Question

Why Lead is used in batteries?

Answer 1

Hint: The cells have a high power-to-weight ratio due to their capability to supply high surge currents. It is a rechargeable battery that is used as an electricity storage device. It has high efficiency that produces a large amount of current in the series connection.

Complete Step by Step Solution:
These batteries are low-cost and have a large power-to-weight ratio, making them suitable for household use.

It consists of devices that store electricity through the chemical energy required to transform lead Sulfate into metallic Lead and Lead oxide while producing Sulphuric acid simultaneously.
\[2PbS{O_4}(s) + 2{H_2}O(l) + electricity\,energy \to Pb(s) + Pb{O_2}(s) + 2{H_2}S{O_4}(aq)\]
There is a very low energy storage capacity, but it has an extremely high power-to-weight ratio, so it cannot store large amounts of energy, but the little it stores can be supplied on demand at large currents.

During normal operation, it dissociates the water in the electrolyte to produce Hydrogen and Oxygen gases.

The overcharging inevitably results in an increase in the Sulphuric acid concentration in the electrolyte (\[ \sim 38\% \]), and it also occurs when a charging system voltage regulator malfunctions and charges at a high voltage.

Additional information:
There are mainly three types of Lead-acid batteries:
Open plate Lead acid: The liquid Sulfuric acid that serves as the electrolyte can be accessed through a filler cap so that water can be added to top it off or by measuring the specific gravity to ascertain the charge state.

Sealed Lead-acid: The charge-discharge operations in these sealed batteries are the same, but the electrolyte has been jellied and immobilised by the addition of fumed silica. They use recombinant technology, which integrates the hydrogen and oxygen gases released during overcharging from the electrolyte and these gases mix back into the water in the electrolyte when they are subsequently released.

Absorbed glass mat: As it is absorbed into fibreglass mats, the electrolyte becomes immobilised. Additionally, they have "valve regulated lead acid," or VRLA, which is a form of recombinant technology. For substantial emergency power installations, these are increasingly typical.

Note: After the top hard rubber covering is removed from the old Lead-acid batteries, the hard rubber case is cleaned and reused, and all of the leftover lead wires are gathered, melted, and then reconstituted to create new battery cells.