The money quote about the applicability of the “dirt” fuel cell:
“We can use very simple engineered systems to capture their electricity. We’re not going to power entire cities with this energy. But we can capture minute amounts of energy to fuel practical, low-power applications.”
In sum - limited applicability.
certainly limited applicability, but, that means that a battery needs not be used in this application that can be utilized elsewhere.
“certainly limited applicability, but, that means that a battery needs not be used in this application that can be utilized elsewhere”
Granted, but are you aware that very simple devices can manually crank-out/generate electricity - no battery, no fuel cell. There are radios, cell phones and other devices that use manually cranked out electricity in remote situations the world over. There are even such devices for recharging batteries.