This was when Yoshino came into the picture.
Surprising,” Yoshino said by phone at the press conference announcing the prize.
Commercially manufactured lithium-ion batteries, based on what Yoshino had developed, made their first appearance in 1991.
When asked what type of researcher he is, Yoshino told a Tokyo press conference that a good
scientist needed two qualities.
It is regarded as one of the"Three Greatest Rivers" of Japan,
the others being the Yoshino in Shikoku and the Chikugo in Kyūshū.
Yoshino started working on Goodenough's battery and tried using
various lighter carbon-based materials as the anode in order to bring down the weight further.
Mount Ontake, the Kii mountain range and Mount Yoshino are but a few examples of ancient and well known areas for Misogi in Japan.
Yoshino used petroleum coke,
a by-product of the oil industry, and when he charged the petroleum coke with electrons, the lithium ions were drawn into the material.
Whittingham developed the first functional lithium-ion battery in 1976,
Goodenough brought in a major improvement in 1980, while Yoshino made the first practical-use lithium-ion battery in 1985.
In Japan, the Yoshino Cedar House, a collaboration with Tokyo-based architect Go Hasegawa and
the local community, came about as a response to shrinking rural populations in the rapidly ageing country.
Though the voltage generated in Yoshino's battery was similar to Goodenough's battery at 4 volts,
it was a stable battery- it had a long life and could be charged several times before its performance deteriorated.