Chapter 6
Nanomaterials for Batteries
Owing to the energy crisis, batteries have captured numerous attentions due to their
large energy density with stable electrochemical properties, and they have been
successfully applied in power electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and millions
of electronic devices. Batteries, regardless of their chemistry-aqueous, non-aqueous,
Li, or Na based, store energy within the electrode structure through charge transfer
reactions. Therefore, speeding up charge transfer reactions is the key to improve the
performance of batteries device. Downsizing the materials’ particles could shorten
the ion diffusion distance and lead to an improved rate performance. So, nanomaterials have become a hot research area for electrode materials. In this chapter, we
provide an overall summary in evaluation of nanostructured materials for batteries,
including lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, metal-air
battery, and lithium-sulfur battery.
6.1 Lead-Acid Batteries
6.1.1 Lead-Acid Battery Classification, Structure,
and Working Principle
Lead-acid batteries are often called lead accumulator. It is a kind of electrode mainly
made of lead and its oxide; the electrolyte is sulfuric acid. When Lead-acid battery
is at discharge state, the main component of the positive electrode is lead peroxide,
the main component of the negative electrode is lead; at charging state, the main
component of the positive electrode and negative electrode are lead sulfate.
Lead-acid battery was invented by French Plante in 1859 and has been developed
for nearly 150 years. Lead-acid battery has made great progress in theoretical research
and product variety, product electrical performance, etc. Lead-acid batteries play
an indispensable role not only in transportation, communications, electric power,
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Pang et al., Synthesis of Functional Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Energy Storage,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7372-5_6
107
Nanomaterials for Batteries
Owing to the energy crisis, batteries have captured numerous attentions due to their
large energy density with stable electrochemical properties, and they have been
successfully applied in power electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and millions
of electronic devices. Batteries, regardless of their chemistry-aqueous, non-aqueous,
Li, or Na based, store energy within the electrode structure through charge transfer
reactions. Therefore, speeding up charge transfer reactions is the key to improve the
performance of batteries device. Downsizing the materials’ particles could shorten
the ion diffusion distance and lead to an improved rate performance. So, nanomaterials have become a hot research area for electrode materials. In this chapter, we
provide an overall summary in evaluation of nanostructured materials for batteries,
including lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, metal-air
battery, and lithium-sulfur battery.
6.1 Lead-Acid Batteries
6.1.1 Lead-Acid Battery Classification, Structure,
and Working Principle
Lead-acid batteries are often called lead accumulator. It is a kind of electrode mainly
made of lead and its oxide; the electrolyte is sulfuric acid. When Lead-acid battery
is at discharge state, the main component of the positive electrode is lead peroxide,
the main component of the negative electrode is lead; at charging state, the main
component of the positive electrode and negative electrode are lead sulfate.
Lead-acid battery was invented by French Plante in 1859 and has been developed
for nearly 150 years. Lead-acid battery has made great progress in theoretical research
and product variety, product electrical performance, etc. Lead-acid batteries play
an indispensable role not only in transportation, communications, electric power,
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Pang et al., Synthesis of Functional Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Energy Storage,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7372-5_6
107