Why did lithium-ion batteries win a Nobel Prize?
Nobel in Your Pocket
Why did lithium-ion batteries win a Nobel Prize?
In 2019, three scientists got the world's most famous phone call: they had won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Their invention? The tiny battery humming inside almost everything you own. Here's why such a small thing earned such a big award.
A battery is really just a place to park electricity. The trick is getting it to flow OUT when you need it and flow back IN when you charge it. To do that, a battery shuffles tiny pieces called ions from one side to the other and back again, like passengers crossing between two train platforms.
