Politics.be - Een speciaal draadje van Sony

Sony zorgde voor de doorbraak van de oplaadbare Li-ion batterij in 1991.

Citaat:

https://eduweb.eeni.tbm.tudelft.nl/T...%20door%20Sony.

De eerste Lithium-ion batterijen konden niet herladen worden. Pas in 1960 werd er in een testfase de eerste oplaadbare lithium-ion batterij gemaakt, maar deze batterij had een werktemperatuur van ongeveer 450 graden Celsius.

In de vroege jaren 70 was er eindelijk een doorbraak: “electrochemical intercalation”. Dit proces zorgt ervoor dat ‘gastmoleculen’ in het Lithium geplaats konden worden. Deze moleculen worden tussen laagjes Lithium geplaatst waardoor de eigenschappen van de stof veranderen. Nu kan de stof zowel energie vasthouden als loslaten, en dat op kamertemperatuur.

De eerste commerciële Li-ion batterij werd in 1977 op de markt gebracht maar net zoals de drie andere grijze cirkels in het figuur, faalde deze door technische mankementen of door een zeer laag gebruiksgemak.

De eerste succesvolle Li-ion batterij werd in 1991 aangeboden door Sony. Hierna werden de batterijen door technologische ontwikkeling steeds energie compacter en goedkoper, zoals te zien is in figuur 1 (Crabtree et al., 2015w).

Gebruikt in de Sony Handycam:

Citaat:

https://www.batterydesign.net/genesi...tery-was-born/

Genesis of Energy: How the Lithium-Ion Battery Was Born
August 14, 2025

Act I: Oil Money Ignites a Spark (1970s)

In the early 1970s, the world was dominated by oil. The idea that an oil company would fund rechargeable battery research seemed improbable. Yet, Exxon did exactly that, supporting the work of M. Stanley Whittingham.

Between 1971 and 1976, Whittingham experimented with a lithium-aluminum alloy anode and titanium disulfide (TiS?) cathode. Lithium’s extraordinary energy density was unmatched then — and still has no commercial rival today. But the design had one big flaw: instability. The cells could overheat and catch fire, which happened often enough that the local fire department started charging his lab for putting out the blazes.

Act II: The Cathode Breakthrough (1980–1981)

In 1980, John B. Goodenough, working at the University of Oxford, learned about Whittingham’s work. He believed the cathode could be improved and focused on replacing TiS? with lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO?). This change increased the battery’s voltage from around 2.4 V to about 4 V — a huge leap in performance — and removed the need for unstable pure lithium metal.

Act III: Stabilizing the Anode & the Human Catalyst (1983–1991)

The final missing piece was the anode. In 1981, Akira Yoshino at Asahi Kasei Chemicals began experimenting with polyacetylene, a conductive polymer. It worked, but it wasn’t ideal. By 1985, Yoshino switched to carbonaceous materials — specifically petroleum coke — which allowed lithium ions to intercalate safely without using metallic lithium. This made the battery far more stable.

Even with a workable anode, commercialization was uncertain. That changed when Isao Kuribayashi, acting independently, had prototypes assembled by a U.S. company and presented them to Sony.

Sony saw the potential immediately. They refined Yoshino’s design by using graphite as the anode material, further improving stability and cycle life. In 1991, Sony launched the world’s first commercial lithium-ion battery in their Handycam camcorders — marking the true beginning of the Li-ion era.

Act IV: The Sony Breakthrough (1991)

Although Yoshino had developed a much safer prototype, the path to market was far from certain. That’s when Isao Kuribayashi, an engineer at Asahi Kasei, stepped in. Convinced the technology had far greater potential, he took the initiative — without formal approval — to have a U.S. startup build complete working prototypes based on Yoshino’s design.
Kuribayashi personally brought one of these batteries to Sony. This bold, under-the-radar move proved decisive: Sony quickly grasped its commercial promise and set to work on refining the design. Sony improved the anode by switching from petroleum coke to graphite, increasing stability and cycle life. In 1991, they launched the first commercial lithium-ion battery in their Handycam camcorders.

Other electronics manufacturers quickly followed. In the early ’90s, companies like Dell adopted Li-ion batteries for laptops, marking the first large-scale consumer electronics adoption

En toen - zie figuur - naast de energiedichtheid- ook de prijs laag genoeg was (blauwe kurve), kwam de eerste BEV met Li-ions op de markt... De 1e Tesla Roadster 2008. Op de 2e is het blijven wachten, wie weet 2026. (het zal met de allernieuwste Li ions zijn)