Claims:1. A coating for the electrodes of a battery wherein the coating comprises unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide and at least one resin.

2. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1, wherein thickness of the coating is less than 30 microns.

3. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coating is a dip coating.

4. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1, wherein the resin is selected from a group consisting of polycarbonates, polysulfones, polyphenylenesulfide, fluoropolymers, phenolic resin, epoxies, urethanes, acrylonitrile, butadiene styrene, Polystyrene, polyolefins or a combination thereof.

5. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 3, wherein the resin is polysulfones.

6. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 4, wherein the amount of polysulfones is 50-99% by weight.

7. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1, wherein the amount of unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxides is 1-50% by weight.

8. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1 further comprises a solvent which is selected from a group consisting of tetrahydrofuran, N-methylpyrrolidone, dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide, toluene, xylene, dichlorobenzene, alcohols, ketones or water.

9. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 7, wherein the solvent is tetrahydrofuran.

10. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 8, wherein the amount of solvent is 90% by weight.

11. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1 optionally comprises an additive.

12. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 10, wherein the additive is carbon black.

13. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1, wherein the battery is lead-acid battery.

14. The coating for the electrodes of a battery as claimed in claim 1, wherein the battery is lithium ion battery.

15. A process for preparing the coating as claimed in claim 1 comprising the steps of:

i) dissolving the resin in an solvent;
ii) stirring the solution as obtained in step (i) with unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide at 900 rpm for 2 minutes;
iii) keeping aside the solution as obtained in step (ii) for degassing.

Dated this 23rd day of December, 2018
, Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
The Present invention relates to batteries. More particularly, the present invention relates to a coating for the batteries to enhance the performance of the battery wherein the coating comprises fully unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide (hereinafter referred as to “UMCNTOs”).

BACKGROUND ART:
Lead acid battery is a secondary cell, meaning that it is rechargeable. It contains lead cathode (negative electrode) and lead oxide anode (positive electrode) in sulphuric acid solution. Although the batteries are reliable, they have a limited life and are heavy to ship. They are temperature sensitive with optimum operating temperature of 25°C. Elevated temperature reduces its life span. Every eight degrees rise in temperature cuts the battery life to half. Corrosion happens on the terminals due to release of hydrogen gas from the acid in battery. The main drawback of the lead acid battery is sulfation i.e. deposition of lead sulphate on the electrode, which decreases the battery’s capacity and performance. Sulfation is the formation or deposit of lead sulfate crystals on the surface and in the pores of the electrodes of the batteries. If the sulfation becomes excessive, the crystals grow in size and become hard, covering the lead plates completely. This coverage deteriorates the overall efficiency and power storage capability of the battery. The sulfation process is accelerated if the battery is left in a discharged state for a prolonged time.

Several method have been developed to decrease the sulfation (Deposition of lead sulphate on the electrode) and to increase the efficiency of lead acid battery. They are as follows:

