Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Doping in Lead-Acid Batteries: A New Horizon

Effect of sucrose-based carbon foams as negative electrode additive on the performance of lead-acid batteries under high-rate partial-state-of-charge condition

Lead-acid batteries are noted for simple maintenance, long lifespan, stable quality, and high reliability, widely used in the field of energy storage. However, during the use of lead-acid batteries, the negative electrode is prone to irreversible sulfation, failing to meet the requirements of new applications such as maintenance-free hybrid vehicles and solar energy storage. In this study, in order to overcome the sulfation problem and improve the cycle life of lead-acid batteries, active carbon (AC) was selected as a foaming agent and foam fixing agent, and carbon foams (CF) with layered porous structure was prepared by mixing with molten sucrose. Sucrose as raw material is green and cheap, and the material preparation process is simple. The prepared CF material was then added as an additive to the negative electrode plate, and the electrochemical performance of the electrode plate and the battery was studied. The results proved that the addition of CF could effectively inhibit the sulfate formation of the negative electrode plate, with the 1.0 % CF negative electrode plate showing the best electrochemical performance. Specifically, according to the result of battery cycle testing, the simulated battery with CF had a cycle life of 3642 times, which was 2.87 times that of the blank group and 2.39 times of the AC group. Meanwhile, rate testing showed that the simulated battery with CF could maintain a high capacity even under high-rate discharge conditions.

Long-Life Lead-Carbon Batteries for Stationary Energy Storage Applications

Owing to the mature technology, natural abundance of raw materials, high recycling efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and high safety of lead-acid batteries (LABs) have received much more attention from large to medium energy storage systems for many years. Lead carbon batteries (LCBs) offer exceptional performance at the high-rate partial state of charge (HRPSoC) and higher charge acceptance than LAB, making them promising for hybrid electric vehicles and stationary energy storage applications. Despite that, adding carbon to the negative active electrode considerably enhances the electrochemical performance. However, carbon brings some adverse effects, such as the severe hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in the NAM due to the low overpotential of carbon material, promoting severe water loss in LCBs. From a practical application point of view, the irreversible sulfation of the negative active material (NAM) and extreme shedding and softening of the positive active material (PAM) are the main obstacles for next-generation LCBs. Recently, a lead-carbon composite additive delayed the parasitic hydrogen evolution and eliminated the sulfation problem, ensuring a long life of LCBs for practical aspects. This comprehensive review outlines a brief developmental historical background of LAB, its shifting towards LCB, the failure mode of LAB, and possible potential solutions to tackle the failure problems. The detailed LCB's development towards long life was discussed in light of the reported literature to guide the researcher to date progress. More emphasis was directed toward the new applications of LCBs for stationary energy storage applications. Finally, state-of-the-art progress and further research gaps were pointed out for future work in this exciting era.

Suppress Loss of Polysulfides in Lithium-Sulfur Battery by Regulating the Rate-Determining Step via 1T MoS2-MnO2 Covering Layer

The commercialization of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) is obstructed by several technical challenges, the most severe of which is the irreversible loss of soluble polysulfide intermediates. These soluble polysulfides must be anchored or confined in the cathode side to maintain the long life of the LSBs. Here, 1T MoS₂-MnO₂/CC heterostructure functional covering layer is designed to regulate the rate-determining step from the liquid-to-solid reaction to solid-to-solid reaction. Rapid and uniform nucleation of solid Li₂S₂/Li₂S is therefore achieved, and the loss of soluble polysulfides is retarded. The Li-S batteries assembled with 1T MoS₂-MnO₂/CC covering layer therefore deliver outstanding rate capabilities even under high sulfur loads and large current rates. This study paves a novel way to suppress the polysulfides' "farewell effect" from the perspective of the kinetics.

