Energy & Industry / Energy

Lithium Intercalation Batteries

Whittingham (1976), Goodenough (1980) and Yoshino (1985) found electrodes that hold lithium ions between the layers of a crystal, which made rechargeable lithium batteries safe and strong enough for products.

At Exxon, Stanley Whittingham built a rechargeable cell with a titanium disulfide cathode: lithium ions slide in and out between the crystal layers without changing the structure, which is what intercalation means. Exxon stopped the project because the market looked small and the lithium metal anode could catch fire. In 1980 John Goodenough and Koichi Mizushima replaced titanium disulfide with lithium cobalt oxide, which gives about 4 volts and is stable in air, and in 1985 Akira Yoshino found that petroleum coke can hold lithium ions in place of the metal. Sony put the pieces together in the first commercial lithium-ion cell in 1991, and the three men shared the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize.