Abstract: The possibility of using Pb-electroplated reticulated SiC as the positive current collector for lead-acid batteries was investigated. Reticulated SiC with two aperture sizes (3 and 2ram) were tested as the substrate of positive electrode. It was found that the reticulated SiC has an excellent corrosion resistance in H2SO4 solution, and the Pb layer electroplated on reticulated SiC showed analogous electrochemical behavior to metal Pb. Preliminary test of the battery performance indicated that the utilization efficiency of the positive active mass of new designed batteries are improved compared with the conventional batteries. The improvement could be ascribed to the high specific surface area of the reticulated structured positive current collector, which was further supported by the even better performance of the battery made from a smaller aperture size (2ram) reticulated SiC as the substrate of the positive electrode.

Key words: lead-acid battery, reticulated SiC, electroplating