Rechargeable Batteries for Grid Scale Energy Storage

Ever-increasing global energy consumption has driven the development of renewable energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) with high electrochemical performance are critical for enabling renewable yet intermittent sources of energy such as solar and wind. In recent years, numerous new battery technologies have been achieved and showed great potential for grid scale energy storage (GSES) applications. However, their practical applications have been greatly impeded due to the gap between the breakthroughs achieved in research laboratories and the industrial applications. In addition, various complex applications call for different battery performances. Matching of diverse batteries to various applications is required to promote practical energy storage research achievement. This review provides in-depth discussion and comprehensive consideration in the battery research field for GSES. The overall requirements of battery technologies for practical applications with key parameters are systematically analyzed by generating standards and measures for GSES. We also discuss recent progress and existing challenges for some representative battery technologies with great promise for GSES, including metal-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries, molten-salt batteries, alkaline batteries, redox-flow batteries, metal-air batteries, and hydrogen-gas batteries. Moreover, we emphasize the importance of bringing emerging battery technologies from academia to industry. Our perspectives on the future development of batteries for GSES applications are provided.

Lead-Carbon Batteries toward Future Energy Storage: From Mechanism and Materials to Applications

The lead acid battery has been a dominant device in large-scale energy storage systems since its invention in 1859. It has been the most successful commercialized aqueous electrochemical energy storage system ever since. In addition, this type of battery has witnessed the emergence and development of modern electricity-powered society. Nevertheless, lead acid batteries have technologically evolved since their invention. Over the past two decades, engineers and scientists have been exploring the applications of lead acid batteries in emerging devices such as hybrid electric vehicles and renewable energy storage; these applications necessitate operation under partial state of charge. Considerable endeavors have been devoted to the development of advanced carbon-enhanced lead acid battery (i.e., lead-carbon battery) technologies. Achievements have been made in developing advanced lead-carbon negative electrodes. Additionally, there has been significant progress in developing commercially available lead-carbon battery products. Therefore, exploring a durable, long-life, corrosion-resistive lead dioxide positive electrode is of significance. In this review, the possible design strategies for advanced maintenance-free lead-carbon batteries and new rechargeable battery configurations based on lead acid battery technology are critically reviewed. Moreover, a synopsis of the lead-carbon battery is provided from the mechanism, additive manufacturing, electrode fabrication, and full cell evaluation to practical applications.

Graphical abstract

Increasing the oxygen-containing functional groups of oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes to improve high-rate-partial-state-of-charge performance

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with different oxygen functional groups were prepared from hot nitric acid reflux treatment. The acid-treated MWCNTs (a-MWCNTs) were introduced to negative active materials (NAMs) of lead-acid batteries (LABs) and the high-rate-partial-state-of-charge (HRPSoC) performance of the LABs was evaluated. A-MWCNTs with high quantities of carboxylic (COO-) and carbonyl (C[double bond, length as m-dash]O) functional groups significantly improve the lead sulfate (PbSO4) reduction to lead (Pb) and thereby improve HRPSoC cycle life. The addition of a-MWCNTs to NAMs is helpful for the formation of larger crystals of ternary lead sulfate (3BS). The improved LABs performance is due to the formation of a sponge crisscrossed rod-like structure at the negative plate in the presence of a-MWCNTs. This unique channels structure is conducive to the diffusion of the electrolyte into the negative plate and delays the PbSO4 accumulation during HRPSoC cycles. The HRPSoC cycle life with a-MWCNTs is significantly prolonged up to the longest cycles of 39 580 from 19 712. In conclusion, oxygen-containing groups on the a-MWCNTs showed significant influence on the curing process and forming process and then improved HRPSoC performance.

Applications of Carbon in Rechargeable Electrochemical Power Sources: A Review

Rechargeable power sources are an essential element of large-scale energy systems based on renewable energy sources. One of the major challenges in rechargeable battery research is the development of electrode materials with good performance and low cost. Carbon-based materials have a wide range of properties, high electrical conductivity, and overall stability during cycling, making them suitable materials for batteries, including stationary and large-scale systems. This review summarizes the latest progress on materials based on elemental carbon for modern rechargeable electrochemical power sources, such as commonly used lead–acid and lithium-ion batteries. Use of carbon in promising technologies (lithium–sulfur, sodium-ion batteries, and supercapacitors) is also described. Carbon is a key element leading to more efficient energy storage in these power sources. The applications, modifications, possible bio-sources, and basic properties of carbon materials, as well as recent developments, are described in detail. Carbon materials presented in the review include nanomaterials (e.g., nanotubes, graphene) and composite materials with metals and their compounds.

Acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes as additives for negative active materials to improve high-rate-partial-state-of-charge cycle-life of lead-acid batteries

In this work, a trace amount of acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (a-MWCNTs) is introduced into the negative active materials (NAMs) of a lead acid battery (LAB) by simply dispersing a-MWCNTs in the water, which is then added into the dry mixture of lead oxide powder, expanders and carbon black for lead paste preparation. The abundant oxygen-containing groups on the a-MWCNTs show significant influence on the chemical reactions happening during the curing process, leading to the improved properties of NAMs. Specifically, after formation, the NAMs containing 100 ppm a-MWCNTs display a spongy-like structure comprised of interconnected domino-like Pb slices, giving favorable porosity and electroactive surface area of the NAMs. Moreover, the quasi-rod structure of Pb slices provides the channels for fast electron transfer. These two features greatly accelerate the electrochemical reaction between Pb and PbSO₄, and hence hinder the accumulation of PbSO₄ crystals. As a result, the high-rate partial-state-of-charge (HRPSoC) cycle-life of the simulated cell constructed from the a-MWCNTs-containing negative plate achieves a HRPSoC cycle-life more than 1.5 times longer than the cell constructed when the negative plate contains only carbon black. Since our method is of great convenience and low-cost, it is expected to have a great feasibility in the LAB industry.

100 ppm aMWCNTs were incorporated into the NAMs of LABs. The oxygen-containing groups on the aMWCNTs induced the formation of interconnected domino-like Pb slices in the NAMs. Thus, the HRPSoC cycle-life of the simulated cell was improved by 50%.

One-Dimensional Integrated MnS@Carbon Nanoreactors Hybrid: An Alternative Anode for Full-Cell Li-Ion and Na-Ion Batteries

Manganese sulfide (MnS) has triggered great interest as an anode material for rechargeable Li-ion/Na-ion batteries (LIBs/SIBs) because of its low cost, high electrochemical activity, and theoretical capacity. Nevertheless, the practical application is greatly hindered by its rapid capacity decay lead by inevitable active dissolutions and volume expansions in charge/discharge cycles. To resolve the above issues in LIBs/SIBs, we herein put forward the smart construction of MnS nanowires embedded in carbon nanoreactors (MnS@C NWs) via a facile solution method followed by a scalable in situ sulfuration treatment. This engineering protocol toward electrode architectures/configurations endows integrated MnS@C NWs anodes with large specific capacity (with a maximum value of 847 mA h g^-1 in LIBs and 720 mA h g^-1 in SIBs), good operation stability, excellent rate capabilities, and prolonged cyclic life span. To prove their potential real applications, we have established the full cells (for LIBs, MnS@C//LiFePO₄; for SIBs, MnS@C//Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃), both of which are capable of showing remarkable specific capacities, outstanding rate performance, and superb cyclic endurance. This work offers a scalable, simple, and efficient evolution method to produce the integrated hybrid of MnS@C NWs, providing useful inspiration/guidelines for anodic applications of metal sulfides in next-generation power sources.

Enhanced Performance of E-Bike Motive Power Lead-Acid Batteries with Graphene as an Additive to the Active Mass

The effects of both graphene nanoplatelets and reduced graphene oxide as additives to the negative active material in valve-regulated lead-acid batteries for electric bikes were investigated. Low-temperature performance, charge acceptance, cycle performance, and water loss were investigated. The test results show that the low-temperature performance, charge acceptance, and large-current discharge performance of the batteries with graphene additives were significantly improved compared to the control battery, and the cycle life under 100% depth of discharge condition was extended by more than 52% from 250 to 380 cycles. Meanwhile, the amount of water loss from the batteries with graphene changed only slightly compared with the control cells. The excellent performance of the batteries can be ascribed to the graphene promoting the negative-plate charge and discharge processes and suppressing the growth of lead sulfate crystals.