The document summarizes the development of the lithium-ion battery, which was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It describes the key contributions of M. Stanley Whittingham, who developed the first lithium battery in 1976 using titanium disulfide as the cathode; John B. Goodenough, who doubled the battery's voltage to 4 volts using a cobalt oxide cathode in 1980; and Akira Yoshino, who created the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery in 1991 by replacing the lithium anode with a carbon-based material. The document also shares comments from 97-year-old John Goodenough upon receiving the Nobel Prize, emphasizing the importance of curiosity, hard work, and continuing to think every

1. Chemistry Noble Prize- 2019
Li-ion battery

2. Four components of a battery
1. How Does Battery Work
1. Positive electrode
2. Negative electrode
3. Electrolyte
4. External circuit
Reduction occur at negative and oxidation occur at negative electrodes. Electron flows
from negative to positive electrode and conventional current flows in opposite direction,
Now the external circuit connecting these two electrodes when connected to a load (in
this case light bulb), it results in electrical work.
Working Principle

3. Discharging
2. How Does a Rechargeable Battery Work
Discharging is a spontaneous process when the
two electrodes are connected by an external
wire
Charging
Charging is a non-spontaneous process and
requires External work to be done on this
system. When external electricity is supplied
then the redox process in the electrodes occur
in reverse manner
Supplied electrical
energy

4. 3. Why the World is Looking for a Rechargeable Battery
Huge amount of fossil fuel used up by
cars Which is depleting the natural oil
very fast.
Moto-vehicle companies understood they
need an alternate source of energy
Electronics companies were desperate to
reduce the size of electronic gadgets. So, they
needed a compact power storing device.
Now electric vehicle or use of any
alternate source of energy would require
a powerfull and compact energy storing
battery

5. 4. Why Lithium (Li)
Lithium (Li) Lithium Ion (Li+)
Importance of Lithium
1. Lithum is the first alkali metal
having a negative reduction potential
Ered(Li+/Li) = -3.05 V vs SHE.
2. It is light weight metal with a density of
0.53 gm/cm3.
Challenge of using Lithium
1. Lithium is highly reactive and it reacts
violently with air and water.
Due to it’s low reduction potential it can be used as perfect anode

6. 5. Development of Intercalated cathode- M. Stanely Whittingham
 M. Stanely Whittingham discovered that intercalated Li+ ion
Can be used as cathode,
 He used Titanium disulphide (TiS2) matrix for intercalation
of Li+
 In 1976 he demonstrated working of rechargeable battery
 The battery could store 2V
 Charging and discharging
was reversible
 The cell was cycle at a low
charge/discharge ratio for
1100 time without significant
loss of reversibility.

7. 6. Improvement of Intercalated cathode- John B. Goodenough
 John B. Goodenough reasoned that in MX2 matrix, if X is small
electronegative atom then the cation uptake process would be
associated with a large free-energy change
 This large free-energy change would lead to high voltage battery
 He used CoO2 matrix to build Li+ chelated cathode
 His reasoning proved
to be true
 With CoO2 the battery
could store 4 V.
 Energy Storage capacity
increased

8. 7. Problem with the Anode- Reactive Lithium
 High Reactivity of Lithium became a problem
 Upon huge repeated charging and discharging
cycles, lithium dendrites were formed on metal
surface
 Then the dendrites would finally
reach cathode leading to short
circuit the device.
 This resulted in fire hazard
Improvement of the Anode became necessary for the practical
use of rechargeable battery

9. 8. Carbon based material as Anode-Purely based on Li-ion
 Akira Yoshino focused on using a carbon based material as a
anode to avoid hazards of pure metallic lithium.
 He used petroleum coke to accommodate Li+
 When he charged the petroleum coke with electrons, Li+ was
drawn into the material
 Upon connecting to the battery both the electron and Li+ move
toward CoO2 (cathode).
 The battery could produce
4V.
 The battery was safe to
use for practical purpose
 In 1991 first a japanese
company made Li-ion
battery available in the
market

10. 9. Reactions after receiving the news of Noble Prize-2019
“ I tried Hard. I tried to do
the best I could”
“ Don’t retire too early”
He is the oldest Noble
lauriate- age -97, still he goes
to lab every day and is
passionate for science
“ Very appropriately, I’m
currently at a battery
meeting”
“ It is important to keep
thinking everyday”
“I just sort of sniffed out the
direction that trends were
moving. Yopu could say I had
a good sense of smell”
“Curiosity was the main
driving force to me”