US4342343 is related to contemplate a laminated negative lead-acid storage battery plate. The plate, in its unformed state, comprises a conductive lead or lead alloy grid (hereafter lead) embedded in a leady (i.e., principally lead oxide) active material and a paper-borne layer of carbon or graphite (hereafter carbon) fibers (i.e., greater than about 6 mm long) pressed against the grid-active material composite.US’343’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from carbon nanotubes (hereinafter referred as to “CNTs)” and the coating application of UMCNTOson lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.
US20130045418 discloses graphene oxide which is coated electrochemically on surface. In US’418’ the object and the electrode is immersed in a graphene oxide solution, and voltage is applied between the object and the electrode. At this time, the object serves as an anode. Graphene oxide is attracted to the anode because of being negatively charged, and deposited on the surface of the object to have a practically even thickness. A portion where graphene oxide is deposited is unlikely coated with another graphene oxide. Thus, deposited graphene oxide is reduced to graphene, whereby graphene can be formed to have a practically even thickness on an object having surface with complex unevenness.US’418’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.
US20130065034 discloses a positive active material for a lead-acid power battery and a preparation method of the positive active material, and belongs to the technical field of lead-acid storage batteries. The product is prepared by blending 70 to 85 weight percent of lead powder, 1 to 5 weight percent of de-ionized water, 5 to 8 weight percent of sulfuric acid, 0.1 to 5 weight percent of graphene, 3 to 8 weight percent of sodium peroxide and 1 to 5 weight percent of polytetrafluoroethylene emulsion. In the product, graphene, sodium peroxide and polytetrafluoroethylene emulsion are used to replace a conventional additive mixture. US’034’ doesn’tdisclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.
CN102244300 discloses the use of graphene material as an additive to provide a rapid charging and discharging, while having a high capacity, has a longer charging and discharging cycle life of lead-acid batteries. CN’300’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNT and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.
CN103811767 discloses a lead-acid battery positive plate gate which comprises a lead alloy gate body, wherein the surface of the lead alloy gate body is coated with a graphene reinforcing layer formed by mixing graphene and a bonding agent according to the mass ratio of (1.5-9):1, wherein the intensity of graphene is 70-300MPa. The invention also discloses a preparation method of the lead-acid battery positive plate gate and a lead-acid battery positive plate comprising the lead-acid battery positive plate gate. CN’767’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.
US20150044556 discloses a cathode (positive electrode) of a lithium battery and a process for producing this cathode. The electrode comprises a cathode active material-coated graphene sheet and the graphene sheet has two opposed parallel surfaces, wherein at least 50% area (preferably >80%) of one of the two surfaces is coated with a cathode active material coating. The graphene material is in an amount of from 0.1% to 99.5% by weight and the cathode active material is in an amount of at least 0.5% by weight (preferably >80% and more preferably >90%), all based on the total weight of the graphene material and the cathode active material combined. The cathode active material is preferably an inorganic material, an organic or polymeric material, a metal oxide/phosphate/sulfide, or a combination thereof. The invention also provides a lithium battery, including a lithium-ion, lithium-metal, or lithium-sulfur battery. US’556’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.
US20110227000 is related to electrochemical process which is used to deposit graphene based films on grids. US’556’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.

US7852612 discloses graphene which is used to increase capacity and efficiency of super capacitor. The electrodes are created with carbon nano sheets in various configurations. For example, the carbon nano sheets may be disposed orthogonal to a surface to which it is attached and comprise a single graphene layer or multiple graphene layers. The electrodes are impregnated with an electrolyte. US’612’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.

US20080220329 discloses a negative electrode active material is made of a carbon composite containing carbon particles as a core and a fibrous carbon having a graphene structure, which is formed on the surfaces and/or the inside of the carbon particles, which has considerably enhanced low-temperature characteristic, increased energy density, and increased output power of device. US’329’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.

CA2783974 relates to energy storage or collection devices and methods for making such devices having electrode materials containing exfoliated nanotubes with attached electro or photoactive nanoscale particles or layers. The exfoliated nanotubes and attached nanoscale particles or layers may be easily fabricated by methods such as coating, solution or casting or melt extrusion to form electrodes. Electrolytes may also be used for dispersing nanotubes and also in a polymeric form to allow melt fabrication methods. CA’974’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.
US20140322610 disclose the compositions, and methods of obtaining them, useful for lithium ion batteries comprising discrete oxidized carbon nanotubes having attached to their surface lithium ion active materials in the form of nanometer sized crystals or layers. The composition can further comprise graphene or oxygenated graphene. US’610’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.

WO/2017/151842 discloses a surface coating for the surface of Iead-grids for lead-acid batteries wherein the coating comprises a resin, a material selected from the group consisting of i. graphene and ii. graphene-nanoplatelets. WO’842’ doesn’t disclose UMCNTOs from CNTs and the coating application of UMCNTOs on lead acid battery and lithium ion battery.

Why carbon nanotubes are preferred over graphene:
i. Graphene, the one-atom-thick, two-dimensional honeycomb carbon network has received immense interest owing to the unique properties. However, the quality of graphene/rGO (reduced graphene oxide) has significant contribution to the catalytic activity. The presence of defects and oxygen-containing functionalities in rGO and debris along with the rGO layers can limit the performance of the material;
ii. CNTs are far better anode materials for Lithium ion batteries due to their structural, mechanical and electrical properties compared to conventional graphite based anodes;
iii. Especially in electrical transportation, the cylindrical and opened structure and enriched chirality of modified CNTs significantly improves the capacity in LIB batteries vis a vis using grapheme;
iv. CNTs are far cheaper and if modified in the right way can also be of great usage in large scale manufacturing where Graphene due to its costly conversion process is not very suitable for large manufacturing set up and cost effectiveness;
v. The intercalation of lithium into graphite involves one lithium atom per six carbon atoms, i.e., LiC, leading to a limited specific capacity of 372 mAh/g and an observed capacity of 280–330 mAh/g, depending on the type of graphite used. Modified Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), an allotrope of graphite, have been reported to show much improved lithium capacity compared to graphite, due to their unique structures and properties. CNTs have been reported to display conductivities as high as 106 S.m-1 and 105 S.m-1 for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), respectively, and high tensile strength up to 60 GPa;

