The clean energy transition runs on 50 years of patent-protected chemistry and engineering. Stanley Whittingham invented the first practical rechargeable lithium battery at Exxon in 1975 — a time when no one imagined it would one day power a billion smartphones. John Goodenough's 1981 cathode patent solved the safety problem and made the technology commercially viable. Bell Labs created the silicon solar cell in 1954 with no commercial market in sight. These patents expired long before their technologies became essential — which is exactly why the clean energy revolution could happen. The knowledge became free just when it was needed most.
Patents in this topic
US 4009052 · 1977 · Exxon Research and Engineering Co
How Early Rechargeable Lithium Batteries Used Layered Materials
US 4302518 · 1981
The Battery Cathode That Powers Every Electric Vehicle and Smartphone
US 2780765 · 1957 · Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc
The First Solar Cell That Could Actually Power Something
US 5346778 · 1994 · Energy Partners Inc
Fuel Cell System for Vehicles with Oxygen Boost
US 4064521 · 1977 · RCA Corp
How Amorphous Silicon Made Thin-Film Solar Cells Possible
US 9379564 · 2016 · Nissan Motor Co Ltd
How Electric Cars Safely Pause Charging When You Touch the Plug
US 6828755 · 2004 · Johnson Controls Technology Co
Battery system module
US 8044672 · 2011
Method for measuring D-Q impedance of polyphase power grid components
US 9368994 · 2016 · Wistron Corp
Dynamic charging device and method thereof
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