The positive active-material of lead–acid batteries is lead dioxide. During discharge, part of the material is reduced to lead sulfate; the reaction is reversed on charging. There are three types of positive electrodes: Planté, tubular and flat plates.
The construction of a lead acid battery cell is as shown in Fig. 1. It consists of the following parts : Anode or positive terminal (or plate). Cathode or negative terminal (or plate). Electrolyte. Separators. Anode or positive terminal (or plate): The positive plates are also called as anode. The material used for it is lead peroxide (PbO 2).
This results in increase of superficial area by a large extend. The main feature of construction of lead acid battery is to accommodate a large volume of active materials i.e. PbO 2 in active plate. Positive plates are usually produced by Plante Process and the plates are known as Plante Plates.
The negative and positive lead battery plates conduct the energy during charging and discharging. This pasted plate design is the generally accepted benchmark for lead battery plates. Overall battery capacity is increased by adding additional pairs of plates. A pure lead grid structure would not be able to support the above framework vertically.
The negative lead acid battery plates are made by same process. It is seen that since active material on a Plante plate consists of a thin layer of PbO 2 formed on and from the surface of the lead plate, it must be desirable to have a large superficial area in order to get an appreciable volume of it.
The container is a fundamental part of the lead acid battery’s construction. There are, in general, two methods of producing the active materials of the cell and attaching them to lead plates. These are known after the names of their inventors. Plante plates or formed lead acid battery plates. Faure plates or pasted lead acid battery plates.