A comparative study of pulsed current formation for positive plates of automotive lead acid batteries

Positive plate formation with pulsed current is investigated under a wide range of pulse characteristics and compared with continuous current formation. The results indicate that pulsed current formation has a higher faradaic efficiency for conversion into lead dioxide than formation with continuous current. On the other hand, with pulsed current, there is always some residual tetrabasic lead sulfate, not observed on plates formed with continuous current. Pulsed current formation yields higher β-PbO2/α-PbO2 ratio than continuous current formation, and is more efficient at longer times of formation.