Stockholm, Oct 9 (UNI) The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 has been awarded to John B Goodenough, M Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles, besides storing significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it has decided to award the 9 million Swedish krona prize to John B Goodenough, The University of Texas at Austin, USA, M Stanley Whittingham, Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA and Akira Yoshino, Asahi Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan och Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan, 'for the development of lithium-ion batteries.'
Lithium-ion batteries are used globally to power the portable electronics used to communicate, work, study, listen to music and search for knowledge. Lithium-ion 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.
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