- Pioneering scientist, John B Goodenough transformed energy storage with his groundbreaking work on lithium-ion batteries.
- His innovations have led to smaller, more efficient devices, longer-lasting electric vehicles, and a cleaner energy future.
- Goodenough’s contributions have revolutionised the way we power our lives and opened new possibilities for sustainable technology.
John B Goodenough, widely regarded as the ‘father of the lithium-ion battery’, recently died at the age of 100. Goodenough is credited with developing the rechargeable, lightweight battery – found in almost all our portable electronic devices, from smartphones and tablets to power drills.
In 1966, The Ford Motor Company developed a sodium-sulphur battery that could run an automobile for up to 82 miles. The battery was eventually considered unsuitable since it was too expensive and operated at 350oC, and Ford cancelled the project. The battery, on the other hand, piqued the curiosity of physicist John Goodenough, who had been invited to observe the experiment. ‘That invention came from someone discovering fast sodium-ion transport in a ceramic,’ he commented. Goodenough realised, ‘I know how to do it better.’
Goodenough’s visionary research sparked a battery revolution, propelling smaller devices and greener energy solutions.
A battery is made up of two electrodes – the anode and the cathode – separated by an electrolyte medium. Batteries store and discharge energy via chemical reactions that change the state of the two electrodes. The spontaneous reaction (discharge) in a lithium-ion battery causes positive lithium ions and negative electrons to travel from anode to cathode. The quickest and easiest path is through the battery’s electrolyte, but a membrane separator lets only lithium ions pass. Before returning to the battery, electrons must go outside the battery. This creates a current that powers our devices. External electricity is used by rechargeable batteries, such as lithium ion, to reverse the reaction and return the electrodes to their original condition.
Goodenough was working on a layered sulphide structure that reversibly intercalated (received and stored) huge amounts of lithium in the late 1960s. This led to the idea that these sulphides might make suitable cathodes in a rechargeable lithium battery. Exxon Mobile battery pioneer Stan Whittingham investigated this idea, developing the first rechargeable lithium battery with great energy density in 1976.
Whittingham’s idea, however, faced a significant challenge: anode dendrites – microscopic threads of lithium that developed after multiple charge and discharge cycles – would grow across the flammable liquid electrolyte, generating an internal short circuit and causing potentially dangerous explosions.
While he was head of Oxford University’s Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Goodenough solved this problem by using a more stable lithium metal oxide to suppress lithium metal dendrites from crossing the electrolyte, reaching the cathode, and creating a short circuit between the metal electrodes. His battery, when assembled in a drained condition, would use an anode that interacted reversibly with lithium from the cathode on initial charge.
Goodenough finished a battery powered by his lithium-cobalt-oxide cathode in 1980. It could safely create 4V of energy, compared to Whittingham’s 2.4V battery. According to Goodenough, there was initially little interest in his concept due to doubts about manufacturing a depleted battery. In 1991, Sony engineers realised its potential and commercialised a lithium-ion battery in its popular camcorders. From there, the lithium-ion battery quickly became an indispensable component of modern life.
Later in his career, Goodenough’s focus shifted to sodium batteries. In 2015, his lab discovered a novel cathode material for sodium-ion batteries made of eldfellite, a nontoxic, abundant, and affordable mineral, and Goodenough continued to experiment with alternative solid electrolytes to entirely ‘eliminate the dendrite problem.’
Goodenough received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 for his battery research. His discoveries brought about the wireless revolution, putting electronic devices in the hands of individuals. He also laid the foundation for the development of long-range electric vehicles. Goodenough will be profoundly missed throughout the scientific and engineering communities, but he leaves an unforgettable legacy that will inspire future innovators and researchers.
By John Buckingham