vi. The interstitial spaces of CNTs bundles resulting from van der waals forces are expected to display a higher ability to intercalate lithium ions, and consequently, higher energy storage capacity than its sibling conventional grapheme;

vii. The electrical and thermal conductivities of CNTs/modified CNTs are as high as 104 Sm-1and 6600 W/mk, respectively. The superior mechanical properties of CNTs, with a Young’s modulus and tensile strength of 1.2 TPa and 50–200 GPa, respectively, make CNTs one of the strongest and stiffest materials. The extra ordinary properties and unique structure of WCNT/MWCNTs makes them promising materials for a variety of applications such as Lead acid, Lithium ion batteries, super capacitors and solar cells; and

viii. MWCNTs, with concentric graphene layers spaced 0.34nm apart, display diameters from 10 to20nm and lengths of hundreds of microns. The prediction of electronic properties of MWCNTs, which contain multiple layers of graphene sheets that may have different chiralities, is more complicated. However, due to the multiple rolled layers, MWCNTs are able to insert Li ions in a way similar to graphite, making them a promising candidate as an anode material for LIBs.

The modified MWCNTs have shown (Welna, D.T.; Qu, L.; Taylor, B.E.; Dai, L.; Durstock, M.F. Vertically aligned carbon nanotube electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. J. Power Sources 2011, 196, 1455–1460) very high lithium ion storage capacity of 980 mAH/g in the first cycle and stabilized at about 750mAH/g after more than 10 cycles.

Modified MWCNT electrodes also showed (Zhang, Y.; Chen, T.; Wang, J.; Min, G.; Pan, L.; Song, Z.; Sun, Z.; Zhou, W.; Zhang, J. The study of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with different diameter as anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2012, 258, 4729–4732) that electrode fabricated from CNTs with diameters of 40–60 nm displayed better performance, with the highest capacity of 187.4 mAh/g, as well as long cycle life among all the samples, and excellent coulomb efficiency of up to 101.9%.

The structures of MWCNTs results in a higher power density and specific energy density than that of graphite. Much work and researches has been done to verify the excellent electrochemical performance of MWCNT-based anode materials in LIBs (Lithium Ion Batteries) applications. However, MWCNTs are non-polar carbon tubes having poor dispersion capability in different solvents.

Negative teachings:

A literature (Nature, Vol 458, 16 April 2009, 872-877) states in page number 846 that “The authors found that their nanoribbons were poor conductors, because the edges of the structures hold many oxygen-containing chemical groups that disrupt the flow of charge carriers. Kosynkinet al. therefore removed these groups by treating their products with a reducing agent, or by heating (annealing) the products in hydrogen. The wide nano ribbons thus produced were metallic conductors, similar to those grown by chemical vapour deposition. The authors also showed that their chemically reduced nanoribbons are in principle suitable for making field-effect transistors. Another benefit of the annealing process is that it could improve the reactivity and smoothness of the nanoribbons’ edges”.

Jeongetal (Y. C. Jeong, K. Lee, T. Kim, J. H. Kim, J. Park, Y. S. Cho, S. J. Yang and C. R. Park, , Partially unzipped carbon nanotubes for high-rate and stable lithium–sulfur batteries, Journal of Material Chemistry A, Issue 3, 2016) states in the Abstract that “Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are attractive due to a high theoretical energy density and low sulfur cost. However, they have critical drawbacks such as drastic capacity fading during cycling, especially under high current density conditions. We report a suitable carbon matrix based on partially unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (UZ.CNTs), which have favorable properties compared to multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and fully unzipped nanoribbons (UZ.NRs). Partially unzipped walls of MWCNTs lead to increased surface area and pore volume with a retained electron conduction pathway. This also provides accessible inner pores as a stable reservoir for polysulfides. This reservoir is decorated with newly introduced oxygen containing functional groups, and affords a synergistic effect of shortening the depth that electrons penetrate and interacting with polysulfides for high-performance Li–S batteries. The synergistic effect is revealed by Monte Carlo simulations. The resulting partially unzipped MWCNT sulfur composite delivers 707.5 mA h g at the initial discharge and retains 570.4 mA h g after 200 cycles even at a high current rate of 5C (8375 mA g)”.

