Rachid Yazami.. The Moroccan inventor
"Father of the Battery"
Rachid Yazami is a Moroccan scientist and
inventor, born in 1953. He is nicknamed "Father of the Battery"
because he was the first to invent the "graphite anode" to develop
rechargeable lithium batteries. He also invented a technology that enables
charging batteries for electronic devices and electric cars in record time.
He has no less than 180 patents, and has
published more than 250 scientific papers. Thanks to his scientific
achievements, he was ranked among the 10 most important Muslim figures in 2015.
His teacher told him when he was a
12-year-old student that he would be a chemist, and a mistake that his teacher
at the University of Grenoble reprimanded him for led him to his greatest
inventions.
Birth and
upbringing
Rachid Yazami was born on April 16, 1953 to
a poor family in the city of Fez, north-central Morocco. He grew up in an area
called the Martyrs' District, where he received his primary and secondary
education.
He is the second of seven siblings, and was
raised strictly by his father, who was a dairy salesman. One day, his father
discovered that his teacher had not held his son accountable for his mistakes
in an assignment, and when he did the same thing a second time, he withdrew his
son from the institution despite his teacher’s pleas.
He was known for his great ambition since
childhood, and had early scientific inclinations, especially in geology. He
says in press statements that his physics and chemistry teacher at Moulay
Rachid High School, when he was between 11 and 12 years old, told him one day,
“You will be a chemist,” and one of his professors at the University of
Grenoble in France repeated the same phrase to him after he joined it as a doctoral
student.
After completing his secondary education in
Fez, he moved to Rabat between 1971 and 1972 to continue his university
education at the Faculty of Science at Mohammed V University.
During that period, Morocco experienced
political instability due to an attempted military coup in Skhirat Palace on
July 10, 1971, and an assassination attempt on King Hassan II after his plane
was attacked in August 1972. Moroccan universities experienced strikes and
security raids during that period.
In September 1972, after spending one year
at the Faculty of Science, he decided to leave Morocco for France. One of his
uncles was the one who collected the money needed to buy a plane ticket, and
there he began a new phase that would affect his life and his academic and
professional career.
Education
and scientific training
After obtaining his baccalaureate (high
school) from Moulay Idriss High School in Fez in the mathematics department in
1971, he joined the Faculty of Science at Mohammed V University in Rabat, where
he spent one year, and then moved in September 1972 to the French city of
Rouen, where he joined the preparatory classes for the higher schools, before
joining in 1975 the Polytechnic Institute at the University of Grenoble
"INP".
Out of 6 specialized engineering schools at
the university, he chose the chemistry specialization, and he was very inclined
to work in the field of electrochemistry, to begin a path rich in research and
inventions.
In 1978, he obtained a master's degree in
engineering, materials science and electrochemistry, and then in 1985 he
obtained a doctorate in the laboratory of "adsorption and interaction of
gases on solids". The principle of adsorption depends on the property of
solid materials (adsorbent) to fix certain gases (absorbent) on their surface.
In 1979-1980, while preparing his thesis,
he discovered the "graphite anode" used today in most lithium-ion
batteries, where he was able to integrate lithium into graphite in a reversible
manner, which enabled the development of the first rechargeable lithium
battery. Since then, "Li-ion" batteries have continued to evolve in
terms of chemical composition and energy density.
In 1981, he developed cathode materials
based on graphite oxide and graphite fluoride for lithium batteries, and two
years later he developed graphite materials intercalated with metal chloride
for rechargeable lithium batteries, and in 1984 he studied two-dimensional
magnetic materials.
A mistake
that led to his first inventions
A mistake he made during a practical class
while he was a doctoral student was destined to be the key that opened the way
for him to one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century.
Yazami said that one day, during a
practical class, he was testing a battery and it ran out of charge, and
batteries at the time were not rechargeable. He wondered how it could not be
recharged? He decided to try to charge it. When the supervising professor saw
him, he got angry at the attempt, shouted at him, denouncing the attempt, and
accused him of being stupid.
He considered that this negative incident
was what made him ask the question: Why can't the battery be rechargeable? This
question continued to drive his curiosity, which led him to one of the greatest
inventions of the twentieth century.
When he obtained his engineering diploma in
1978 and began scientific research in the field of batteries, a year later,
exactly in late 1979, the idea of combining lithium and graphite came to his
mind, despite his knowledge that many scientists and researchers had tried to
do so, and had failed on the basis that it was impossible to introduce the two
elements together in an electrochemical cell such as a battery.
He thought of using a solid insulator
between the two materials instead of the liquid insulator as was done before,
and after 15 days of working on the experiment, he opened the cell and noticed
that the graphite had turned golden, meaning that the lithium had merged with
it. A month later he realized that graphite could be used as a negative
electrode in lithium batteries.
Scientific
Experience
Yazmi is a reference in the world of
storage and batteries, a field in which he has made great scientific
achievements, which led to his being classified as one of the 10 most important
Muslim figures in 2015.
The website of the "World Patent
Office" in Geneva estimates the number of patents registered by Yazmi at
180, in addition to publishing more than 250 scientific research papers.
