:Akira Yoshino

Yoshino was born in Suita, Japan, on 30 January 1948.{{Cite web|url=https://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/jp/news/2013/pdf/ze140108.pdf|title=経歴書|access-date=2019-10-23}} He graduated from Kitano High School in Osaka City (1966).{{Cite web|url=https://rikuryo.or.jp/headline/?p=2687|title=ニュース {{!}} 78期吉野彰氏 ノーベル化学賞受賞 -六稜WEB|language=ja|access-date=2019-10-11}} He earned a B.S. in 1970 and an M.S. degree in 1972, both in engineering from Kyoto University, and a Dr.Eng. degree from Osaka University in 2005.{{cite web|url=https://www.asianscientist.com/2018/06/features/akira-yoshino-japan-prize-2018/|title=Akira Yoshino: Inventing The Lithium Ion Battery|date=1 June 2018}}[http://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/en/r_and_d/interview/yoshino/pdf/lithium-ion_battery.pdf Profile of Akira Yoshino and Overview of His Invention of the Lithium-ion Battery]

During his time in elementary school, one of his teachers suggested that he read The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday, and this sparked a multitude of questions for Yoshino regarding chemistry, a subject he had not been interested in prior to reading the book.{{Cite web |last=Sawai |first=Tomoki |date=September 2020 |title=The invention of rechargeable batteries: An interview with Dr. Akira Yoshino, 2019 Nobel laureate |url=https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2020/03/article_0004.html |website=WIPO Magazine}}

During his college years, Yoshino had attended a course taught by Japanese chemist Kenichi Fukui, the first recipient of East Asian ancestry to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.{{Cite web |author=芦原千晶|author-link=芦原千晶 |date=30 September 2018 |url=https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/feature/koukousei/list/CK2018093002000011.html |title=＜あの頃＞ リチウムイオン電池開発の研究者・吉野彰さん |work=中日新聞 |access-date=9 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009143825/https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/feature/koukousei/list/CK2018093002000011.html |archive-date=9 October 2019}}

Yoshino spent his entire non-academic career at Asahi Kasei Corporation.{{cite web |title=Profile of Dr. Akira Yoshino |url=https://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/en/news/2019/pdf/e191009.pdf |website=Asahi Kasei |access-date=10 October 2019}} Immediately after graduating with his master's degree in 1972, Yoshino began working at Asahi Kasei. He joined the Exploratory Research Team at Asahi Kasei Corporation in the early 1970s to explore new general-purpose materials, initially exploring practical applications for polyacetylene but turned to experimenting with using polyacetylene as an anode material once Japan's electronics industry attempted to create new lightweight and compact rechargeable battery to power their mobile devices.

He began work in the Kawasaki Laboratory in 1982 and was promoted to manager of product development for ion batteries in 1992. In 1994, he became manager of technical development for the LIB manufacturer A&T Battery Corp., a joint venture company of Asahi Kasei and Toshiba. Asahi Kasei made him a fellow in 2003 and, in 2005, general manager of his own laboratory. Since 2017, he has been a professor at Meijo University and his status at Asahi Kasei has changed to honorary fellow.

File:Akira Yoshino cropped 1 Akira Yoshino 201910.jpg

In 1981 Yoshino started doing research on rechargeable batteries using polyacetylene.{{cite news |last=Fehrenbacher |first=Katie |title=A conversation with a lithium-ion battery pioneer |url=https://www.greenbiz.com/article/conversation-lithium-ion-battery-pioneer |date=26 April 2018 |publisher=GreenBiz |access-date=10 October 2019 |quote=It was over 35 years ago, in 1981, when I started my research on batteries....This research initiative started not fully focused on batteries. It started from the study on polyacetylene}} Polyacetylene is the electroconductive polymer discovered by Hideki Shirakawa, who later (in 2000) would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for its discovery.{{cite web |title=Profile of Akira Yoshino, Dr.Eng., and Overview of His Invention of the Lithium-ion Battery |url=https://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/asahi/en/r_and_d/interview/yoshino/pdf/lithium-ion_battery.pdf |website=Asahi Kasei |access-date=10 October 2019}}

