Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019: Goodenough Whittingham Yoshino and the Lithium-Ion Battery

This note covers the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019: who won it, how the lithium-ion battery was built up step by step by John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, how their work fits together, how the discovery unfolded across the 1970s and 1980s, why it matters today and quick facts for exams.

What was the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 awarded for?

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences gave the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 jointly to three scientists "for the development of lithium-ion batteries".

This is the official name of the prize; it is one of the five original Nobel Prizes set out by Alfred Nobel's will, awarded for the most important discovery or improvement in the field of chemistry.

In plain words, the three laureates did not work as one team. Instead, over roughly fifteen years, each solved a separate part of the same puzzle: how to build a rechargeable battery that is light, powerful and safe enough to carry in a pocket.

Whittingham found the first working lithium cell, Goodenough made its cathode far more powerful, and Yoshino made the whole design safe enough to sell. Together their discoveries created the lithium-ion battery that now powers mobile phones, laptops and electric cars.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in its press release that this battery "can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society." The prize therefore rewards not one single experiment but a chain of linked breakthroughs that together changed how the world stores electrical energy.

Who are the laureates?

John B. Goodenough

John B. Goodenough was born on 25 July 1922 in Jena, Germany, and died on 25 June 2023 in Austin, TX, USA. At the time of the award he held the Virginia H. Cockrell Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and received one third of the prize.

He studied mathematics at Yale University, served as a meteorologist in the US Army during the Second World War, and then earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago in 1952.

He later worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Oxford University before joining the University of Texas at Austin in 1986.

In 1980 he showed that a cobalt oxide cathode could hold lithium ions and produce a much higher voltage than earlier designs, a discovery that made far more powerful batteries possible.

M. Stanley Whittingham

M. Stanley Whittingham was born on 22 December 1941 in the United Kingdom. At the time of the award he was a Distinguished Professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA, and received one third of the prize.

He completed his doctorate at Oxford University in 1968, did postdoctoral work at Stanford University, then joined Exxon in 1972 before moving to Binghamton in 1988.

In the 1970s, while researching superconductors at Exxon, he discovered that titanium disulphide could take up lithium ions and used it to build the first working rechargeable lithium battery.

Akira Yoshino

Akira Yoshino was born on 30 January 1948 in Suita, Japan. At the time of the award he was affiliated with Asahi Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, and with Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan, and received one third of the prize.

He joined Asahi Kasei in 1972 and received his doctorate from Osaka University in 2005.

In 1985 he built the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery by replacing reactive metallic lithium with petroleum coke, a safer carbon material, in the anode, paired with Goodenough's cobalt oxide cathode.

What problem were they trying to solve?

By the middle of the twentieth century only two rechargeable batteries existed in wide use: the heavy lead-acid battery, invented in 1859 and still used to start petrol-driven cars, and the nickel-cadmium battery developed in the first half of the century. Both were bulky and stored relatively little energy for their weight.

The 1970s oil crisis sharpened the problem. Rising petrol prices and worsening smog from exhaust fumes pushed vehicle makers and oil companies to look seriously at electric cars and alternative energy.

The oil company Exxon responded by funding basic research into energy technologies unrelated to petroleum, and it was there that Stanley Whittingham, previously at Stanford University, began investigating superconducting materials that could hold charged ions inside their structure, a property called intercalation.

Lithium looked attractive for this purpose for one key reason: it is the lightest solid metal and its single outer electron has "a strong drive to leave lithium for another atom", as the Academy's popular science text put it, so it releases electrons easily.

That same reactivity which makes lithium useful also makes pure lithium metal dangerous, since it reacts with air and water and can catch fire.

The three laureates' task was to use lithium's reactivity for power while making it safe enough for everyday devices.

How did Whittingham build the first lithium battery?

Working at Exxon in the early 1970s, Whittingham studied tantalum disulphide, a superconducting material, and found that adding potassium ions changed its conductivity and gave it an unusually high energy density.

Because tantalum is heavy, he replaced it with the lighter and chemically similar element titanium, producing titanium disulphide (TiS₂) as a cathode material.

At a molecular level, titanium disulphide is arranged in layers with small gaps between them. Lithium ions can slide into and out of these gaps without breaking the material apart, a process the Academy's scientific background calls intercalation.

Whittingham paired this cathode with an anode of metallic lithium, which readily gives up electrons, and announced the resulting battery in 1976.

