The 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to John B Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for developing lithium-ion batteries. These batteries are today used in everyday items from mobile phones to remote controls and even electric vehicles.
At 97, John B Goodenough has become the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize. He will share the USD 914,000 cash prize equally with Japanese chemist Yoshino and British chemist Whittingham.
The three scientists, with their invention, "created the right conditions for a wireless and fossil fuel-free society," the jury said. "This lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery… can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society.”
The development of lithium-ion batteries began in the 1970s when during the oil crisis, Whittingham began "developing methods that could lead to fossil fuel-free energy technologies," the Nobel Academy said in a statement. The British chemist developed the first functional lithium battery.
However, the metallic lithium that made up the battery's anode was too reactive to be viable.
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In the 1980s materials scientist Goodenough made a major breakthrough when he doubled the battery's potential. "After a systematic search, in 1980 he demonstrated that cobalt oxide with intercalated lithium ions can produce as much as four volts," the Academy said in a statement.
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In the final stage, Yoshino created the first commercially viable batteries in 1985 when "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 academy said. He replaced pure lithium with lithium ions, which are safer and made the batteries workable.
