An in situ generated carbon as integrated conductive additive for hierarchical negative plate of lead-acid battery

• Published in: Journal of power sources 2014-04, Vol.251, p.20-29
• Main Authors: Saravanan, M., Ganesan, M., Ambalavanan, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additives; Applied sciences; Carbon; Charge; Cycle-life; Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells; Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; Exact sciences and technology; Lead acid batteries; Lead-acid battery; Negative plate sulfation; Networks; Partial-state-of-charge; Scanning electron microscopy; Sugars
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.10.143

In this work, we report an in situ generated carbon from sugar as additive in the Negative Active Mass (NAM) which enhances the charge–discharge characteristics of the lead-acid cells. In situ formed sugar derived carbon (SDC) with leady oxide (LO) provides a conductive network and excellent protection against NAM irreversible lead sulfation. The effect of SDC and carbon black (CB) added negative plates are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), galvanostatic charge–discharge, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), respectively. The results show that subtle changes in the addition of carbon to NAM led to subsequent changes on the performance during partial-state-of-charge (PSoC) operations in lead-acid cells. Furthermore, SDC added cells exhibit remarkable improvement in the rate capability, active material utilization, cycle performance and charge acceptance compared to that of the conventional CB added cells. The impact of SDC with LO at various synthesis conditions on the electrochemical performance of the negative plate is studied systematically. [Display omitted] •The sugar derived carbon added negative electrode exhibits excellent performance.•In-situ coating of sugar derived carbon prevents formation of irreversible PbSO4.•The unique structure endows the high-rate transportation of electrons.•The charge acceptance of the test cell is also enhanced.•A new pathway to fabricate promising negative electrode for lead-acid batteries.