1. The anode is made of metallic lithium, which readily releases electrons.
2. The cathode is made of titanium disulphide, which has layered gaps that can hold lithium ions.
3. When the battery discharges, lithium atoms release electrons that travel through the external circuit, while lithium ions move through the electrolyte into the titanium disulphide layers.
4. When the battery is recharged, external electricity drives the lithium ions back out of the titanium disulphide and towards the lithium electrode.

This cell, as the Academy's press release put it, "literally had great potential," with a voltage of a little over two volts, but repeated charging caused thin lithium whiskers to grow from the metal electrode.

When a whisker reached the other electrode it could short-circuit the battery and cause fires, so the design was too dangerous to sell widely and development at Exxon slowed as oil prices fell in the early 1980s.

A student should draw two electrodes facing each other across an electrolyte: a solid block labelled "lithium metal anode" on one side, and a layered block labelled "titanium disulphide cathode" on the other, with arrows showing lithium ions crossing the electrolyte towards the layered cathode during discharge, and thin whisker-like spikes growing from the lithium side to show the short-circuit risk.

How did Goodenough and Yoshino complete the battery?

John Goodenough, working at Oxford University after the oil crisis drew him into energy research, reasoned that the cathode would hold a much higher voltage if it were built from a metal oxide rather than a metal sulphide.

After a systematic search by his research group, in 1980 he showed that cobalt oxide with lithium ions tucked inside it could produce about four volts, almost double Whittingham's titanium disulphide cell.

He also realised that batteries did not need to be assembled already charged, which made manufacturing far more practical.

Akira Yoshino, working at Asahi Kasei Corporation in Japan where electronics firms badly wanted light rechargeable batteries for camcorders, cordless phones and early laptops, took Goodenough's cobalt oxide cathode and searched for a safer anode than metallic lithium.

He tried several carbon materials and in 1985 found that petroleum coke, a carbon by-product of the oil industry, could also take up lithium ions without the fire risk of pure lithium metal.

The advantage of this design, as the Academy explained, is that the battery is "not based upon chemical reactions that break down the electrodes, but upon lithium ions flowing back and forth between the anode and cathode." Because the electrodes themselves are not destroyed each cycle, the battery can be recharged hundreds of times before it wears out.

A student should draw a petroleum coke anode on the left and a cobalt oxide cathode on the right, separated by an electrolyte, with curved arrows showing lithium ions shuttling from the anode to the cathode when the battery is used, and back again when it is recharged, with no arrows shown breaking either electrode apart.

How did the discovery unfold?

The lithium-ion battery did not appear in one moment; it grew from a chain of discoveries spread across two decades, each building on the one before.

This sequence shows how chemistry research can move from a basic laboratory discovery, through a dangerous but promising prototype, to a safe commercial product, with each laureate's contribution depending on the one before it.

Why does it matter?

Lithium-ion batteries are, in the Academy's words, "lightweight, rechargeable and powerful", and this combination is what let electronics shrink.

The press release notes they are "now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles" and that they "can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society."

Because the battery works by shuttling lithium ions back and forth rather than by chemical reactions that wear out the electrodes, it keeps working through hundreds of charge cycles, which is what makes portable electronics practical for everyday, repeated use.

The same property lets electric vehicles travel longer distances on a single charge than earlier battery types allowed.

The nobelprize.org popular-science account and the scientific background document both note that later researchers built on these discoveries: Goodenough's group later developed an iron phosphate cathode that is more environmentally friendly than cobalt oxide, and improved electrolytes allowed graphite-based anodes to work safely too.

The Academy's document states that production of lithium-ion batteries does have an environmental impact, but also brings environmental benefits by enabling cleaner energy technologies and electric vehicles, which helps cut emissions of greenhouse gases and particulates.

What does this show about how scientific discoveries build on each other?

One striking feature of this prize is that no single laureate built a complete, safe lithium-ion battery alone. Whittingham's cell proved that an intercalation cathode could work with lithium, but it was not safe to sell.

Goodenough's cobalt oxide cathode roughly doubled the voltage but was still paired, in his own research, with questions about the anode. Yoshino then combined Goodenough's cathode with a new carbon anode to produce something companies could actually manufacture and sell.

This is a common pattern in chemistry prizes: a chain of discoveries, often made in different laboratories, countries and even decades, that only becomes a usable technology once all the pieces fit together.

The Academy's scientific background document lists seven technical requirements a good intercalation material must meet, including high ion mobility, good electronic conductivity, and the ability to be charged and discharged reversibly, showing how many separate conditions had to be satisfied before a lithium-ion battery could work reliably outside a laboratory.

Students preparing for quiz or general-studies exams should note that each laureate's contribution had a clear, nameable part: Whittingham the cathode material and the first working cell, Goodenough the higher-voltage oxide cathode, and Yoshino the safe anode and the first sellable product.

