How does a lithium-ion battery operate?

Nobel Prize for Chemistry Jointly Awarded to Three Scientists

This year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry ^[1] was awarded to three
distinguished individuals for providing us with a rechargeable
world.

Thanks to the following three scientists, we have gained access
to a technological revolution:

John B. Goodenough ^[2], born in 1922,
affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin, is the oldest
Nobel Laureate ever to be awarded the prize. British scientist
Stanley Whittingham ^[3], at Binghampton
University in the U.S., was the second Laureate, and
lastly, Akira Yoshino ^[4], who is affiliated with
Meijo University in Japan.

Our truly portable electronics, such as mobile phones,
pacemakers, and long-distance electric cars, and other gadgets are
around today, thanks to the research conducted by them. They
developed lithium-ion batteries ^[5]
that are used everywhere today.

How does a lithium-ion battery operate?

No longer do batteries weigh two tonnes, but three kilograms.
They also now have the ability to store energy from renewable
resources, such as the sun and the wind, assisting in our quest for
more sustainable energy.

The three Laureates tamed the reactive element found in
batteries in a controlled manner, and today, we’re able to use and
recharge our durable batteries many hundreds of times.

Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised
our lives and are used in everything from mobile phones to laptops
and electric vehicles. Through their work, this year’s Chemistry
Laureates have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free
society.#NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/KXVfXlUT4B ^[7]^[8]

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October
9, 2019 ^[9]

It may look relatively easy to make a battery, but that’s just
not the case. It’s incredibly hard to produce the science to
develop well-working, efficient batteries ^[10].

Yet, that’s precisely what these three Laureates
achieved.

A double-A battery contains two electrodes filled with
electrolytes. As these are highly reactive elements, there is
sometimes a barrier between the two electrodes. Electrons then pass
through the circuit and power the electric device you want to
power.

The lightest metal we have is lithium. Lithium also has an
enormous tendency to give away one of its electrons, so it then
becomes positively charged lithium-ion.

However, the flip side is that it’s a fantastically reactive
element. To use lithium-ion in a battery, you have to tame its
reactivity — and that’s precisely what these three Laureates
achieved through their research.

How did they do it?

In the 1970s, Whittingham discovered a material called titanium disulfide ^[11] (a layered material).
This allows a battery to reach up to two volts. However, lithium
metal is not the most optimal element to have in a battery.

In the early 1970s, Stanley Whittingham,
awarded this year’s Chemistry Prize, used lithium’s enormous drive
to release its outer electron when he developed the first
functional lithium battery.#NobelPrize
pic.twitter.com/lRD2zBNm4T ^[12]^[13]

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2019 ^[14]

So, what could be used to replace it, all the while keeping or
increasing its voltage?

In the early 1980s, Goodenough discovered a fantastic material
based on cobalt oxide ^[15] that could do just
this. In fact, it even went up to four volts — a gigantic leap in
the battery world.

2019 Chemistry Laureate John Goodenough
doubled the lithium battery’s potential, creating the right
conditions for a vastly more powerful and useful battery.#NobelPrize
pic.twitter.com/ygivR7hySG ^[16]^[17]

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2019 ^[18]

However, batteries still had lithium metal. How could this be
changed to improve the battery even further?

This is where Yoshino comes into the picture, also in the early
1980s. Yoshino found that petroleum coke ^[19] also contained layered
structures, and a low potential compared to lithium. Combining this
with a battery’s other materials, it kept the voltage at four
volts.

This year’s #NobelPrize
laureate Akira Yoshino succeeded in eliminating pure lithium from
the battery, instead basing it wholly on lithium ions, which are
safer than pure lithium. This made the battery workable in
practice. pic.twitter.com/9tqSh5zTsS ^[20]^[21]

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2019 ^[22]

Thus, thanks to these three researchers’ combined discoveries,
we are able to use lithium-ion batteries — a battery that has
had a dramatic impact on our lives.

In a brief phone call with Dr. Yoshino, in which you could
palpably hear his joy, he remarked: “Curiosity is very important
for researchers. It’s curiosity-driven research that leads to great
benefits for human kind. ”