Xiao et al(Biwei Xiao, Xifei Li, Xia Li, Biqiong Wang, Craig Langford, Ruying Li, and Xueliang Sun, GrapheneNanoribbons Derived from the Unzipping of Carbon Nanotubes: Controlled Synthesis and Superior Lithium Storage Performance, The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 2014, 118(2), pp 881-890) states in abstract that “Graphenenanoribbons (GNRs) from chemical unzipping of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been reported to be a suitable candidate for lithium ion battery materials, but very few of them focused on controlling GNRs with different unzipping levels. Here we present a study of GNRs with controlled unzipping level and the prevailing factors that affect the lithium storage performance at early and final unzipping level; besides, the effect of thermal reduction has been investigated. On the basis of Raman and BET surface area tests, we found that the unzipping of CNTs starts with surface etching and then proceeds to partial and full unzipping and finally fragmentation and aggregation. Galvanostatic charge–discharge reveals that defect increase is mainly responsible for the capacity enhancement at the early unzipping level; surface area drop is associated with the capacity fade at the final unzipping level. Surface functional groups can result in low electrical conductivity and therefore cause capacity drop within several cycles. The GNRs with controlled unzipping level display different electrochemical behaviors and thus can provide rational choices for researchers who are searching for desired functions using GNRs as additives in lithium ion batteries.”

US20170081441 relates to solvent-based methods for production of graphenenanoribbons which seem to be the closest prior art in view of following teachings:

US’441 states in ’Paragraph number 2that “"Current methods of making graphenenanoribbons have numerous limitations in terms of efficiency, costs, yield, and quality. For instance, current methods may produce graphenenanoribbons in low quantities. Furthermore, the produced graphenenanoribbons may have numerous defects, limited dispersion in various solvents and composites, and limited conductivity. Therefore, a need exists for novel methods of efficiently producing graphenenanoribbons with minimal defects, enhanced dispersibility, and enhanced conductivity. There is also a need to have edge functionalized graphenenanoribbons to improve graphenenanoribbon dispersibility without sacrificing conductivity by disruption of the basal planes."

Fig 2 of US'441' shows how fully unzipped carbon nanotube is occurred from CNTs;

US ‘441’ teaches the "high efficiency unzipped" and "fully unizipped" ribbon structure (Paragraph number 0235-0236);

US ‘441’ also teaches the dry ice has an important role in unzipping and exfoliating MWCNTs (Paragraph number 0238);

US ‘441’ further teaches the graphenenanoribbons with enhanced dispersibility in various composite including solvents in Paragraph 0118;

US'441' teaches the enhanced conductivity of graphenenonoribbon upto 9,000 S/Cm in paragraph number 0119;

US'441' also teaches the application of the nanoribbon in precursors of cathode materials for lithium ion or lithium ion batteries in paragraph number 0121.

However, Paragraph number 0003 of US’441’ states that “In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides methods of preparing functionalized graphenenanoribbons. In some embodiments, such methods include: (1) exposing a plurality of carbon nanotubes to an alkali metal source in the presence of an aprotic solvent, wherein the exposing opens the carbon nanotubes; and (2) exposing the opened carbon nanotubes to an electrophile to form functionalized graphenenanoribbons. In some embodiments, such methods may also include a step of exposing the opened carbon nanotubes to a protic solvent in order to quench any reactive species on the opened carbon nanotubes and thereby leave protons (i.e., hydrogen atoms) on the edges.”

Also, Paragraph number 0008 of US’441’ states that “Likewise, to quench any reactive species, the opened carbon nanotubes may be exposed to various protic solvents. In some embodiments, the protic solvents may include at least one of formic acid, n-butanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, ethanol, methanol, acetic acid, water, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, ammonia, diethyl amine, dialkylamines, monoalkylamines, diarylamines, monoarylamines, monoalkymonoarylamines, and combinations thereof.

Further, example 5 of US’441’ confirms the removing of oxygen.

Contrary to the prior art teaching’s, the present inventors found that fully unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide (UMCNTOs) is effective as a coating substance for the batteries such as lead-acid battery and lithium ion battery.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION:

It is an object of the invention is to provide a coating for the electrodes of a battery to enhance the battery’s performance wherein the coating comprises fully unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide (UMCNTOs) and a resin.

It is another objective of the invention is to provide a coating for lead-acid batteries.

It is yet another objective of the invention is to provide a coating for lithium-ion batteries.

