February 25, 2021: Scientists from the US Argonne National Laboratory reported on February 15 details of a new electrode design for lithium-ion batteries using lead and carbon nano particles on the anode.

Eungje Lee, principal author of the report and materials scientist in Argonne’s Chemical Sciences and Engineering division, claimed the new anode ‘could offer a new revenue stream for the large industry currently engaged in lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling’.

This is a huge claim given that the time required to take laboratory experiments onto the factory line is normally estimated as roughly 10 years and can often be a lot longer.

The method so far in creating the nano-particles involves shaking, for several hours, large lead oxide particles mixed with carbon powder until they form microscopic particles with the desired core-shell structure.

That said, “tests in laboratory cells over 100 charge-discharge cycles showed that the new lead-based nanocomposite anode attained twice the energy storage capacity of current graphite anodes (normalized for the same weight)”, said Christopher Johnson, the principal investigator of the project.

Contributors to this include scientists from Northwestern University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST).