February 20, 2026: New research into how different carbon materials interact with water and their implications for performance in lead batteries has been released by the Consortium for Battery Innovation.

CBI financed the study which was developed in collaboration with Wrocław University of Science and Technology, the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC and two other universities in Poland. and reported it on February 17.

The study, published in part online* in ‘ScienceDirect’, and reported by C explores how changes in carbon surface chemistry influence water absorption — an important parameter for understanding the behaviour of carbons used in lead battery electrodes.

Supported by CBI’s senior technical manager, Begüm Bozkaya, the study provides fundamental insights into how different carbon materials interact with water, which has direct implications for paste properties and overall electrode performance in lead batteries.

The data for the work was generated as part of an earlier CBI-funded project, supporting not only application-oriented performance studies but also fundamental understanding of material behaviour.

*The summary of the online report is here:


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0008622326000953?dgcid=coauthor#abs0010