It is yet another objective of the invention is to overcome the solubility/dispersibility problem associated with MWCNTs.

It is yet another objective of the invention is to provide a process for preparing the coating formulation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a coating for the electrodes of a battery wherein the coating comprises unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide and at least one resin.

According to second aspect of the invention there is provided a process for preparing the coating ink/formulation comprising the steps of:

i) dissolving the resin in an solvent;
ii) stirring the solution as obtained in step (i) with unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide;
iii) keeping aside the resultant mixture as obtained in step (iii) for degassing.

In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
Figure 1 is the tube unzipping of open-ended single walled CNT (NATURE Vol. 458 16 April 2009, Longitudinal unzipping of carbon nanotubes to form graphene nanoribbons);
Figure 2 is the scheme for preparing UMCNTOs from MWCNT in accordance with the present invention; and
Figure 3 illustrates the performance of the batteries in accordance with the present invention.
Other objects, features and advantages of the inventions will be apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the inventions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:
The term “fully” herein denotes multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide with 100% unzipping. Accordingly the term “fully unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide” and “unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide” herein is same and could be used interchangeably as “UMCNTOs”

Present invention provides a coating for the electrodes of a battery to enhance the performance and life of the battery wherein the coating comprises fully unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotube oxide (UMCNTOs) and/or an additive and a resin.

It is known that the unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be obtained from carbon nanotubes. Figure 1 illustrates gradual un-zipping of single-walled carbon nanotubes to fully unzipped carbon nanotubes.

In preferred embodiment of the invention, the coating consists of UMCNTOs and an acid sensitive resin as a binder where UMCNTOs is to provide electrical conductivity and barrier properties while the binder is to make the coating non-permeable to the acid.
In preferred embodiment of the invention, the amount of UMCNTOs is 1-50% by weight and 50-99% of the polymer or resin by weight.
In an embodiment of the invention, the resin may be selected from a group consisting of polycarbonates, polysulfones, polyphenylenesulfide (PPS),fluoropolymers, phenolic resin, epoxies, urethanes, acrylonitrile, butadiene styrene (ABS), Polystyrene, Polyolefins or a combination thereof.
In another embodiment of the invention, the resin may be the copolymer of above polymers or their combination.
In preferred embodiment of the invention, the resin may be polysulfone.
In an embodiment of the invention, the additive is carbon black.
In one embodiment of the invention, the coating ink/formulations prepared by dissolving the resin/polymer/binder in a suitable solvent and stirring the polymeric solution with UMCNTOs and/or the additive to make slurry such that the thickness of the slurry is less than 30 microns. The coating is then applied onto the electrodes of the battery by a method selected from a group consisting of dip coating, spray coating, roller coating, brush coating or other conventional coating method. In preferred embodiment, the method is dip-coating method.
In an embodiment of the invention, the solvent may be selected from a group consisting of tetrahydrofuran (THF), N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), Dimethylformamide (DMF), toluene, xylene, dichlorobenzene, alcohols, ketones or water.
In preferred embodiment of the invention, the solvent is tetrahydrofuran.
In preferred embodiment of the invention, the battery is either lead-acid battery or lithium ion battery.
The present invention is now illustrated by non-limiting examples:

Example 1:

The chemical CNTs were purchased from Shilpa Enterprises, Nagpur, India and UMCNTOs was prepared from CNTs as per the method disclosed by Vijaykumar et al (Parul Dwivedi; & R. P. Vijayakumar, Synthesis of UMCNTOs from MWCNTs and analysis of its structure and properties for wastewater treatment application, Applied Nanoscience, date of publication (on-line) 01/09/2018).

i) Preparation of a coating ink:

Formula A:
Material Wt (%)
Tetrahydrofuran 90
Polysulfone 5.0
UMCNTOs 3.75
Super C 65 carbon black 1.25
Total 100

Method: Polysulfone pallets was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran, then stirring the polymeric solution with UMCNTOs and carbon black using rotor stator high shear mixer at 900 RPM for 2 minutes. The resultant mixture was set aside for degassing. The thickness of formula A was found as less than 30 microns.
Formula B:
Material Wt (%)
Tetrahydrofuran 90
Polysulfone 5
UMCNTOs 5
Total 100

Method: Polysulfone pallets was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran, then stirring the polymeric solution with UMCNTOs using rotor stator high shear mixer at 900 RPM for 2 minutes. The resultant mixture was set aside for degassing. The thickness of formula B was found as less than 30 microns.
iii) Comparative performance of lead-acid batteries coated with or without UMCNTOs:
After preparing the polymeric solution/slurry as above, the electrodes were dip coated in that slurry such that they are entirely covered in a uniform continuous coating with a thickness of <30 microns. The electrodes were then placed in a drying oven to remove residual water.
The performance of lead-acid battery coated with UMCNTOs and lead-acid battery (i.e. without UMCNTOs) were tested and the voltage against time is shown in Table 1 and Fig. 3.

