Electroplated reticulated vitreous carbon current collectors for lead-acid batteries: opportunities and challenges

Reticulated, open-cell structures based on vitreous carbon substrates electroplated with a Pb-Sn (1 wt.%) alloy were investigated as current collectors for lead-acid batteries. Scanning and backscattered. electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, anodic polarization and flooded 2 V single-cell battery testing was employed to characterize the performance of the proposed collectors. A battery equipped with pasted electroplated reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) electrodes of 137 cm(2) geometric area, at the time of manuscript submission, completed 500 cycles and over 1500 h of continuous operation. The cycling involved discharges at 63 A kg(PAM)(-1) corresponding to a nominal 0.75 It rate and a positive active mass (PAM) utilization efficiency of 21%. The charging protocol was composed of two voltage limited (i.e. 2.6 V/cell), constant current steps of 35 and 9.5 A kg(PAM)(-1), respectively, with a total duration of about 2 h. The charge factor was 1.05-1.15. The observed cycling behavior in conjunction with the versatility of electrodeposition to produce application-dependent optimized lead alloy coating thickness and composition shows promise for the development of lead-acid batteries using electroplated reticulated vitreous carbon collectors. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.