Jean-Marie Tarascon, Antoni Gozdz and Paul Warren collaborated to develop long-lasting, lightweight, flexible, rechargeable lithium ion batteries just as the need to power portable cell phones and laptop computers became apparent. Their body of inventions launched a new paradigm in battery manufacturing.

The invention of the manganese spinel-based lithium ion battery, announced by Telcordia - then Bellcore - in 1992, marked an enormous improvement in energy storage. Invented by Tarascon, one of the world's foremost solid state chemists, the rechargeable battery could hold more power than any other, yet it had none of the environmental problems posed by products based on lead-acid or nickel-cadmium chemistry. But this early version contained liquid electrolyte, the electric conductor that sometimes leaked and damaged equipment. These batteries lacked flexibility because they had to be securely encased in metal containers.

Tarascon asked Warren, a chemist experienced in plasticized materials, to find what battery researchers had only dreamt about - a suitable plastic to replace the metal. Since other industries commonly entrap liquids in plasticized, polymeric matrices, they were sure that a similar technique could be applied to the components of the lithium ion battery. Gozdz, a polymer expert, was enlisted to find polymeric materials that could enclose the components and to design a practical way to utilize the new system.

During an 18-month research collaboration, the team changed the way rechargeable batteries would be made. They designed a highly flexible, leak-resistant product that can be as thin as a credit card. The new battery consists of five to 11 operating layers encased in a metalized plastic bag to seal the contents. Because the manufacturing process involves fusing the layers together with heat and pressure, the batteries can be made relatively simply and inexpensively. Since they are thin and flexible, their shape can easily be altered, making them ideal for portable power sources. When many larger cells are connected, they are powerful enough to run electrical vehicles, scooters and backup power systems.

Their groundbreaking work garnered the three researchers several industry honors: Bellcore's President Award (1994), R&D 100 Award (1994), Popular Mechanics Design and Engineering Award (1995), Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award in Energy Innovation (2001), and Telcordia's CEO Award (2001).

Born in France, Tarascon received his Ph.D. degree in solid state chemistry from the University of Bordeaux and later studied at Cornell University. He joined Bellcore in 1984 and served as director of its energy storage group from 1989 until 1995 when he returned to France to direct the solid state chemistry laboratory at Jules Verne University. Tarascon is the author of 302 publications and has received 45 patents. He became a Bellcore Fellow in 1994.

A native of Poland, Gozdz received his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry in 1976 from the Technical University of Wroclaw where he was a polymer and plastics researcher. Gozdz joined Bellcore in 1984 after three years at TRI in Princeton, and is now Bellcore's chief scientist in the energy research storage group. He has received 17 patents, 15 of them in the lithium ion battery field and he is co-author of more than 100 scientific presentations and papers.

A graduate of Wesleyan University, Warren earned a Ph.D. degree in physical organic chemistry in 1968. The New Jersey native was a researcher and research supervisor for Bell Laboratories for 15 years before moving to Bellcore in 1984. In 1995, he became supervisor of the battery research group where he earned 15 patents. Warren retired in 1998.