The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 was awarded jointly to John B.
Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino "for the development
of lithium-ion batteries."
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.
Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised our lives since they
first entered the market in 1991. They have laid the foundation of a wireless,
fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind.
John B. Goodenough, born 1922 in
Jena, Germany. Ph.D. 1952 from the University of Chicago, USA. Virginia
H. Cockrell Chair in Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin,
USA.
M. Stanley Whittingham, born 1941 in the UK. Ph.D. 1968 from Oxford University,
UK. Distinguished Professor at Binghamton University, State University of New
York, USA.
Akira Yoshino, born 1948 in Suita, Japan. Ph.D. 2005 from Osaka
University, Japan. Honorary Fellow at Asahi Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan and
professor at Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan.
Prize amount: 9 million Swedish krona, to be shared equally between the
Laureates.
