M. Stanley Whittingham

M. Stanley Whittingham is a British-American chemist whose 1970s work on rechargeable lithium batteries helped establish the foundations of lithium-ion battery technology.

Lithium-ion battery: A rechargeable battery that moves lithium ions between electrodes during charging and discharging. Whittingham’s research established an early foundation for this battery family.
Intercalation: The reversible insertion of atoms or molecules between layers or into channels of a solid host material. Whittingham’s battery stored and released lithium through this process.
Exxon: An American oil and gas corporation formed through the 1972 renaming of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. Whittingham developed his early rechargeable lithium battery while working at Exxon’s research laboratories.
Lithium iron phosphate battery: A lithium-ion battery that uses lithium iron phosphate as its cathode material. Its safer, more stable cathode chemistry contrasts with Whittingham’s titanium disulfide design.
John B. Goodenough: An American physicist and chemist whose work on metal-oxide cathodes advanced lithium-ion battery development. Goodenough built on the battery research tradition to develop a higher-voltage cathode.
Titanium disulfide: A layered transition-metal dichalcogenide with titanium and sulfur atoms arranged in sheets. Its layered structure let lithium ions enter and leave Whittingham’s cathode.
Energy crisis of the 1970s: A period of oil supply disruptions and sharp price increases that affected industrial economies in the 1970s. Concern about future energy supplies helped motivate Exxon’s investment in battery research.
Lithium-sulfur battery: A rechargeable battery that uses sulfur as the positive electrode and lithium as the negative electrode. It pursues high energy density through sulfur chemistry rather than Whittingham’s intercalation cathode.
Akira Yoshino: A Japanese chemist who developed a safer lithium-ion battery using a carbon anode and lithium cobalt oxide cathode. Yoshino helped turn the research lineage that Whittingham began into a practical battery.
Lithium metal: The metallic form of lithium, an exceptionally light element with a strongly negative electrode potential. Whittingham’s early rechargeable cell used lithium metal as its anode.

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