M Stanley Whittingham

Michael Stanley Whittingham
Born 1941
UK
Residence U.S.A.
Fields Chemist
Institutions Binghamton University
Alma mater Oxford University

M. Stanley Whittingham is an English chemist. He is currently a professor of chemistry and director of both the Institute for Materials Research and the Materials Science and Engineering program at Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York.

Education and career

Whittingham was educated at Stamford School in Lincolnshire from 1951-1960, before going to New College, Oxford to read Chemistry. At the University of Oxford, he took his BA (1964), MA (1967), and DPhil (1968).[1] After completing his graduate studies, Dr. Whittingham was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University until 1972. He then worked for Exxon Research & Engineering Company from 1972 until 1984. He then spent four years working for Schlumberger prior to becoming a professor at Binghamton University.[1]

For five years, he served as the University’s vice provost for research and outreach.[2] He also served as Vice-Chair of the Research Foundation of the State University of New York for six years.

Research

Whittingham is a key figure in the history of the development of lithium batteries discovering the concept of intercalation electrodes. Exxon manufactured in 1970s Whittingham's rechargeable lithium battery, which was based on a titanium disulfide cathode and a lithium-aluminum anode. However, this rechargeable lithium battery could never be made practical. Titanium disulfide was a poor choice, since it has to be synthesized under completely sealed conditions. This is extremely expensive (~$1000 per kilo for titanium disulfide raw material in 1970s). When it is exposed to air, it stinks because the moisture in the air reacts with titanium disulfide to make hydrogen sulfide. Because this material was unworkable, Exxon finally killed lithium-titanium disulfide battery.[3] Batteries with metallic lithium electrodes presented safety issues, as lithium is a highly reactive element; it burns in normal atmospheric conditions because of the presence of water and oxygen. As a result, research moved to develop batteries where, instead of metallic lithium, only lithium compounds are present, being capable of accepting and releasing lithium ions.

Dr. Whittingham co-chaired DOE' study of Chemical Energy Storage in 2007, and is now Director of the Northeastern Center for Chemical Energy Storage, a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center.

He received the Young Author Award from The Electrochemical Society in 1971, the Battery Research Award in 2004, and was elected a Fellow in 2006 for his contributions to lithium battery science and technology.

Patents

Books

Most-cited papers

Following is a short list of some of his most cited papers.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Professor M. Stanley Whittingham
  2. Inside Binghamton University
  3. Fletcher, Seth (2011). Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy. Macmillan.

External links

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