Ball mill leady oxide— getting the right structure

摘要

It is common knowledge that lead is a relatively inert metal. In the past it has been used extensively in applications that rely on its lack of reactivity, such as water pipes, drinking vessels and roof flashing. But now it is almost exclusively used as a reactive electrochemical agent in the most prolific battery technology on the planet. So how do lead-acid battery manufacturers turn an inert material into an active electrochemical material? The secret is the initial manufacturing process: the combining of lead with oxygen to create a new chemical termed 'leady oxide'. For those unfamiliarwith this term it is not a spelling mistake; it is the descriptive name of the material derived from the lead oxide ball mill process. It consists of a mixture of approximately 75% of lead monoxide (PbO) and 25% of unreacted Pb, or'free lead'. Hence the name leady rather than lead oxide.