Amanda Hall was on top of a mountain in Tibet when inspiration struck.
“I saw a Tibetan monk reach into his robe and pull out an iPhone,” Hall told the
Calgary Eyeopener [CBC radio programme].
“If there’s an iPhone at the top of a mountain in Tibet, where isn’t there an iPhone on this planet? And then it just got me thinking about batteries and battery technology and energy and how we store that energy.”
On her return to Calgary, the accomplished geophysicist began looking into a better, greener way to mine lithium the essential ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, which power electric cars and smartphones.