Akira Yoshino is honorary fellow of Asahi Kasei Corporation, director of Global Zero Emission Research Center of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and president of the Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center (LIBTEC). Yoshino began research on rechargeable batteries in 1981, and in 1983 fabricated a prototype rechargeable battery using lithium cobalt oxide as cathode and polyacetylene as anode. He switched to carbonaceous material for the anode and in 1985 fabricated and received the basic patent for the first prototype of the LIB.

Yoshino developed the aluminium foil current collector, which formed a passivation layer to enable high cell voltage at low cost, and developed the functional separator membrane and the use of a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) device for additional safety. He also conceived of the LIB’s coil-wound structure to provide large electrode surface area and enable high current discharge despite the low conductivity of the organic electrolyte.

Yoshino has received numerous national and international awards, including the IEEE Medal for Environmental Safety Technologies in 2012, the Global Energy Prize in 2013, and the European Inventor Award and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019. He received his BS and MS from Kyoto University and his EngD from Osaka University.