Whenever you use a lithium-ion battery, you owe a little debt of thanks to its inventor, science speaker Akira Yoshino. As a keynote speaker, Akira Yoshino shares the secrets of the technologies he hopes will one day displace fossil fuels.

After earning his BA and MA in petrochemistry from Kyoto University, Akira Yoshino went to work for Asahi Chemical Corporation. Among Asahi’s business customers were several Japanese electronics companies, which needed lightweight, rechargeable batteries to power their devices.

Yoshino studied the problem, and adapted an earlier lithium-ion design by American John Goodenough. Replacing Goodenough’s metallic lithium anode with one made from petroleum coke, Yoshino’s design proved more stable and longer-lasting. Yoshino’s discovery was patented in 1985, and Sony released the first commercial lithium-ion battery in 1991.

Only in 2005 did Yoshino receive his doctorate in engineering, from Osaka University. Five years later, he was named president of the Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center. At LIBTEC, Yoshino builds upon his previous work, developing solid-state designs for use in electric vehicles. He has also taught at Meijo University and Kyushu University.

Yoshino won the Charles Stark Draper Prize in 2014, a portent of things to come. In 2019, he and also Stanley Whittingham shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of lithium-ion battery technology.

Lithium-ion batteries show great promise as green energy sources for a wide range of applications.