An American physicist, a British-American chemist and a Japanese chemist on October 9, 2019, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 “for the development of lithium-ion batteries”, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
John B Goodenough from the University of Texas at Austin at United States, M Stanley Whittingham from Binghamton University, State University of New York in the US and Akira Yoshino from Asahi Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan och Meijo University, Nagoya in Japan “created a rechargeable world”, read the statement on the website. Goodenough, 97, is the oldest-ever to win the prestigious prize.
The “lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery” today powers everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles.
The batteries have also contributed towards a fossil fuel-free world by storing significant amounts of energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power” and have paved the way for “the development of long-range electric cars”.
Whittingham began research on methods to build fossil fuel-free energy technologies during the oil-crisis in the 1970s. He discovered an extremely energy-rich material and created an innovative cathode in a lithium battery, with just over two volts.
Using cobalt oxide with intercalated lithium ions, Goodenough produced more powerful batteries with four volts in 1980.Read More..
