Question

Difference between lithium ion battery and lead acid battery

Answer 1

Lead Acid Battery
In this type Lead and Lead Dioxide are used for making the anode and cathode submerged in 1/3rd Sulphuric Acid acting as the Electrolyte. Chemical Reactions taking place inside converts the two electrodes into Lead Sulphate and when one recharges the discharged battery the process is partially reversed in order to bring back the initial reactants starting the reaction i.e Converting Lead Sulphate to Lead and Lead Dioxide.


It is one of the oldest type and are big & bulky owing to the Lowest Energy-to-Weight and
Energy-to-Volume ratio design currently existing in this world. The reason for them to be used in cars is they have a tremendous Surge-to-Weight
ratio eventually supplying high surge of power required in car starters and other machines as well. Another important fact is that these batteries are very cheap to produce but lack the quality of imparting steady, low or middling supply of electricity over a long period of time along with longer recharging time.

Lithium Ion Battery
Lithium Ion type is more complex to understand since it uses a variety of substances with Graphite being the anode while lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate or lithium manganese oxide or others as cathode. Lithium migrates between the electrodes through an Electrolyte mixture of lithium salt in an organic solvent, during the electricity producing reaction. Recharging reverts the chemical processes subsequently bringing lithium back to the terminals.

Comparing to Lead acid batteries it has High Power-to-Weight and Power-to-Volume ratio and they even provide steady supply for longer periods. Batteries with high surge currents are also available. Apart from all above qualities they have certain drawbacks as well which include:
High Production Costs
Inability to hold Charge Decays when not in use where on the other hand Lead Acid batteries go on working with appreciable performance for several years