His series of innovations began in 1980
with his most prominent innovation, the "graphite anode", which is
considered a pillar of lithium battery technologies, which have become dominant
in the world of storage. This invention is worth at least $ 50 billion, and
lithium-ion batteries have operated 15 billion mobile devices and 26 million
electric cars around the world by 2023.
He has cooperated in the field of research
with the US space agency (NASA) in a program aimed at sending spacecraft
powered by rechargeable batteries to Mars. These researches culminated in 2005
with the sending of a vehicle to Mars using lithium batteries charged by solar
energy for the first time.
In 2014, he was chosen as an honorary
member of the King Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, and a year
later he was able to invent a new and unprecedented technology, called
"NLV", which enables the charging of batteries of electronic devices
and electric cars in a record time of no more than 10 minutes.
This new technology was considered by the
American company "Tesla Motors", which specializes in the manufacture
of electric cars, as a "magic solution" for its products that are
gradually taking over the world.
In 2023, he contributed, along with 3 other
scientists, namely Professor Martin Andrew Green (Australia), Professor Stanley
Whittingham (United States of America), and Professor Akira Yoshino (Japan), to
the creation of a sustainable platform for green energy through production
using solar cells and storage using lithium-ion batteries.
Professional
Experience
After obtaining his doctorate from the
University of Grenoble in France in 1985, he began his career at the French
National Center for Scientific Research located in the same city. He progressed
through academic positions until he became Director of Research at the Center
(1998-2007).
The jobs and positions he held varied
between the academic and business fields:
• In the academic field:
He began his work as a visiting researcher
at Kyoto University between 1988 and 2000. He assumed the management of
research at the French National Center for Scientific Research between 1998 and
2007.
He was appointed a visiting professor at
the California Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, USA, in cooperation with
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA between 2000 and 2010.
In 2010, he joined Nanyang Technological
University in Singapore as a visiting professor in chemistry and materials
science. He works as a visiting professor at other universities around the
world.
• In the field of business:
He has entered the field of business
prominently since 2007 when he founded a startup company in California to
develop and market his patented discoveries, especially with regard to fluoride
ion batteries.
On January 28, 2011, he founded a startup
company in Singapore specializing in developing technology to increase the life
of batteries and raise their level of safety to expand their use in storage
media in portable electronic devices and electric car applications.
In January 2021, he founded the Center of
Excellence for Batteries at the private university in the Moroccan city of Fez,
and led discussions with investors around the world to establish a battery
manufacturing plant called "Giga Factory" in Morocco.
The project aims to prepare Moroccan
technicians, engineers, researchers and others in the field of battery
manufacturing, given the absence of any center in Morocco or Africa
specializing in this type of battery, in addition to preparing engineers and researchers
to obtain a doctorate in partnership with Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University
in Fez and Moulay Ismail University in Meknes.
He is working on establishing another
laboratory for the manufacture of fast chargers for electric cars in the
Kingdom of Morocco.
Job and
Responsibilities
• Between 1988 and 1990, he worked as a
visiting professor at Kyoto University in Japan.
• Between 1998 and 2007, he was appointed
Director of Research at the National Center for Scientific Research in France.
• Between 2003 and 2005, he served as
President of the International Battery Association.
• Between 2000 and 2010, he worked as a
visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology in the United
States of America.
• Between September 2010 and July 2018, he
was appointed Professor and Director of the Battery Materials and Battery
Management Program at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
• In January 2011, he served as Founding
Director and Chief Technology Officer at KVI Holdings in Singapore.
• In January 2011, he became Founding
Director and Chief Executive Officer of KVI PTE Limited in Singapore.
• Between September 2000 and August 2020,
he was appointed a visiting associate in the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.
In September 2019, he became a visiting
professor at the University of Fez, Morocco.
In February 2022, he was appointed a guest
researcher at the California Institute of Technology in California, USA.
Awards, medals
and decorations
He has received many international and
regional awards, medals and decorations, most notably:
• He won the IEEE Medal in 2012.
• He received the Royal Medal for
Intellectual Merit from King Mohammed VI of Morocco on July 30, 2014.
• He won the Charles Stark Draper Award
from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in Washington in 2014, which is
considered the "Nobel" Prize for engineers.
• Nominated for the Marius Laffitte Prize
for Inventors Engineers, Paris, France in March 2016.
• The Legion of Honor was awarded to him by
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on July 14, 2016, the highest honor the
French government can bestow on inventors.
• The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awarded him the Arab Investor of
the Year Award in the Green Applications category on September 17, 2019.
• He was awarded the Stanley Whittingham
Energy Prize, the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in Phuket, Thailand on
November 29, 2022.
• On September 20, 2023, he was awarded the
2023 FinFuture Grand Prize with 3 other scientists: Professor Martin Andrew
Green, Professor Stanley Whittingham and Professor Akira Yoshino for “an
invention aimed at creating a sustainable green energy platform through the
production of solar cells and their storage with lithium-ion batteries,” worth
$3 million.
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