History and Development
The lead-acid battery was invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté and is considered the first practical secondary cell or rechargeable battery. However, it wasn’t until the late 1880s that lead-acid battery technology started gaining widespread adoption for general use. Between 1881 and 1885, Camille Faure made several improvements that increased the life and reliability of the battery which helped drive its early commercialization.
Further development continued over the next few decades. In 1901, Thomas Edison improved the capability of the lead-acid battery for stationary applications and helped popularize the use of lead-acid batteries for light and power installations. In the 1920s, advances took place in the use of pasted plates which helped boost energy density and capacity. During World War II, there was renewed military interest in lead-acid batteries which helped refine designs for starting automobile engines in cold climates. After the war, growth accelerated due to their use in emerging vehicle manufacturing industries and for industrial applications.
Design and Functioning
At the heart of a lead-acid battery is a combination of lead plates and dilute sulphuric acid solution known as electrolyte. The negative electrode is made of sponge lead while the positive electrode uses lead oxide. The electrolyte is 30–38% concentration sulphuric acid and water by mass. When the battery is charging, lead sulfate forms on the plates and the reaction is reversed during discharge.
Inside a typical lead-acid battery cell, the lead plates are stacked alternating positive and negative with separators in between to prevent shorting while allowing the transfer of ions. The whole stack is placed in a plastic container filled with electrolyte. During discharge, a lead peroxide coating on the positive electrode is reduced and lead sulfate forms while the negative electrode sheds lead atoms that dissolve in the electrolyte to form lead sulfate. The overall reactions produce an electrical current that can be drawn from the terminals.
Advantages and Uses
Some key advantages of lead-acid batteries include:
- Low manufacturing cost making them affordable
- Ability to supply high surge currents for starting engines and other motor loads
- Widely available technology with well-established recycling infrastructure
- High cycle life - can undergo hundreds of charges in automotive applications
- Robust and tolerant to overcharging with no memory effect
Due to these attributes, lead-acid batteries continue to dominate in transportation uses like cars, trucks, motorcycles, forklifts, electric cars etc. They are also often used for off-grid power applications, uninterruptible power supplies, grid energy storage and telecom backup among others.
Maintenance and Life Cycle
Proper maintenance is important to maximize the service life of lead-acid batteries. Key maintenance steps include:
- Keeping the electrolyte at an optimal level by periodically checking and topping up with distilled water as required.
- Ensuring batteries are charged fully after use to prevent sulfation buildup on the plates over time.
- Storing batteries partially charged if not expected to be used for more than a month to avoid water loss through evaporation.
- Ensuring charging voltages do not exceed the specified float/absorption voltages to prevent accelerated aging.
- Periodically checking battery voltage under load to monitor performance degradation.
When properly maintained and cared for, a Lead Acid Battery service life can range from 3 to 5 years for automotive and similar applications involving frequent discharge-charge cycling. Batteries used for UPS or other infrequent cycling uses may last 8-10 years. Towards the end of useful life, a battery no longer maintains an acceptable charge or its ability to deliver current reduces substantially.
Environmental Impacts and Recycling
Despite the longevity of lead-acid batteries, their large-scale usage also creates environmental issues due to the toxicity of lead content. In the USA, over 99% of discarded lead-acid batteries are recycled annually due to established recycling programs. During recycling, batteries are broken down to recover over 95% of their lead content along with some plastic. Recovered lead is eventually reused to make new batteries in a closed loop system.
While lead-acid battery recycling helps minimize environmental impacts, safe mining and refining of raw materials continues to pose challenges. Alternative materials and battery chemistries are being explored to replace lead entirely and make batteries more sustainable and eco-friendly over the full lifecycle. However, given their reliability and cost-effectiveness, lead-acid batteries will continue fulfilling niche application requirements for the foreseeable future alongside the adoption of newer technologies.
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