Effect of microwaves on the repair of lead-acid batteries

Abstract Lead-acid batteries are widely used in the automotive industry, and a large amount of waste lead-acid batteries cause enormous pressure on resources and the environment. Repairing aging lead-acid batteries is an effective way to solve this problem. Due to the fact that microwaves can affect most chemical reactions and promote their progress, this paper will study the repair effect of microwaves on lead-acid batteries by combining theory and experiment methods. By analyzing the reaction principle of lead-acid batteries, a multi-physics model is established to study the influence of microwaves on the lead-acid batteries, and an experimental system is built to test the changes in capacity and final charge voltage of lead-acid batteries under the radiation of microwaves. The results demonstrate that microwave treatment significantly enhances the capacity of aging lead-acid batteries, particularly when the initial capacity is slightly above 50% of the rated capacity. Moreover, heating the battery with hot air alone hardly affects its capacity. This study reveals that microwaves have reparative effects on lead-acid batteries, providing a new method for repairing aging batteries.