Neutron scattering challenges long-held industry assumptions about bio-based additives in lead batteries
17 Jun 2026
Adding bio-based additives such as lignosulfonates to lead batteries improves their electrochemical performance, but their decomposition may also cause the batteries to fail. The biorefinery company Borregaard came to ISIS to understand how these additives impact battery performance.
Challenge
Lead batteries are still widely used because of their low cost, high recyclability, and safety. Although an established technology, they still have performance limitations, such as limited cycle-life and modest discharge capacities.
One way to improve battery cycling is to add organic additives such as lignosulfonates to control the formation of lead sulfate crystals during battery discharge. Although an established way to improve electrochemical performance, it was thought that lignosulfonate decomposition could then cause battery failure.
Solution
To understand what is really happening, and whether lignosulfonate decomposition was really a root cause of lead battery failure, Borregaard turned to neutron scattering. Because neutron studies enable the study of the light elements present in lignosulfonates even when surrounded by lead, they are an ideal tool to use.
Using the Tosca and Maps beamlines at ISIS through the ICRD scheme, and VISION at ORNL, they studied lead battery electrodes using inelastic neutron spectroscopy (INS) after battery formation, performance testing and at the end of the battery’s life, to track what was happening to the lignosulfonate during battery cycling.
Neutrons are indispensable for investigating the persistence of lignosulfonates in lead batteries. Due to the small quantities and large amount of lead, there really is no other way to study them directly once incorporated into an electrode. Confirming their persistence after cycling has provided a definite answer to a longstanding question asked by battery manufacturers.
Dr. Carter Abney, Technical Application Manager, Borregaard
Benefits
If the degradation of lignosulfonates was causing battery failure, then their concentration would be expected to decrease throughout operations. However, their experiments showed that there was only a small loss of 12-20% of the additive, challenging this long-held assumption and suggesting cell failure is driven by another mechanism.
They plan to carry out further neutron studies to understand more about whether this is uniform through the electrolyte or whether the lignosulfonates at the surface are being depleted, leaving those in the interior trapped.
Their approach provides proof-of-concept for the application of INS in lead battery research and opens new avenues for the study of organic additives under realistic operating conditions.
“Neutrons are indispensable for investigating the persistence of lignosulfonates in lead batteries. Due to the small quantities and large amount of lead, there really is no other way to study them directly once incorporated into an electrode. Confirming their persistence after cycling has provided a definite answer to a longstanding question asked by battery manufacturers.” Dr. Carter Abney, Technical Application Manager, Borregaard.
Their study was published in the Journal of Power Sources. The full publication can be found at DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2026.240267
