Impact of carbon additives on lead-acid battery electrodes: A review

This review article primarily focuses on the research on inclusion of carbon-based additives into the electrodes to increase the efficiency of lead-acid (LA) batteries. The carbon additives have shown a great promise to reduce the sulfation on the electrodes under high-rate partial state of charge (HRPSoC) and increase the cycle life of LA batteries. It is found that a significant amount of literature is focused on the inclusion of additives on the negative active material (NAM) electrode when compared to the positive active material (PAM) electrode. The weight percent (wt.%) and particle size of carbon additives was found to influence the cycle life of the batteries. The performance of LA batteries has also been compared to the lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that have gained prominence in recent years due to their higher cycle life under deep discharge applications. The comparison suggested that even though Li-ion batteries have emerged as a contender in a wide range of applications, LA batteries will continue to have a significant market share for the next several decades due to their merits in the existing off-grid applications, low initial cost, and higher recyclability. The literature study also informed that there is a dearth in theoretical studies that can provide better understanding of the effect of carbon additives on the LA batteries.