The critical role of aluminum sulfate as electrolyte additive on the electrochemical performance of lead-acid battery

Aluminum sulfate is inexpensive, non-toxic and non-hazardous and has the potential to become an ideal electrolyte additive for lead-acid batteries. This paper investigates in depth on the effect of electrolyte additives in lead-acid batteries under high rate charging and discharging conditions. This research work proves that aluminum sulfate in the electrolyte can affect the rapid accumulation of lead sulfate formation and growth in high rate charging and discharging process and then significantly inhibit sulfation, which reduces the internal resistance of the electrode plate and substantially improves the electrochemical performance of the battery. The high-rate partial charge state (1C charging and discharging rate) cycle (HRPSoC) life (8003 times) of the battery with aluminum sulfate additive is 13 times that of the blank battery. The battery test results show that the battery has excellent performance in charge acceptance test and constant voltage and constant current polarization test. We also found aluminum sulfate could repair the spent batteries effectively.