Lead-Acid Battery Technologies and Electrochemical Performance
Summary
Lead–acid batteries remain one of the most widely employed electrochemical energy storage systems, prized for safety, cost-effectiveness and high recyclability. Despite their venerable history, contemporary applications—from automotive start–stop systems to renewable energy storage—have driven renewed efforts to mitigate principal degradation pathways such as negative-plate sulfation, positive-grid corrosion and acid stratification. Modern formulations often incorporate carbonaceous additives or novel current-collector architectures to enhance charge acceptance, suppress hard sulfation under high-rate partial state-of-charge cycling and extend overall cycle life. Parallel advances in recycling processes, including rapid desulfation of spent lead paste and green hydrometallurgical recovery, aim to close the loop on lead usage, reduce energy consumption and curb toxic emissions. These technological refinements collectively boost specific energy, improve cold-cranking performance and reinforce the global role of lead–acid systems in grid balancing, motive power and backup applications.
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Lead-Acid Battery Technologies and Electrochemical Performance publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in lead-acid battery technologies and electrochemical performance across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Negative active mass (NAM): The lead dioxide and sponge lead composite applied to battery plates, responsible for the bulk of electrochemical reactions.
Sulfation: The formation and growth of lead sulphate crystals on the negative electrode, which impede ion transport and reduce capacity.
Charge acceptance: The ability of a battery to absorb current during charging, especially critical under rapid or partial-state-of-charge cycling.
Partial state of charge (PSoC): Operating condition in which a battery is neither fully discharged nor fully charged, common in hybrid-vehicle and renewable-integration use cases.
Desulfation: The process of chemically or electrochemically removing accumulated lead sulphate from spent electrode paste to enable recycling or rejuvenation.
Deep eutectic solvent (DES): A low-melting mixture of a quaternary ammonium salt and a hydrogen-bond donor used for green dissolution and electrodeposition of lead compounds.
References
- Ultra‐Fast Recyclable and Value‐Added Desulfation Method for Spent Lead Paste via Dual Intensification Processes. Advanced Science (2023).
- Recent progress in the development of carbon‐based materials in lead–carbon batteries. Carbon Neutralization (2023).
- Lead acid battery performance and cycle life increased through addition of discrete carbon nanotubes to both electrodes. Journal of Power Sources (2015).
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