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 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.
In the early days of lead–acid battery manufacture, an electrochemical process was used to form the positive active-material from cast plates of pure lead. Whereas this so-called ‘Planté plate’ is still in demand today for certain battery types, flat and tubular geometries have become the two major designs of positive electrode.
The components in Lead-Acid battery includes; stacked cells, immersed in a dilute solution of sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4), as an electrolyte, as the positive electrode in each cells comprises of lead dioxide (PbO2), and the negative electrode is made up of a sponge lead.
Its electrochemistry is identical to the conventional lead-acid battery where lead compounds contained in active materials on positive and negative plates of the cell take part in reversible electrochemical reactions, i.e. reduction-oxidation charge exchange reactions.
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. Therefore, battery manufacturers use a lead alloy material for added strength, and enhanced electrical properties.