Seminal Literature

Milestones in the Invention of Rechargeable Lithium-ion Batteries 1970s

Stanley Whittingham 1970ʼs: Demonstrates the first cathodes capable of intercalating lithium using TiS21 and other dichalcogenides2.

John Goodenough 1980 Employs the use of cathode materials LiCoO2) capable of reversibly intercalating Li+ at high voltages 4.

Michel Armand 1970ʼs: Introduces the concept of a “rocking-chairˮ battery, which stores energy by shuttling ions between different anode and cathode intercalating materials3.

Rachid Yazami 1983 Shows successful intercalation of lithium into graphite using polymer electrolytes 5. Akira Yoshino 1985 Demonstrates a rechargeable Li-ion battery using a carbonaceous material as the anode while working for Asahi Kasei Corporation6.

1990s Sony 1991 Releases the first successful commercial Li-ion battery 1991.

Current 2019 Nobel prize in Chemistry Awarded “for the development of lithium-ion batteriesˮ.

Picture taken from Sony Archives

Advances in lithium-ion materials, Now ubiquitous, continue with new cathode chemistries, such as LTO7, NMC8, and LFP9.

Source: 1 Whittingham. Science. 1976 2 Whittingham, Prog. Solid St. Chem 1978 3 Mauger et al. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2020 4 Mizushima et al. Mater. Res. Bull. 1980 5 Yazami, J. Pow. Source. 1983 6 Profile of Akira Yoshino 7 Ferg et al. J. Electrochem. Soc. 1994 8 Delmas et al. Solid State Ion. 1992 9 Padhi et al J. Electrochem. Soc. 1997

Continued development Fundamentals, materials, and applications of Li-ion batteries. Revisiting old grand challenges (e.g., Li metal anodes) with new tools and approaches.

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.