Today, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino “for the development of lithium-ion batteries”.
Taking into consideration how important it was to introduce more energy-dense batteries - first for mobile phones, laptops and portable devices and for the past 10 years also electric cars, the award was inevitable. Storage energy is still one of the most important topics, which in the coming decades should allow civilizations to gradually switch to renewable energy sources and zero emission transport, tremendously affecting all areas of life.
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John B. Goodenough
The University of Texas at Austin, USA -
M. Stanley Whittingham
Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA -
Akira Yoshino
Asahi Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan
We would not be here, enjoying the advent of electric cars, without these scientists.
By the way, John B. Goodenough is now the oldest winner of a Nobel prize (97). Each of the winners will get 9 million SEK (over $900,000).
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The development of first lithium-ion batteries required a few milestones along the way, before the cells were good enough for commercialization.
First, the proof of concept was developed by Whittingham in the 1970s, then Goodenough improved the cell capacity (to stand out from other types of rechargeable batteries) and then Yoshino managed to replace the pure lithium to make the cells safer. Then, a few Japanese companies jumped-in with developing actual products.
Here is an official announcement:
They created a rechargeable world
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 rewards the development of the lithium-ion battery. This lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery is now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles. It can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society.
Lithium-ion batteries are used globally to power the portable electronics that we use to communicate, work, study, listen to music and search for knowledge. Lithiumion batteries have also enabled the development of long-range electric cars and the storage of energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power.
The foundation of the lithium-ion battery was laid during the oil crisis in the 1970s. Stanley Whittingham worked on developing methods that could lead to fossil fuel-free energy technologies. He started to research superconductors and discovered an extremely energy-rich material, which he used to create an innovative cathode in a lithium battery. This was made from titanium disulphide which, at a molecular level, has spaces that can house – intercalate – lithium ions.
The battery’s anode was partially made from metallic lithium, which has a strong drive to release electrons. This resulted in a battery that literally had great potential, just over two volts. However, metallic lithium is reactive and the battery was too explosive to be viable.
John Goodenough predicted that the cathode would have even greater potential if it was made using a metal oxide instead of a metal sulphide. After a systematic search, in 1980 he demonstrated that cobalt oxide with intercalated lithium ions can produce as much as four volts. This was an important breakthrough and would lead to much more powerful batteries.
With Goodenough’s cathode as a basis, Akira Yoshino created the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery in 1985. Rather than using reactive lithium in the anode, he used petroleum coke, a carbon material that, like the cathode’s cobalt oxide, can intercalate lithium ions.
The result was a lightweight, hardwearing battery that could be charged hundreds of times before its performance deteriorated. The advantage of lithium-ion batteries is that they are not based upon chemical reactions that break down the electrodes, but upon lithium ions flowing back and forth between the anode and cathode.
The announcement:
Full video (not so good audio quality):
Source: nobelprize.org
