Abstract:

In order to improve the performance of a gelled electrolyte and decrease its internal resistance, sodium ligninsulfonate was used as an additive to the gelled electrolyte. The properties and electrochemistry of the gelled electrolytes with and without additives were studied by viscosity test, aging test, cyclic voltammetry(CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS). The data indicated that when the mass fraction of SiO2 was 3.0%, the viscosity of the gel electrolyte with 0.01% additives is increased by 6 times comparing with the gel electrolyte without additives. The volume of precipitated water and the internal resistance of gelled electrolyte decrease as the additive is added. The optimum conditions are obtained. The dosage(mass fraction) of additives is 0.005%~0.01%, and the fumed silica is 3.0%. UV-Vis, FT-IR, SEM and TEM were used to characterize the gelled electrolyte with and without additives. The results show that the microstructure of gelled electrolyte is more porous with improved ion conduction, and the sulphuric acid solution can therefore be stored more easily with addition of sodium liginsulfonate.

Key words: sodium ligninsulfonate, gelled electrolyte, viscosity, aging, performance of battery