How does this connect to what you study?

This prize connects directly to the chemistry topics of electrochemistry and redox reactions taught in school science.

A battery works through oxidation at one electrode, the anode, which releases electrons, and reduction at the other, the cathode, which accepts them, exactly as the Academy's scientific background document describes for the basic galvanic cell.

The idea of ions moving through a layered solid without destroying it, called intercalation, is a more advanced extension of the same electrode and ion concepts used in simpler school experiments with cells and electrolytes.

Students studying energy resources will also recognise the link between this prize and renewable energy: the ability to store electricity from solar and wind power depends on having a battery that can be charged and discharged repeatedly without losing much capacity, which is exactly the problem these three laureates solved.

Quick facts for exams

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 was awarded jointly to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino "for the development of lithium-ion batteries".

It was announced on 9 October 2019 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the body that selects the Chemistry laureates each year. Each laureate received one third of the prize, which that year totalled 9,000,000 Swedish kronor.

Goodenough was born in Jena, Germany, and was affiliated with the University of Texas, Austin, USA; Whittingham was born in the United Kingdom and was affiliated with Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA;

Yoshino was born in Suita, Japan, and was affiliated with Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University, both in Japan. Their combined work created the rechargeable lithium-ion battery now used in mobile phones, laptops and electric vehicles.

Note: Source. The prize facts in this note are from the Nobel Prize's official site, nobelprize.org.

Glossary

• Anode — the electrode where oxidation happens and electrons are released into the circuit during discharge.
• Cathode — the electrode where reduction happens and electrons are accepted during discharge.
• Electrolyte — the medium between the electrodes that allows charged ions to move while keeping the electrodes apart.
• Intercalation — a process in which ions slot into gaps inside a layered solid material without destroying its structure.
• Lithium-ion battery — a rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move between a carbon anode and a metal oxide cathode.
• Rechargeable battery — a battery whose chemical reaction can be reversed by applying external electricity, restoring its charge.
• Cobalt oxide cathode — the lithium-cobalt oxide material Goodenough showed could store lithium ions at a high voltage.
• Titanium disulphide — a layered material Whittingham used as the cathode in the first working lithium battery.
• Petroleum coke — a carbon by-product of the oil industry used by Yoshino as a safer anode material.
• Lithium whiskers — thin metal spikes that grow on a lithium metal electrode during repeated charging and can cause short circuits.
• Short circuit — an unintended direct connection between electrodes that can cause overheating or fire.
• Oxidation — a chemical change in which a substance loses electrons.
• Reduction — a chemical change in which a substance gains electrons.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: The lithium-ion battery was invented by one person. Correct: It resulted from separate discoveries by Whittingham, Goodenough and Yoshino across roughly fifteen years.
• Misconception: Lithium-ion batteries contain pure metallic lithium. Correct: Commercial lithium-ion batteries, as developed by Yoshino, use lithium ions moving through carbon and oxide electrodes, not metallic lithium.
• Misconception: The battery wears out because its electrodes break down chemically each cycle. Correct: The electrodes stay largely intact; lithium ions simply move back and forth between them.
• Misconception: Goodenough's and Whittingham's batteries were commercially sold immediately. Correct: Whittingham's and Goodenough's designs were research breakthroughs, though Whittingham's battery did see limited small-scale production; Yoshino's 1985 design was the first commercially viable version, sold widely from 1991.
• Misconception: This prize only concerns electronics engineering, not chemistry. Correct: The Academy awarded it for chemistry discoveries about electrode materials, ion movement and redox reactions.
• Misconception: All three laureates worked at the same institution. Correct: They worked separately, at Exxon, Oxford University, and Asahi Kasei Corporation in Japan, at different times.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. For what citation was the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 awarded? [1 mark]

1. It was awarded "for the development of lithium-ion batteries".

Q2. Name the three laureates of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 and their affiliations at the time of the award. [2 marks]

1. John B. Goodenough was at the University of Texas, Austin, USA; M. Stanley Whittingham was at Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA; Akira Yoshino was at Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University, Japan.

Q3. Explain how Whittingham's lithium battery worked and why it was not safe for everyday use. [4 marks]

1. Whittingham built a battery with a metallic lithium anode and a titanium disulphide cathode. The cathode had layered gaps that could hold lithium ions, a process called intercalation. During discharge, lithium released electrons that travelled through the circuit while lithium ions moved into the titanium disulphide layers; charging reversed this flow. The cell produced a voltage of a little over two volts. However, repeated charging caused thin lithium whiskers to grow on the metal electrode, which could reach the other electrode, cause a short circuit and lead to fires, so the design remained too dangerous to sell widely.

