Akira Yoshino facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Akira Yoshino
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| 吉野 彰 | |
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Akira Yoshino
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| Born | 30 January 1948 Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
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| Education | Kyoto University (BS, MS) Osaka University (PhD) |
| Awards | IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies (2012) Global Energy Prize (2013) Charles Stark Draper Prize (2014) Japan Prize (2018) Nobel Prize (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrochemistry |
| Institutions | Asahi Kasei Meijo University |
Akira Yoshino (吉野 彰, Yoshino Akira, born 30 January 1948) is a famous Japanese scientist who is a chemist. He works as a special researcher at Asahi Kasei Corporation and teaches at Meijo University in Nagoya. He is best known for inventing the first safe and practical lithium-ion battery. These batteries are now used in almost all our portable electronics, like smartphones and laptops. For this amazing invention, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019, sharing it with two other scientists, M. Stanley Whittingham and John B. Goodenough.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Akira Yoshino was born in Suita, Japan, on January 30, 1948. He finished high school in Osaka City in 1966. He went on to study engineering at Kyoto University, earning his first degree in 1970 and a master's degree in 1972. Later, in 2005, he received his doctorate from Osaka University.
A Spark for Chemistry
When Yoshino was in elementary school, one of his teachers suggested he read a book called "The Chemical History of a Candle." This book was written by a famous scientist named Michael Faraday. Reading it made Yoshino curious about chemistry, a subject he hadn't been very interested in before. This book helped him discover his passion for science.
Learning from a Nobel Winner
During his time at college, Yoshino took a class taught by a Japanese chemist named Kenichi Fukui. Fukui was a very important scientist who later became the first person of East Asian background to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Learning from such a brilliant teacher likely inspired Yoshino even more.
Career Journey
Akira Yoshino spent his entire career, outside of teaching, at the Asahi Kasei Corporation. Right after getting his master's degree in 1972, he started working there.
Starting Research
In the early 1970s, Yoshino joined a special research team at Asahi Kasei. Their goal was to find new materials for everyday use. He first explored how to use a material called polyacetylene. However, when Japan's electronics companies wanted to make new, lightweight, and small rechargeable batteries for mobile devices, Yoshino started experimenting. He began trying to use polyacetylene as a part of these new batteries.
Developing Batteries
Yoshino started working in the Kawasaki Laboratory in 1982. He was promoted in 1992 to manage the development of ion batteries. In 1994, he became a manager for A&T Battery Corp., a company formed by Asahi Kasei and Toshiba. Asahi Kasei recognized his talent and made him a special researcher in 2003. By 2005, he was leading his own laboratory. Since 2017, he has also been a professor at Meijo University, while still being an honorary special researcher at Asahi Kasei.
Groundbreaking Research
In 1981, Yoshino began his important research on rechargeable batteries. He started by looking at a material called polyacetylene. This material is a special kind of plastic that can conduct electricity. It was discovered by Hideki Shirakawa, who later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000 for his discovery.
The First Lithium-Ion Battery Prototype
In 1983, Yoshino built a test version of a rechargeable battery. He used lithium cobalt oxide as one part (the cathode) and polyacetylene as the other part (the anode). In this early battery, the anode material itself didn't contain lithium. Instead, lithium particles moved from the lithium cobalt oxide into the anode when the battery was charging. This design was the direct ancestor of the modern lithium-ion battery (LIB).
Improving the Battery Design
Polyacetylene had some problems. It wasn't very dense, meaning a battery with high power would need to be very large. It also wasn't very stable. So, Yoshino decided to try a different material for the anode: a carbon-based material. In 1985, he created the first working prototype of the LIB using this new material and received the basic patent for it. This was the true beginning of the lithium-ion battery we use today.
The lithium-ion battery, with this improved design, was first sold by Sony in 1991 and by A&T Battery in 1992. Yoshino also found that a specific type of carbon material worked best for the anode. He also developed other important parts, like the aluminum foil current collector, which helps the battery work at high voltage safely and cheaply. He also created a special safety feature called a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) device.
Yoshino also came up with the idea for the battery's coiled structure. This design allows for a large surface area inside the battery, which helps it release a lot of power quickly, even though the liquid inside doesn't conduct electricity very well.
In 1986, Yoshino had a group of LIB prototypes made. Based on safety tests of these prototypes, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) officially stated that these batteries were different from older, more dangerous metallic lithium batteries. This was a big step towards making them widely accepted and used.
Awards and Recognition
Akira Yoshino has received many important awards for his work, recognizing his huge impact on science and technology:
- 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
- 2011: C&C Prize from the NEC C&C Foundation
- 2012: IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies from the IEEE
- 2013: Global Energy Prize
- 2014: Charles Stark Draper Prize
- 2018: Japan Prize
- 2019: European Inventor Award
- 2019: Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 2019:
Order of Culture - 2019, 2020: Asian Scientist 100
- 2023: VinFuture Prize
See also
In Spanish: Akira Yoshino para niños
