A novel flow battery—A lead-acid battery based on an electrolyte with soluble lead(II) V. Studies of the lead negative electrode

Pletcher, Derek, Zhou, Hantao, Kear, Gareth, Low, C.T. John, Walsh, Frank C. and Wills, Richard G.A. (2008) A novel flow battery—A lead-acid battery based on an electrolyte with soluble lead(II) V. Studies of the lead negative electrode. Journal of Power Sources, 180 (1), 621-629. (doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2008.02.024).

Abstract

The structure of lead deposits (approximately 1 mm thick) formed in conditions likely to be met at the negative electrode during the charge/discharge cycling of a soluble lead-acid flow battery is examined. The quality of the lead deposit could be improved by appropriate additives and the preferred additive was shown to be the hexadecyltrimethylammonium cation, C16H33(CH3)3N+, at a concentration of 5 mM. In the presence of this additive, thick layers with acceptable uniformity could be formed over a range of current densities (20–80 mA cm?2) and solution compositions. While electrolyte compositions with lead(II) concentrations in the range 0.1–1.5 M and methanesulfonic acid concentrations in the range 0–2.4 M have been investigated, the best quality deposits are formed at lower concentrations of both species. Surprisingly, the acid concentration was more important than the lead(II) concentration; hence a possible initial electrolyte composition is 1.2 M Pb(II) + 5 mM C16H33(CH3)3N+ without added acid.

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Contributors

Author: Richard G.A. Wills

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