Akira Yoshino

By Erik J. Larson, PhD

Akira Yoshino is a professor at Meijo University of Nagoya and a fellow of Asahi Kasei Corporation. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in engineering from Kyoto University and a doctorate from Osaka University. A future Nobel Laureate himself, Yoshino was a student of Kenichi Fukui, the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Yoshino has worked at Asahi Kasei since his early graduate work began at Kyoto University. He has devoted much of his research and development efforts to energy storage, particularly through lithium ion batteries. He assisted with the creation of rechargeable batteries, a technology afforded to us by our understanding of polyacetylene, which is an electroconductive polymer used as an anode. His work led to the early versions of today’s lithium-ion battery. He eventually created the first production-ready version of the lithium-ion battery, which powers cell phones and computers today.

He is also credited with the development of the aluminum foil current collector, which is a low-cost safety feature necessary for reducing voltage loss.

Yoshino was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his colleagues, John B. Goodenough and M. Stanley Whittingham. He has also been recognized with a Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government, the IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies, the Japan Prize and the 2019 Order of Culture.

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