a methanol fuel cell with a view to stacks being designed for applications such as battery chargers, auxiliary power units, laptop computers, power tools, robotic devices, portable generators, and portable military applications.
Michael Priestnall, CEO of CMR Fuel Cells, comments: "Cost, durability, system complexity and fuelling are key barriers delaying mass-commercialisation of fuel cell technology. Our Compact Mixed-Reactant stack technology addresses each of these head-on. We are applying it first in portable direct methanol fuel cells where we believe the market opportunity is closest. I believe that one day all fuel cells will have to be built this way."
CMR Fuel Cells is a company spun off from The Generics Group of Cambridge, UK, which remains a significant minority shareholder. In early 2004 it was announced that Conduit Ventures, a venture capital firm, had made a heavy investment in CMR Fuel Cells, and the co-investor is Carbon Trust Investments.