In 1983 Yoshino fabricated a prototype rechargeable battery using lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO{{sub|2}}) (discovered in 1979 by Godshall et al. at Stanford University,N. A. Godshall, I. D. Raistrick, and R. A. Huggins, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Abstract 162, Vol. 126, p. 322C; "Thermodynamic Investigations of Ternary Lithium-Transition Metal-Oxide Systems for Lithium Batteries" (August 1979).N. A. Godshall, I. D. Raistrick, and R. A. Huggins, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Extended Abstract 162, Vol. 79-2, pp. 420–422; "Thermodynamic Investigations of Ternary Lithium-Transition Metal-Oxide Systems for Lithium Batteries" (October 1979).Ned A. Godshall, "Electrochemical and Thermodynamic Investigation of Ternary Lithium -Transition Metal-Oxide Cathode Materials for Lithium Batteries: Li₂MnO₄ spinel, LiCoO₂, and LiFeO₂", Presentation at 156th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Los Angeles, CA, (17 October 1979). and John Goodenough and Koichi Mizushima at Oxford University) as cathode and polyacetylene as anode. This prototype, in which the anode material itself contains no lithium, and lithium ions migrate from the LiCoO{{sub|2}} cathode into the anode during charging, was the direct precursor to the modern lithium-ion battery (LIB).

Polyacetylene had low real density which meant high capacity required large battery volume, and also had problems with instability, so Yoshino switched to carbonaceous material as anode and in 1985 fabricated the first prototype of the LIB and received the basic patent.{{Ref patent | title = Secondary Battery | country=US | number=4668595 | gdate = 9 May 1986| inventor=Yoshino; Akira| assign1=Ashahi Kasei}}, Priority Data 10 May 1985, by Espacenet Patent search{{Cite web |

url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4,668,595.PN.&OS=PN/4,668,595&RS=PN/4,668,595 |

title=JP 2642206 |

access-date=7 July 2011 |

archive-date=22 March 2020 |

archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322130319/http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4%2C668%2C595.PN.&OS=PN%2F4%2C668%2C595&RS=PN%2F4%2C668%2C595 |

url-status=dead }}, by USPTO PATENT FULL-TEXT AND IMAGE DATABASE

This was the birth of the current lithium-ion battery.

The LIB in this configuration was commercialized by Sony in 1991 and by A&T Battery in 1992.{{cite web |author=Masaki Yoshio |author2=Akiya Kozawa |author3=Ralph J. Brodd |name-list-style=amp |title=Introduction: Development of Lithium-Ion Batteries |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm%3A978-0-387-34445-4%2F1.pdf |date=2009 |publisher=Springer |access-date=10 October 2019 |page=xvii}} Yoshino described challenges and history of the invention process in a book chapter from 2014.{{cite book |last1=Yoshino |first1=Akira |title=Lithium-Ion Batteries: Advances and Applications, chapter 1 |date=2014 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-444-59513-3 |pages=1–20 |edition=1st |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444595133000017 |access-date=9 October 2019}}

Yoshino discovered that carbonaceous material with a certain crystalline structure was suitable as anode material, and this is the anode material that was used in the first generation of commercial LIBs. Yoshino developed the aluminum foil current collector{{Cite web|url=http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/members/02db/200007/28642/ |title=Article of Tech-On |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322030545/http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/members/02db/200007/28642/ |archive-date=22 March 2012 }}, JP 2128922, Yoshino; Akira, "Nonaqueous secondary Battery", Application date 28 May 1984, issued 2 May 1997, assigned to Asahi Kasei which formed a passivation layer to enable high cell voltage at low cost, and developed the functional separator membrane{{Cite web|

url=http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=19970820&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP&CC=JP&NR=2642206B2&KC=B2 |title=JP 2642206}}, Yoshino; Akira, "Battery", Application date 28 May 1989, issued 2 May 1997, assigned to Asahi Kasei and the use of a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) device{{Cite web

|url=http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=20000424&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP&CC=JP&NR=3035677B2&KC=B2 |title=JP 3035677}}, Yoshino; Akira, "

Secondary battery equipped with safety element", Application date 13 September 1991, issued 25 February 2000, assigned to Asahi Kasei for additional safety.

