Environmental contamination can lead to ingestion and inhalation of lead and its compounds. Most cases of oral lead poisoning result from small amounts of lead-containing material, such as contaminated dust or soil or flakes of lead paint. Inhalation of lead as fumes or particles is a major occupational route of exposure. What is lead poisoning?
Batteries account for more than 80 per cent of the global demand of lead. Improper recycling of used lead-acid batteries causes environmental pollution and health damage. The largest subsets of lead-acid batteries are for automotive applications (May, Davidson & Monahov, 2018).
Although lead acid batteries are an ancient energy storage technology, they will remain essential for the global rechargeable batteries markets, possessing advantages in cost-effectiveness and recycling ability.
Inhibition of lead sulfate formation increases battery cycle life (Fig. 5 g). These sheets exhibit high conductivity, surface area, and flexibility. Lead sulfate deposits on the GN surface, and GN acts as a backbone for the conductivity, resulting in more conversion of lead sulfate to lead and a better diffusion of HSO 4− ions .
The processing, use and disposal of lead can result in widespread environmental contamination and lead to human exposure. As lead is an element, it is highly persistent in the environment. What are the sources of human exposure to lead? Lead has had many uses throughout history and consequently there are many potential sources of exposure.
Schematic diagram of (a) discharge and (b) charge reactions that occur in Lead-acid batteries. During discharge mode, sulfuric acid reacts with Pb and PbO 2. It forms inherent lead sulfate, which is electrochemically inactive. Upon charge, the reaction occurs vice versa [3, , , , ], as described in Equations (2), (3)).