John B. Goodenough died: His invention is used every day

John B Goodenough He died Sunday in Austin, Texas, writes The New York Times, that A In memory of dedicated to him. The American is best known as one of the founders of the lithium-ion battery. In 1980 he made a discovery at Oxford University that made a breakthrough in this type of battery possible. Li-ion batteries are now in billions of devices as well as in electric vehicles. Goodenough’s role was crucial to the development of the technology, according to experts.

In 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with two other scientists who made important contributions to the lithium-ion battery. At the age of 97, he became the oldest ever Nobel Prize winner. At that time, he was still working in scientific research for the University of Texas.

It also worked on a solid state battery

Goodenough has also been involved in solid state battery development for several years. A solid-state battery, in which the contact between the two electrodes is not liquid, is safer than lithium-ion batteries. In addition, the energy density is greater.

Right now, it’s still a big problem that mass production of solid-state batteries is still too expensive, but that should change in a few years.

“He didn’t care about money.”

Goodenough received no royalties for his work on the lithium-ion battery. He was paid only as a scientist and professor. During his career, he has worked at MIT, Oxford and Texas Universities. The scientist did not care much about money and signed contracts to give up his rights to some inventions. He also shared patents with his colleagues.

Goodenough’s work led to the first lithium-ion cathode that could power both compact and large devices. The battery had two to three times the energy capacity of other rechargeable batteries at the time. They can also be smaller and still offer the same or better performance.

At first there was little interest in his invention. For example, Oxford University did not want to patent their invention. In 1991 Sony recognized the technology’s commercial opportunity. The rest is history.