Q4. Compare the contributions of Goodenough and Yoshino to the lithium-ion battery. [4 marks]

1. Goodenough's contribution was to the cathode: in 1980 he showed that a cobalt oxide material could hold lithium ions and produce about four volts, almost double the voltage of Whittingham's titanium disulphide cathode. Yoshino's contribution was to the anode: in 1985 he replaced reactive metallic lithium with petroleum coke, a carbon material that could also take up lithium ions safely. By combining Goodenough's cathode with his own safer anode, Yoshino built the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery, which passed impact testing without catching fire.

Q5. Describe how the lithium-ion battery discovery unfolded and discuss why it matters today. [6 marks]

1. The discovery unfolded as a sequence of linked steps rather than a single event. Lithium was discovered and named in 1817. The 1970s oil crisis pushed research towards alternative energy storage, and Stanley Whittingham, working at Exxon, discovered that titanium disulphide could intercalate lithium ions, leading to a working rechargeable lithium battery announced in 1976 with a metallic lithium anode. This cell was dangerous because lithium whiskers could cause short circuits. In 1980 John Goodenough, working at Oxford University, showed that a cobalt oxide cathode could nearly double the voltage to about four volts. In 1985 Akira Yoshino, at Asahi Kasei Corporation in Japan, paired this cathode with a petroleum coke anode, removing the need for reactive metallic lithium and creating the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery; it reached the market in 1991. Today, lithium-ion batteries power mobile phones, laptops and electric vehicles, and they can store energy from solar and wind power, supporting a shift towards a fossil fuel-free society, while later improvements such as iron phosphate cathodes have made the technology more environmentally friendly.

Q6. What body awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and when was the 2019 prize announced? [2 marks]

1. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the 2019 prize was announced on 9 October 2019.

Q7. What is intercalation, and why was it important for building the lithium-ion battery? [3 marks]

1. Intercalation is a process in which ions slot into small gaps inside a layered solid material without destroying its structure. It was important because both the titanium disulphide cathode used by Whittingham and the cobalt oxide cathode used by Goodenough relied on intercalation to store lithium ions reversibly, allowing the battery to be charged and discharged hundreds of times without the electrodes breaking down.

Q8. State one advantage the lithium-ion battery has over batteries based on ordinary chemical reactions. [1 mark]

1. Its electrodes are not broken down by chemical reactions; instead lithium ions simply flow back and forth, so it can be recharged hundreds of times.

Key takeaways

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 went to Goodenough, Whittingham and Yoshino "for the development of lithium-ion batteries".
• Whittingham built the first working rechargeable lithium battery in the 1970s using a titanium disulphide cathode.
• Goodenough nearly doubled the battery's voltage in 1980 using a cobalt oxide cathode.
• Yoshino made the battery commercially viable in 1985 by replacing metallic lithium with a petroleum coke anode.
• Commercial lithium-ion batteries reached the market in 1991 and transformed portable electronics.
• The battery works by lithium ions moving between electrodes, not by reactions that destroy the electrodes.
• Lithium-ion batteries support electric vehicles and the storage of renewable solar and wind energy.
• Each laureate's contribution addressed a distinct part of the same underlying battery design.

Test yourself

Who announced the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 and on what date?

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 on 9 October 2019.

What material did Whittingham use as his battery cathode?

Whittingham used titanium disulphide, a layered material whose gaps could hold lithium ions during charging and discharging.

What voltage did Goodenough's cobalt oxide cathode achieve?

John Goodenough's cobalt oxide cathode produced about four volts, nearly double the voltage of Whittingham's earlier titanium disulphide cell.

Why was metallic lithium dangerous as an anode?

Metallic lithium is reactive, and repeated charging caused lithium whiskers to grow, which could short-circuit the battery and cause fires.

What anode material did Akira Yoshino use instead of metallic lithium?

Akira Yoshino used petroleum coke, a carbon by-product of the oil industry, which could safely take up lithium ions.

In which year did commercial lithium-ion batteries first reach the market?

A Japanese electronics company began selling the first commercial lithium-ion batteries in 1991.

What share of the prize did each laureate receive?

Each of the three laureates, Goodenough, Whittingham and Yoshino, received one third of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019.

Where was Akira Yoshino affiliated at the time of the award?

Akira Yoshino was affiliated with Asahi Kasei Corporation in Tokyo and Meijo University in Nagoya, both in Japan.