Dr. Goodenough received a Nobel Prize at the age of 97 for his contributions to making the Lithium-ion battery a reality.
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| Figure 1. | Dr. John B. Goodenough with a Li-ion battery. |
In 2019, at the age of 97, Dr. John B. Goodenough became the oldest person awarded a Nobel Prize. Goodenough won the chemistry prize for the invention of the Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery stemmed from his 1980 breakthrough that allowed the then-experimental and dangerous Lithium battery chemistry to leave the lab as a safe and versatile new battery type (Figure 1).
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| Figure 2. | Dr. John B. Goodenough receiving the Nobel Prize in chemistry from King Carl Gustaf of Sweden. |
Goodenough shared the prize with M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, who both built upon Goodenough’s work in commercializing Li-ion battery technology (Figure 2).
Overcoming childhood challenges
John B. Goodenough was born to American parents in Jena, Germany, on July 25, 1922. His father was studying in England, and the family was summering in Germany when he was born. With the help of an English grammar instructor, the young Goodenough overcame an undiagnosed case of dyslexia, eventually rising to the top of his class in just a few years.
Goodenough entered Yale in 1940 without a clear purpose or career ambition. He took enough science to keep open the option of medical school. Math, physics, and the sciences appealed to him since those areas seemed popular then and would provide a good basis for graduate school.
When the U.S. was drawn into World War II, he felt a great calling to serve his country, though, as he described, he “had no stomach to play the hero in war.” Goodenough was convinced by his mathematics professor, Egbert Miles, to sign up for meteorology with the U.S. Army Air Core with a delayed start. He continued his studies and was called to active duty in 1943 while still one course short for graduation. Yale University granted him the credit for the U.S. Army meteorology course, and he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics.
After the war, he entered graduate school while still a commissioned army officer. Despite being told that he was too old to become a physicist and make any significant discoveries, he chose physics as his area of graduate study.
Pioneering work in memory, renewables, and magnetism
After his service with the U.S. Army Air Corps, Goodenough embarked on a life-long career in academics. His post-doctorate work brought him to MIT Lincoln Labs where he was assigned to a project to develop random access memory (RAM) from a concept into a useable technology. The team’s work led to the development of magnetic core RAM.
His later work in materials physics contributed to the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, silicon crystal growth (which aided early semiconductor development), and renewable energy, including photovoltaic cell chemistry. Goodenough also performed pioneering work on the modern theory of magnetism, leading to the development of the Goodenough-Kanamori Rules. The rules are important for modern research in magnetism and have practical applications in telecommunications.
Goodenough makes the Li-ion breakthrough
After his time at MIT Lincoln Labs, Goodenough moved to Oxford University, where he began his research that would lead to the Li-ion breakthrough. He embarked on a four-year research project that created a cathode from layers of lithium and cobalt oxide. The structure contained pockets for the lithium ions, resulting in a stable battery design with higher voltage than previously possible. Lithium-ion batteries built with Goodenough’s cathode were shown to deliver two to three times the energy of any other battery solution available at the time.
Goodenough’s technology was not, however, exploited immediately. Oxford declined to patent the discovery, and Goodenough passed the rights to a British atomic energy research organization. Goodenough's co-Nobel-Prize winner, Dr. Yoshino, made further improvements in the late 1980s that led to the first commercial Li-ion battery in 1991.
Dr. Goodenough left Oxford and finished the final 37 years of his career at the University of Texas (Figure 3). He was still looking for the next breakthrough in battery technology at the age of 98. He passed away a month before his 101st birthday, on June 25, 2023.
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| Figure 3. | Goodenough with students at the University of Texas. |
The significance of the Li-ion battery today
Much of the modern mobile world depends on the humble battery cell, from Bluetooth headsets to automobiles. Batteries for these devices must feature a high energy density and quickly and safely charge and discharge – all over the span of many years and cycles.
In the 1980s, common rechargeable battery technologies included lead acid for large capacities and nickel-cadmium for portable devices. While both were sufficient for the needs of the time, they were woefully inadequate for modern mobile electronics and electric car batteries. The Li-ion rechargeable battery came into common commercial use in the 1990s, just as the market for portable devices was germinating. Since that time, the Li-ion battery and mobile device industries have grown together at an astonishing rate.
The Li-ion class of batteries has been called one of the great inventions of human history – and core tenents of this technology can be traced back to the discoveries and inventions of Dr. John B. Goodenough.
