Study on temperature dependency of Lignosulfonate’s electrical conductivity for lead-acid energy storage

Abstract

In the present work, studies on lignosulfonate (Ls) were carried out to understand its material behavior for building better energy storage. Lignosulfonates are being explored in Lithium Ion, Sodium Ion batteries either as a carbon source or as a binding agent. Moreover, in lead-acid energy storage, the Lignosulfonate is incorporated with other inorganic materials like Carbon black and Barium sulfate and used in negative mass to restrict the growth of the sulfates. As a sulfate inhibitor, the effect of Ls depends on the operational potential and temperature. The studies on the Ls were carried out on the regular (Ls) and modified lignosulfonate (mLs), with different concentrations ranging from 0.1% to 0.5%, at different temperature regimes (25 °C to 80 °C). The structural, fundamental, and surface area characteristics of the Ls and mLs were studied by SEM, EDS, and BET Surface area. When subjected to the temperature, the change in the thermal behavior of the lignosulfonates was reviewed by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). At first glance, this seems to be an excellent approach to validate lignosulfonate, and we were able to identify the temperature limitations of using the lignosulfonates for energy storage applications. The present study gave us the optimal operating temperature range to maintain the material characteristics as an additive to the active mass was ≤ 65 °C, as there is no significant improvement in the conductivity. With these studies a positive impression has been left by the lignosulfonate for future exploration as an electrolyte additive for the lead acid energy storages.