Bulgarian electrochemist Plamen Nikolov has become the latest member of the Alpha-Beta Society, an informal gathering of some of the lead battery world’s leading scientists and technologists.
Nikolov, director of the Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, joins a group whose membership is normally expanded by just one person each year. He is the 33rd member.
The society votes each year for people who have made outstanding contributions to the development of the lead acid battery.
News of the announcement was made on September 15 on the sidelines of this year’s ELBC meetings in Vienna.
His election also continues the Bulgarian connection with lead battery science. Nikolov studied under the legendary Detchko Pavlov, who founded the academy’s lead acid batteries department in 1967 and went on to establish what became an internationally recognised school of lead battery electrochemistry.
Nikolov completed his PhD under Pavlov’s supervision in 2013 and became an associate professor the following year.
Much of Nikolov’s best-known research has centred on one of the enduring problems of the lead battery — what happens at the negative plate, particularly when batteries operate for prolonged periods at partial state-of-charge.
His work has investigated the use of carbon additives in the negative active mass to improve dynamic charge acceptance and cycling performance and combat sulfation.
This has included examining how different carbon materials influence the electrochemical behaviour of the negative plate rather than simply regarding carbon as an additive to improve conductivity.
His research has also examined structural changes in positive active material and the use of additives to improve cycling performance.
More recently Nikolov’s interests have extended beyond lead. He has been leading work on improved electrolytes for vanadium redox-flow batteries, aimed at increasing the energy efficiency of systems for renewable energy storage.
The Alpha-Beta Society dates back to 1989, when it was founded by two of the industry’s best-known battery scientists, David Rand of Australia’s CSIRO and Ernst Voss of Varta.
Their idea was to bring leading figures in lead battery science together to exchange ideas and tackle the technical demands being placed on the chemistry by new applications — while making sure there was a strong social element to the proceedings as well.
Over the years membership has included many of the figures who shaped modern lead battery technology. Recent inductees include battery veteran Manfred Gelbke, who became the society’s 30th member in 2023, Frank Fleming, elected as its 31st member the following year, and Norbert Maleschitz, now VP & COO of EastPenn in 2025.
For Nikolov, membership also provides a neat link back to his scientific roots: the Bulgarian tradition of lead battery research created by Pavlov more than half a century ago and which Nikolov and his colleagues in Sofia continue today.
Speaking to Batteries International he said: “This is not only a professional recognition, but also a very personal and emotional moment. It is a true privilege to join such a distinguished group of colleagues who have contributed so much to the development of lead-acid battery science and technology.
“I feel that every member of the society has been my teacher at some point in my scientific journey, through their work, ideas, achievements and lasting contributions to their field. This makes the honor even more meaningful to me.”
