January 16, 2020: Neutron diffraction has been used for the first time in a project aiming to improve lead battery performance, the Consortium for Battery Innovation said on January 13.
The project, launched in Spain under the CBI’s technical programme, uses hi-tech neutron diffraction techniques to explore the fundamental processes that occur inside lead batteries as they charge and discharge.
Exide Technologies and the Institute of Materials Science of Aragon (ICMA) are also working with the CBI on the project.
“This project, the first to be launched in Europe, demonstrates the kind of cutting-edge research now being undertaken by the advanced lead battery industry,” said CBI director Alistair Davidson.
“Neutron diffraction probes deeper than X-rays and can provide another perspective into improving the performance of lead batteries. The analysis we’re conducting in Spain will help us develop new high-performing lead batteries.”
In August 2019, BESB reported on a study with a group of scientists from Spain, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey, who used operando neutron radiography on lead acid battery function for the first time.
The technique used neutron imaging techniques to understand the working processes of lead batteries in what appears to be a similar tracking function. See the report here.
In the US, RSR Technologies and East Penn are working with the Argonne National Laboratory to use synchrotron X-ray techniques in similar imaging research into lead batteries.
CBI says it is working under the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ guidelines, which encourage the reduction of carbon emissions and ultimately aim to make the EU ‘climate neutral’ by 2050.
“Even though CBI isn’t receiving direct funding for the project from the Commission, it’s in line with its objectives of delivering a climate-neutral future through green technology, sustainable solutions and investment and innovation into battery technologies,” said CBI media contact Niamh Owen-McLaughlin.
“CBI with its membership is driving forward innovation in advanced lead battery technology, and using this pioneering technique of neutron diffraction is just one of the many ways we’re doing this.”