The LIB's coil-wound structure was conceived by Yoshino to provide large electrode surface area and enable high current discharge despite the low conductivity of the organic electrolyte.

In 1986 Yoshino commissioned the manufacture of a batch of LIB prototypes. Based on safety test data from those prototypes, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a letter stating that the batteries were different from the metallic lithium battery.Lithium-ion secondary battery (Japanese) 2nd edition, chapter 2 "History of development of lithium-ion secondary battery", P27-33, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (1996)

• 1998 Chemical Technology Prize from the Chemical Society of Japan
• 1999: Battery Division Technology Award from The Electrochemical Society
• 2001: Ichimura Prizes in Industry—Meritorious Achievement Prize
• 2003: Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology—Prize for Science and Technology, Development Category
• 2004: Medal with Purple Ribbon, from the Government of Japan
• 2011: Yamazaki-Teiichi Prize from the Foundation for Promotion of Material Science and Technology of Japan{{cite web|url=http://www.mst.or.jp/prize/2011/zairyou_en.html|title=MST 山崎貞一賞 – トップページ|website=www.mst.or.jp}}
• 2011: C&C Prize from the NEC C&C Foundation{{cite web|url=http://www.candc.or.jp/en/2011/group_a.html|title=NEC C&C Foundation|website=www.candc.or.jp}}
• 2012 : IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies from the IEEE[https://web.archive.org/web/20100619212548/http://ieee.org/about/awards/bios/envsaf_recipients.html The reason for the award-winning of the IEEE Medal and prize winners], John B. Goodenough and Rachid Yazami were awarded jointly.
• 2013 : Global Energy Prize{{cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/23/national/russia-honors-lithium-ion-scientist/|title=Russia honors lithium-ion scientist|date=23 June 2013|via=Japan Times Online}}
• 2014 : Charles Stark Draper Prize{{cite web|url=https://news.utexas.edu/2014/01/06/goodenough-wins-highest-engineering-honor|title=UT Austin's John B. Goodenough Wins Engineering's Highest Honor for Pioneering Lithium-Ion Battery|date=6 January 2014|access-date=10 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514211211/http://news.utexas.edu/2014/01/06/goodenough-wins-highest-engineering-honor|archive-date=14 May 2016|url-status=dead}}
• 2018 : Japan Prize{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2018/04/30/10-lessons-on-how-to-innovate-from-this-years-japan-prize-winners/|title=10 Lessons On How To Innovate From This Year's Japan Prize Winners|first=Bruce Y.|last=Lee|website=Forbes}}
• 2019 : European Inventor Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/finalists/2019/yoshino.html|title=Akira Yoshino (JP)|first=European Patent|last=Office|website=www.epo.org}}
• 2019 : Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• 2019 : Order of Culture{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/29/tech/shigeru-miyamoto-nintendo-trnd/index.html|title='Mario Bros.' creator Shigeru Miyamoto to be given one of Japan's highest honors|last=Kim|first=Allen|website=CNN|date=29 October 2019 |access-date=2019-10-30}}
• 2019, 2020 : Asian Scientist 100
• 2023 : VinFuture Prize{{Cite web |last=Nhu |first=Quynh |date=21 December 2023 |title=Battery researchers win $3M Vietnamese awards. |url=https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/battery-researchers-win-3m-vietnamese-awards-4691489.html |website=VnExpress}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.chemistryworld.com/careers/the-father-of-lithium-ion-batteries/3009106.article The father of lithium-ion batteries (Chemistry World, July 2018)]
• {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2019 Brief History and Future of Lithium-ion Batteries

{{Japanese Nobel laureates}}

{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 2001-2025}}

{{2019_Nobel_Prize_winners}}

{{Charles Stark Draper Prize}}

{{Japan Prize}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshino, Akira}}

Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:Draper Prize winners

Category:Electrochemists

Category:Japanese chemists

Category:Japanese Nobel laureates

Category:Kyoto University alumni

Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry

Category:Osaka University alumni

Category:People from Suita

Category:Scientists from Osaka Prefecture

Category:Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon

Category:Recipients of the Order of Culture