Guest Professor at FEUP receives Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019

Guest Professor at FEUP

Text: Raquel Pires Photo: Susana Neves

receives Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019

The American John B. Goodenough, considered the father of lithium batteries, was one of three researchers distinguished this year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 was awarded at 8 th January of 2020 to the American physicist John B. Goodenough, professor at the University of Texas (Austin, USA), and guest lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP), for the development of lithium batteries – work that started almost half a century ago, but which has changed society forever.

Goodenough, 96, is considered the father of lithium-ion batteries – the invention of the early 90s that revolutionized the world of technology and today’s world, with gadgets and electronic equipment everywhere now working wirelessly using rechargeable batteries. This breakthrough discovery has earned him several international awards and commendations, including the National Medal of Science, awarded in 2013, by then US President Barack Obama.

Speaking to the Público newspaper, Helena Braga, head of the Physics Engineering Department at FEUP, who has been working with Professor Goodenough for the past four years, affirms that “this is a well-deserved recognition. Lithium batteries have become all present in our lives and are now even found in cars. He was the odds-on favourite and his winning was both deserved and expected.” Helena Braga’s scientific research, often published in high-impact journals and the subject of several patents, caught the attention of John Goodenough, who invited her to collaborate with his research group at the University of Texas, USA. Around the world, the academic community has followed the developments achieved by Helena Braga’s team with particular interest and it is not difficult to see why. We are talking about the possibility of having a less polluting battery, which is lighter and will very soon be able to multiply the capacity of traditional lithium-ion batteries, which could mean a huge revolution in the way we store energy.

In order to boost the work that has been carried out and, above all, convince industry of the real revolution that may be imminent, John Goodenough recently awarded a donation of 500,000 dollars to the research group led by Helena Braga. For the researcher, this “represents an honour while, at the same time, renewing our responsibility to do better work every day and potentially enabling us to acquire equipment and finance students so as to achieve this objective.”

Maria Helena Braga, 47, published for the first time on glass electrolyte technology in 2014. The main innovation of these new batteries is to make energy storage capacity depend not only on electrochemical reactions, as in a traditional battery, but also on electrostatic storage, as in a condenser, thus leading to a safe battery, in which no “dendrites” are formed.

In addition to John B. Goodenough, this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry was also awarded to M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, also for their work in developing lithium-ion batteries.

Photo: reserved rights