Summary: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2019 is being awarded to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira
Yoshino "for the development of lithium-ion batteries."
The Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2019 to John B. Goodenough, of The University of Texas at Austin, USA, M.
Stanley Whittingham, of Binghamton University, State University of New York,
USA, and Akira Yoshino of Asahi Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, and Meijo
University, Nagoya, Japan "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.
Story Source:
Materials
provided by Nobel Foundation.
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