Rapid Electrochemical Assessment of the Leady Oxide Recovered from Spent Lead Pastes: A Case Study on the Effect of Iron and Antimony Doping

Abstract

A rapid electrochemical assessment of the performance of novel leady oxide is demonstrated to provide an alternative route for the time-consuming battery tests. The leady oxide is recovered from spent lead pastes with different level of Fe and Sb doping. The rapid electrochemical assessment for leady oxide acting as positive active materials (PAMs) of a lead-acid battery (LAB) is conducted via cyclic voltammetry (CV) using a three-electrode system. The working electrode is the novel leady oxide which was coated on the current collector of glassy carbon. The current density and discharge capacity increase rapidly at first, then decrease and finally tend to be stable gradually. The rising and falling parts of the CV curves indicate the forming and discharging processes, respectively. The i max cycle and the discharge capacity of leady oxide in CV tests are proved to be ideal indicators of the initial capacity and cycle performance of a fabricated battery. Based on this rapid assessment method, the effects of iron and antimony on electrochemical performance of leady oxide have been clarified. This electrochemical evaluation procedure only takes less than 2 days, and the electrochemical performance of leady oxide represents the procedure of formation and cycling as a lead-acid battery.