Lithium Ion Battery the Driver of Ubiquitous Computing, Deservedly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2019)

Lithium Ion Battery the Driver of Ubiquitous Computing, Deservedly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2019)

Can any one of us imagine an Indian curry without the ubiquitous chillies and masala? Will definitely not. Both these important ingredients are integral part of any Indian cuisine, and so is the Lithium Ion Battery for any of the portable electronic devices that are ubiquitous and are an integral part of the human society in the modern day connected world, that we now live in. It is in recognition of the primacy that the lithium ion battery enjoys in the modern world, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded this year’s Noble Prize in Chemistry to Dr. John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, ‘for the development of lithium ion batteries’. Many scientists were anticipating a Nobel recognition for the invention of this battery and finally their anticipation has come true and in the process Prof Goodenough has become the oldest Nobel laureate in the Nobel history, he is now 97.

The three laureates are lithium ion battery pioneers and are the movers and shakers of the technology that shaped these batteries and ushered them to the current era. Their remarkable research, which they have endured, has led to the modern day technology for the lithium ion batteries, which now form an inalienable & Integral part of the rechargeable mobile computing world. These lithium ion batteries provide a lightweight, rechargeable power source for mobile phones, laptop computers, and other electronic gadgets. The lithium ion batteries have now shifted gear to make their inroads into the next generation automobiles and electric vehicles - made famous by the likes of Elon Musk - The Tesla automobiles and others.

Mark Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing - a world where smart devices are all around us woven inextricably into the very fabric of everyday life - has now more or less became a reality and the Lithium Ion Batteries have played a pivotal role in making this possible. Weiser was the chief scientist at Xerox PARC in the United States and he is widely considered to be the father of ‘ubiquitous computing’, a term he coined in 1988. He said “Ubiquitous computing names the third wave in computing, just now beginning. First were mainframes, each shared by lots of people. Now we are in the personal computing era, person and machine staring uneasily at each other across the desktop. Next comes ubiquitous computing, or the age of calm technology, when technology recedes into the background of our lives.”. This profound and prophetic visionary statement is now here for every one of us to see and experience cutting across sections of society. Ubiquitous computing has now become a reality with the explosion in the information technology and the Internet of Things, connecting devices of our daily life with the global internet. Central to the ubiquitous computing is the Lithium Ion Battery, which silently plays a pivotal role in the background every single gadgets that drive the ubiquitous computing world.

Supplying constant, uninterrupted and uninterruptible power to the mobile computing devices, which drive the ubiquitous computing world we live in today, without encumbering the user is an ongoing challenge. In the modern world of ubiquitous computing, the breakthrough in the rechargeable lithium ion batteries, gifted to humanity by the three Nobel laureates, Dr. John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, have had an unprecedented role and therefore rightfully deserve to be awarded the Nobel Prize. The lithium ion battery gave that initial impetus to the ubiquitous mobile computing tools. Most of these gadgets like the mobiles, laptops wireless devices, etc rely exclusively on rechargeable lithium ion battery. We have now become so accustomed (almost addicted) to charging our devices that first thing what we look for, wherever we go, is a power point, where one could recharge our lithium ion battery. The absence of such a simple but important facility, which has now become a must ritual, in the modern world, can cause significant inconvenience and sometime may also lead to psychological issues.

Unlike the conventional batteries, which get their power from chemical reactions that break down the electrode, lithium-ion batteries generate power via the reversible flow of lithium ions between the anode and the cathode. But to make this technology possible, the scientists had to tame lithium—an alkali metal that is prone to explosion. The story of lithium ion batteries’ discovery dates back to the 1970s, when the world was facing a major oil crisis. There were efforts to try and combat oil crisis and one such successful attempt was made by Stanley Whittingham at Binghamton. He was working for the oil and gas company - Exxon - and was researching energy rich materials. It was during this period that he figured out how to make a battery cathode from titanium disulfide (TiS2). TiS2 is a layered material, and lithium ions slip between its layers, and this process is known as intercalation. Whittingham paired this with an anode made from metallic lithium and added an organic liquid electrolyte that could conduct lithium ions between the two electrodes. This was the first rechargeable lithium battery.

Whittingham’s batteries were not free from problems and issues. The lithium metal was prone to cause short circuit in the battery, overheat, and then, possibly explode. Goodenough, who was working at Oxford University, discovered that lithium ions could also intercalate through cobalt oxide. At around the same time, Yoshino, who was working at Asahi Kasei Corp., showed that lithium ions could also intercalate in graphite. By using cobalt oxide as the cathode and graphite as the anode, Yoshino was successful in creating a battery that could run at about 4 V, much higher than the 2.4 V battery which was earlier developed by Whittingham. This improved battery was also safer, because it contained no metallic lithium. The battery could be recharged hundreds of times without its performance deteriorating. This improved lithium ion battery was introduced commercially in 1991. What is more interesting is that one of the Nobel Laureates, Prof Goodenough, is now the oldest Nobel laureate ever at 97. Many were hoping that he is rewarded for his work and fortunately their hopes came true. While announcing the Nobel Prize, Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, who was explaining the Nobel Laureates work during a press conference called the invention of this wonder device - the lithium ion battery “a highly charged story of tremendous potential.”

The lithium ion batteries are here to stay and drive the ubiquitous computing world, until a new era of battery free mobile computing dawns in, until such time we the consumers of these devices must eternally be grateful to the three nobel laureates, who made this possible.