Lithium-ion battery inventors win Nobel Prize

RECOGNITION FOR A SOCIETAL TRANFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

IT'S BEEN A godsend. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery powers most of our devices, from smartphones to laptops to electric cars. And the three men who were integral to its development have just been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino will share this year's Nobel "for the development of lithium-ion batteries," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.

Whittingham, of Binghamton University, State University of New York, while developing technologies for fossil fuel-free energy, discovered an energy-rich material that he used to create a cathode (negatively charged electrode) in a lithium-ion battery. The resulting battery, with metallic lithium as the anode, created two volts of power. Goodenough, of The University of Texas at Austin, created a similar battery using cobalt oxide (also with little lithium ions hidden in its empty spaces) as the cathode, resulting in as much as four volts of power.

Then, building on Goodenough's cathode, Yoshino "created the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery in 1985," the Nobel Prize foundation said. Yoshino, who is at the Asahi

Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, and Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan, switched out the material for the anode. Instead of metallic lithium, he used a carbon material called petroleum coke that can hide lithium ions in its molecular spaces.

"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," the Nobel Prize foundation said.

THE RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY POWERS MOST OF OUR DEVICES, FROM SMARTPHONES TO LAPTOPS TO ELECTRIC CARS. AND THE THREE MEN WHO WERE INTEGRAL TO ITS DEVELOPMENT HAVE JUST BEEN AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY.