In cooperation with the Kronen Zeitung, JKU researchers explain this year's Nobel Prizes. This time the presentation focused on the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, awarded to researchers Akira Yoshino, M. Stanley Whittingham, John Bannister Goodenough for their research on lithium-ion batteries.

Whether in smartphones, rechargeable drills or electric cars, lithium ion batteries are an integral part of our everyday lives. Over 50 guests attended JKU Professor Achim Walter Hassel’s (head of the institute at the Institute for Chemical Technology of Inorganic Substances) presentation about the way lithium-ion batteries work. Using props such as a glass of jam and toast, innovations by Nobel Prize winners in chemistry were also illustrated. The presentation was not only well-received by fellow chemists, but from laymen in the audience as well.

A lively discussion followed the presentation, bringing up questions about the safety of these kinds of batteries (this is currently the subject of many research projects) and the availability of lithium and cobalt (not a problem over the next 20 years but high recycling rate after that).

Upcoming Dates

December 5: Prof. Josef Donnerer focuses on the Nobel Prize for Medicine and the reaction of cells to oxygen. (Laureates: William G. Kaelin Jr.; Gregg L. Semenza; Peter J. Ratcliffe)

December 12: Vice-Rector Alberta Bonanni talks about the Nobel Prize in Physics and how exoplanets and sun-like stars behave. (Laureates: James Peebles; Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz)

Admission free, every Thursday at 18.00 in the Kepler Salon (Rathausgasse 3, 4020 Linz).