TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRICAL POWER AND ENERGY - Preferred Component: The fuel cell comprises a fuel chamber and an electrolyte chamber, where fuel chamber and/or electrolyte chamber enclose a volume, which is shaped approximately like a C or an I, with two approximately horizontal portions and one approximately vertical portion. The two approximately horizontal portions together enclose a volume, which is not greater than 10 and not less than 1% of a total volume of the C or I.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Component: The membrane is a porous membrane, which comprises an inorganic material including glass, ceramic, metal, alumina, and/or zeolite. It has a borosilicate material.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - METALLURGY - Preferred Component: The membrane comprises stainless steel.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Component: The fluorinated aliphatic group comprises a fluoroalkyl group having 4-20C. It comprises a perfluoroalkyl group having 6-10C. It comprises a perfluorooctyl group. The membrane comprises a gas-pervious hydrophobic coating on its side, which faces an interior of the fuel cell. The coating is derived from hydrolyzable silane(s), which has fluorinated aliphatic group(s) directly bonded to a silicon atom, the fluorinated aliphatic group comprising 6-10 C and greater than or equal to5 fluorine atoms. The hydrolyzable silane(s) comprises trialkoxyperfluoroalkylsilane(s), which comprises trimethoxyperfluorooctylsilane and/or triethoxyperfluorooctylsilane.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Component: The membrane is a porous membrane, which comprises an inorganic material including glass, ceramic, metal, alumina, and/or zeolite. It has a borosilicate material.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Component: The membrane comprises a porous membrane, which comprises a hydrophobic material including a fluorine-containing polymer, which comprises a fluorine containing polyolefin. The hydrophobic material comprises polytetrafluoroethylene. The membrane comprises activated carbon, which is dispersed in and/or bonded by the fluorine-containing polymer. The porous membrane comprises a hydrogen-pervious coating on its side(s), which faces an interior of the fuel cell, which coating has a surface energy, which is lower than the surface energy of the porous membrane. The coating comprises a polymer with repeating units, which comprise a fluorinated aliphatic group having greater than or equal to5 fluorine atoms. The polymer comprises units derived from perfluorooctyl methacrylate. The membrane is a non-porous membrane. It comprises a silicone rubber and/or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-treated activated carbon. The membrane comprises a protective component (PE), which protects the membrane(s) from physical and/or chemical attack by the fuel and its decomposition and reaction products. Preferred Composition: The membrane comprises (weight %): activated carbon (90-50) and PTFE (50-10). Preferred Dimension: The membrane comprises pores having diameters of 0.1-5 microns. It has a thickness of 100-300 microns. It has a thickness of 20 microns-1 nm or 20-1000 microns. EXAMPLE - The cleaned and dried membrane was dipped into a solution of the coating material (e.g. FluoroPel PFC 601A, a 1% fluoropolymer solution in 3M HFE 7100 fluorosolvent) for 10-15 seconds. The coated membrane was left to dry in air for 30 minutes and vacuum-dried at 90degreesC for 2 hours.