In-situ synthesis of novel nanostructured Pb@C composites for improving the performance of lead-acid batteries under high-rate partial-state-of-charge operation

The addition of carbon or carbon composite materials to the negative plate of lead-acid battery could effectively improve the battery electrochemical performance. Herein, a novel Pb@C nanocomposites are in-situ prepared by pyrolysis lead acetate impregnated glucose gel at nitrogen atmosphere. While the Pb@C nanocomposites is used as the additive adding in the negative active materials (NAM) of lead-acid batteries, which can great enhance the utilization of NAM. The negative plate, containing 1 wt.% Pb@C, owns the high affinity between the NAM and Pb@C material, which shows the best cycle-life (8921 cycles) performance on high-rate partial-state-of-charge (HRPSoC) and the highest of initial discharge specific capacity (165.1 mAh g(-1)). Moreover, the lower polarizability and more stable rate capability of the lead-acid cells contain Pb@C compare with blank cell. Besides, accelerate the diffusion of electrolyte and PbSO4 dissolution, due to the Pb@C materials form porous-skeleton with NAM in the negative plate. In summary, the Pb@C nanocomposites have potential to be used to enhance the specific capacity and HRPSoC cycle-life of lead-acid batteries.