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The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the developers of lithium-ion batteries: John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino.  

Maarit Karppinen, a professor of inorganic chemistry at Aalto University, has collaborated with Goodenough and thinks that the win was only a matter of time. Lithium-ion batteries enabled the use of portable electrical devices such as mobile phones. Thanks to lithium, they are lightweight and have a high energy density.

‘I think that Goodenough deserves more than one Nobel Prize. He has had an amazing scientific career and developed the foundations for understanding magnetic compounds,’ Karppinen says. 

The laureates worked separately but knew of each other’s research. Their work helped to create the materials needed for the lithium-ion battery, resulting in a functioning and safe battery that was commercialised by Sony in 1991. The production of the battery required long-term research, with the first scientific publications on this topic being published in the 1970s.

‘We need basic material research. Its results will not show in commercial applications immediately the following year. But without long-term research, new inventions cannot be achieved,’ Karppinen points out.

According to Karppinen, research work requires perseverance and courage to look for completely new materials. By tailoring materials in just the right way, it is possible to find features and functionalities that are still unknown.

‘New material combinations enable the development of applications for the new generation,’ as Karppinen puts it.