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for several months. It’s kept me basically at home, and   “I think my lab was a little bit infamous in the Inorganic
                                                                                                                                   I would have been on the road 60–70% of my time   Chemistry Laboratory. I still remember dismantling part
                                                                                                                                   during March to June.” He is curious whether Oxford   of a hood in there: to generate the draught under the
               C hemistry Nobel Laureate
                                                                                                                                   will be opening up to students in October, and it seems   hood you had to light gas that caused the flow up the
                                                                                                                                   the academic struggles related to the virus are similarly   exit pipe. So, if we had organics then they burnt up the
             Professor M. Stanley Whittingham                                                                                      felt all over the world. Whittingham states the problem   exit pipe too.”
                                                                                                                                   simply: “chemistry has to have labs”.
                                                                                                                                                                                     Other students were looking at reactions of chlorine
                                                                                                                                   Whittingham has been based at Binghampton         atoms. “There was always a slight sniff of chlorine in the
             Thomas Player (Keble 2013), DPhil student in     Even at that time,                                                   University in New York state for the last 31 years.   air. In the three years I was there I think no-one caught
             the Hore group, interviews 2019 Nobel Laureate   the development and                                                  Before emigrating to the US he studied for both his BA   a cold.”
             Professor M. Stanley Whittingham                 manufacturing teams                                                  (1964) and DPhil (1968) in the Chemistry department   “I was doing microbalance studies on reactions of
                                                              at Exxon had goals                                                   at Oxford. He remembers that tutorials with Peter
             Has Stanley Whittingham had enough of being      that remain familiar                                                 Dickens took place in his house on Sunday mornings,   hydrogen with these tungsten bronzes, so I had to
             congratulated for his Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded   today. Developing                                           complete with tea and biscuits. Dickens – New College   build all the electrical systems to control it. We built
             last December? His simple reply: it comes and goes.                                                                                                                     an automatic liquid nitrogen refilling system, you
                                                              electric vehicles, still a                                           tutor in Chemistry at the time, and later Whittingham’s   learnt how to be an electrician, glassblower – you did
             Whittingham shares the prize with John Goodenough   major concern for the                                             Part II and DPhil supervisor – died in October 2019,   everything yourself. The glass blowers … would help
             and Akira Yoshino for research that began in the late   automotive industry, was                                      just two weeks before it was announced that his former   train you, but they only did specialised stuff, so you
             1960s and led to the development of lithium-ion   one. “Back at some of the                                           student had been awarded the Nobel prize.         had to become almost a jack of all trades.”  Data was
             batteries. Commonly used for portable electronics, as   old talks I gave we even                                                                                        measured using chart recorders rather than computers,
             well as electric vehicles and other applications, they are   talked about smoothing   Professor M. Stanley                                                              so if an experiment was running for a long time you
                                                                                     Whittingham.
             a type of high energy-density rechargeable battery that   the [national] grid using                                                                                     might be in the lab for 24 hours or longer, dozing off
             relies on lithium ions moving between the electrodes. It is   large batteries – I think                                                                                 when possible to get a bit of sleep.
             perhaps surprising that such a ubiquitous invention – you   people were thinking along the same lines [as we do
             likely have one in your pocket – had until now remained   today]”.                                                                                                      Whittingham sees a distinction between the custom
             unacknowledged by the Nobel committee.                                                                                                                                  setups he used in his doctoral studies, which involved a
                                                               “There’s a huge push here, particularly in New York                                                                   lot of forethought and design, and current approaches.
             Whittingham’s early work at US energy company Exxon   State and California … to install solar and wind power                                                            “You’ve got the opportunity of thinking now. In those
             in the 1970s, developing intercalated materials where   and combine them with batteries”. One advantage                                                                 days you couldn’t do what most students tend to do
             molecules or ions are incorporated into a layered solid,   of this is that you can quickly turn the batteries on to                                                     now, which is to try everything.”
             preceded that of both of his Nobel co-recipients.   meet peaks in electricity demand – faster than pumped             The Whittingham Battery.  © Johan Jarnestad/The
             Goodenough was at Oxford in the late 1970s and early   hydro-electric generators, and greener than fossil fuel        Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.                Outside of the lab there was still time for leisure, with
             1980s when he expanded on Whittingham’s work, using   stations. “It’s very clear now: I don’t think anyone’s                                                            fond memories of living in Oxford in the 1960s. “In
             lithium cobalt oxide as a material for battery cathodes,   going to build new coal power plants, they’re just too                                                       the summer, if you got bored you’d go and watch
             and this was later developed and commercialised at   expensive compared with wind and solar. [Renewables]             During his Part II year, Whittingham’s research was   the cricket; in those days Oxford played international
             Sony by Yoshino. Nowadays lithium batteries are vital in   may be a bit more expensive in the beginning, but the      funded by the office of the US Air Force in London.   tourists and most of the county teams. If you were in
             a multitude of settings, from smartphones and laptops   fuel is free and it needs almost zero maintenance.”           It was the peak of the space race and they were   Chemistry you’d just walk, almost out the back door,
             to electric cars and national grids. “It’s very gratifying. I   Battery technology is similarly low-maintenance –     particularly interested in topics such as the reactions   and into the field.”
             think everybody in the field is happy because it [lithium   Whittingham cites a battery facility that he visited      of oxygen atoms with rocket nose cones, leading to   “[When I was] an undergraduate it snowed between
             battery technology] is being used.”              where they proudly informed him that their biggest                   Whittingham’s early work on tungsten bronzes.  His   Christmas and New Year once, and the traffic just
                                                              maintenance task is mowing the grass.                                DPhil, funded by the British Gas Council, was supposed
             In the early days investigating the fundamental                                                                       to focus on catalysts for converting coal gas into   packed it down … the snow was still there until the
             properties of lithium electrode materials, did   Whittingham is unsure that receiving the award has had               natural gas. “They gave me the fellowship, and then I   beginning of March. If anybody says climate warming
             Whittingham have an inkling of how widespread this   a large impact on his research, although the associated          think it was early August when they struck natural gas   isn’t happening then they haven’t lived long enough to
             technology would become? “We were working on all   publicity has certainly raised the profile of lithium-ion          in the North Sea and said ‘we’re not interested in that   see it.”
             kinds of energy problems at Exxon, and I think they   batteries and their importance. But if the Nobel Prize          anymore – you can do whatever you like, send us a   For Whittingham, science is certainly an international
             recognised that oil was going to run out.” This led to   has not had much impact on his work over the last few        report at the end, and don’t bother us with anything in   business. “In solid-state chemistry people move from
             lots of work on batteries, with Whittingham pitching his   months, something that certainly has is the COVID-19       the interim’.” They honoured the funding, and this gave   country to country, with collaborators in all different
             lithium project to the board of directors in “what they   pandemic.                                                   Whittingham the freedom to follow his interests during   countries. Some of my colleagues use the light beam
             call an elevator speech these days”.                                                                                  his doctoral studies.                             just outside Oxford rather than ones in the US.”
                                                              “Obviously we’ve stopped all experimental research





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            Periodic       The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry                                                                                                                The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry  Periodic
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