What do the smartphone in your pocket, the computer on your desk, and the electric vehicle in your driveway have in common? They are all possible thanks to a technological advancement decades in the making that couldn’t have happened without chemistry: rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
For years, batteries were made from heavy metals that didn’t match their weight in power output. While effective at powering stationary systems at a steady output rate, these batteries were incapable of being adapted to work with smaller designs — limiting innovation and scientific progress. As demand for more flexible power storage systems grew, so did the search for new materials to use.
The concept of leveraging lithium — the lightest solid on the periodic table — for battery usage wasn’t a new idea by the time it gained prominence in the mid-20th century. Over the years, Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough, and Akira Yoshino, worked to create a lithium battery suitable for consumer applications and to maximize the storage potential. Since then, lithium-ion batteries have continued to incrementally improve — allowing us to build smaller portable consumer electronics with longer battery lives — all capable of being recharged hundreds of times.
Thanks to their tireless work in advancing the development of the lithium-ion battery, Goodenough, Whittingham, and Yoshino were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry — and for good reason.
Metals — including the alloy used in lithium-ion batteries — are critical to nearly every emerging technology being developed by today’s innovators. As Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, explained, “This battery enabled our mobile world… We now have power anywhere we go.”
While this year’s National Chemistry Week is meant to highlight “Marvelous Metals” — such as lithium — its real value lies in promoting the importance of chemistry to everyday life. From medical devices and pharmaceuticals to electronics, agriculture, and personal care, chemistry enables advancements that have and will continue to transform our daily lives. And at NACD, we believe that a strong STEM education is vital in making sure those values can be translated into real world opportunities for the next Goodenough, Whittingham, or Yoshino. You don’t have to look far to see why that’s important.
All of us at NACD are proud of our role we play in ensuring our industry continues to innovate, as we process, formulate, blend, re-package, warehouse, transport, and market chemical products to nearly every industry sector.
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