3 battery pioneers win Nobel for Chemistry

Their work reduced world’s reliance on fossil fuels

STOCKHOLM, Oct 9, (AP): Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for their work developing lithium-ion batteries, which have reshaped energy storage and transformed cars, mobile phones and many other devices – and reduced the world’s reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

The prize went to John B. Goodenough, 97, a German-born engineering professor at the University of Texas; M. Stanley Whittingham, 77, a British-American chemistry professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton; and Japan’s Akira Yoshino, 71, of Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University.

Goodenough is the oldest person to ever win a Nobel Prize.

The three each had a set of unique breakthroughs that cumulatively laid the foundation for the development of a commercial rechargeable battery.

Lithium-ion batteries – the first truly portable and rechargeable batteries – took more than a decade to develop, and drew upon the work of multiple scientists in the US, Japan and around the world.

The work had its roots in the oil crisis in the 1970s, when Whittingham was working on efforts to develop fossil fuel-free energy technologies. He harnessed the enormous tendency of lithium – the lightest metal – to give away its electrons to make a battery capable of generating just over two volts.

By 1980, Goodenough had doubled the capacity of the battery to four volts by using cobalt oxide in the cathode – one of two electrodes, along with the anode, that make up the ends of a battery.

But that battery remained too explosive for general commercial use and needed to be tamed. That’s where Yoshino’s work in the 1980s came in. He substituted petroleum coke, a carbon material, in the battery’s anode. This step paved the way for the first lightweight, safe,

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Frans Timmermans, who was speaking durable and rechargeable commercial batteries to be built and enter the market in 1991.

“We have gained access to a technical revolution,” said Sara Snogerup Linse of the Nobel committee for chemistry. “The laureates developed lightweight batteries with high enough potential to be useful in many applications - truly portable electronics: mobile phones, pacemakers, but also long-distance electric cars.”

“The ability to store energy from renewable sources – the sun, the wind – opens up for sustainable energy consumption,” she added.

Surprised

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Yoshino said he thought there might be a long wait before the Nobel committee turned to his specialty - but he was wrong. He broke the news to his wife, who was just as surprised as he was.

“I only spoke to her briefly and said, ‘I got it,’ and she sounded she was so surprised that her knees almost gave way,” he said.

In a statement from SUNY-Binghamton, Whittingham said: “I am overcome with gratitude at receiving this award, and I honestly have so many people to thank, I don’t know where to begin.”

“It is my hope that this recognition will help to shine a much-needed light on the nation’s energy future,” he added.

The trio will share a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award. Their gold medals and diplomas will be conferred in Stockholm on Dec. 10 - the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.

On Tuesday, Canadian-born James Peebles won the Physics prize for his theoretical discoveries in cosmology together with Swiss scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, who were honored for finding an exoplanet - a planet outside our solar system - that orbits a solar-type star.

Americans William G. Kaelin Jr. and Gregg L. Semenza and Britain’s

at a confirmation hearing in the European Parliament, is likely to oversee the European Green Deal, the signature climate and environmental policy package in the executive that takes office on Nov 1.

As part of that deal, the carbon tax would shield European companies from competitors based in countries where climate Peter J. Ratcliffe won the Nobel Prize for advances in physiology or medicine on Monday. They were cited for their discoveries of “how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”

Two Nobel literature laureates are to be announced Thursday – one for 2018 and one for 2019 – because last year’s award was suspended after a sex abuse scandal rocked the Swedish Academy. The coveted Nobel Peace Prize is Friday and the economics award will be announced on Monday.

Whittingham developed the first functional lithium battery in the early 1970s. Goodenough doubled the battery’s potential in the following decade and Yoshino eliminated pure lithium from the battery, making it much safer to use.

Speaking on Japanese TV after hearing of his win, a smiling Yoshino said he was glad to have helped the environment.

“I am happy that Lithium ion battery won the prize in that context,” he said, adding that he also hoped it would inspire others: “I hope this will become an encouragement for young researchers.”

Gregory Offer, an expert in mechanical engineering at Imperial College London, said the scientists’ work had led to “one of the key enabling technologies of the 21st century”.

“They have already underpinned the mobile revolution, and are now essential to help us solve the problem of climate change by electrifying transport and storing renewable electricity generation,” he said in an emailed comment.

Peter Somfai, a professor of organic chemistry and a member of the Nobel committee for chemistry, said it was clear why the three should have won.

“This is a technology we use every day. Most people have a mobile phone, electric vehicles are getting more popular. So... it’s pretty straight forward why it’s an important discovery, he told Reuters.”

protection schemes are less strict.

“We should also be prepared to consider other instruments, for instance a carbon border tax, to level the playing field for European products,” Timmermans said in his opening statement to EU lawmakers.

Asked how feasible the tax was, he said he believed it could be compatible with World Trade Organization rules, but the Commission would have to research that.

“My idea would be to say to our international partners: we are making this transition to a climate neutral economy by 2050. If you make the same measures or comparable measures going in the same direction, we will make this voyage together,” he said.

Otherwise they would face a border adjustment based on the carbon footprint of their products.

As a step to climate neutrality by 2050, Timmermans said an EU target of a 55% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 was preferable to that of “at least 50%” laid out by the Commission president, but again he said the Commission would have to research that.

In the face of high European ambition, he was asked whether one way to level the playing field would be to allow non-EU states to participate in the EU Emissions Trading System, which makes polluters pay to emit carbon, instead of serving them with a border tax. He said that could be an option. (RTRS)