TABLE 1: PERFORMANCE OF UMCNTOS-COATED AND UNCOATED BATTERIES
Sr. No Time (hr) Lead acid battery (without UMCNTOs)

Voltage Lead-acid battery coated with Formula A
[inventive example]

Voltage Lead-acid battery coated with Formula B
[inventive example]

Voltage
1 0 13.3 13.3 13.3
2 1.0 12.1 11.9 12.0
3 1.5 12.0 12 12.0
4 2.0 12.0 12 12.0
5 2.5 11.9 12 12.0
6 3.0 11.8 12 12.0
7 3.5 11.6 12 12.0
8 4.0 11.6 12 12.0
9 4.5 11.4 11.9 12.0
10 5.0 11.4 12 12.0
11 5.5 11.3 11.9 12.0
12 6.0 11.7 11.8 11.8
13 6.5 11.5 11.5 11.5
14 7.0 11.1 11.2 11.2

Table 1 shows that the lead-acid battery coated with UMCNTOs and lead acid battery coated with UMCNTOs + Carbon black both are having the similar effect in view of voltage against time, but the greater than uncoated lead acid batteries (without UMCNTOs).
iii) Comparative real life battery testing studies:

TABLE 2: COMPARATIVE REAL LIFE BATTERY TESTING STUDIES
Days Testing parameters Load Lead-acid battery without UMCNTOs Lead-acid battery coated with UMCNTOs
Day 1 Fridge+4 Light emitting diode +1 ceiling Fan+ broadcast satellitetelevision +television 250W
60W
100W 4.5 hours 7.5 hours
Day 2 Broadcast satellite television +television 120W 16hours 20 hours
Day 3 Iron 1200 W 4 hours 5 hours
Day 4 Charging Time - 16 hours 10 hours

Real life battery testing trial (Table 2) shows the superior effect of UMCNTOs on lead-acid batteries over uncoated lead-acid batteries i.e. without UMCNTOs.
iv) Comparative lithium ion discharge before and after applying UMCNTOs:

Test Details:
The batteries (# 5) were run through three different operational profiles (charge, discharge and impedance) at room temperature. Charging was carried out in a constant current (CC) mode at 1.5A until the battery voltage reached 4.2V and then continued in a constant voltage (CV) mode until the charge current dropped to 20mA. Discharge was carried out at a constant current (CC) level of 2A until the battery voltage fell to 2.7V.
Results:

TABLE 3: LITHIUM ION DISCHARGE BEFORE APPLYING UMCNTOs
Sr. No. Voltage
(Volt) Current
(Ampere) Time
(Minutes)
1 4.18 0.00 0
2 4.18 0.00 16.781
3 3.97 -2.01 35.703
4 3.95 -2.01 53.781
5 3.93 -2.01 71.922
6 3.92 -2.01 90.094
7 3.91 -2.01 108.281
8 3.90 -2.01 126.453
9 3.89
-2.01 144.641

TABLE 4: LITHIUM ION DISCHARGE AFTER APPLYING UMCNTOs
Sr. No. Voltage
(Volt) Current
(Ampere) Time
(Minutes)
1 4.18 0.00 0

2 4.18 0.00 21.8153

3 4.1 -2.01 46.4139

4 4.1 -2.01 69.9153

5 3.97 -2.01 93.4986

6 3.95 -2.01 117.1222
7 3.95 -2.01 140.7653

8 3.95 -2.01 164.3889

9 3.95 -2.01 188.0333

Findings:
1) The voltage reduction was much slower as compared to first test (before applying UMCNTOs).
2) The discharge time was considerably increased up to 30% after applying UMCNTOs to Li cells.

Although the foregoing description of the present invention has been shown and described with reference to particular embodiments and applications thereof, it has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the particular embodiments and applications disclosed. It will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes, modifications, variations, or alterations to the invention as described herein may be made, none of which depart from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The particular embodiments and applications were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such changes, modifications, variations, and alterations should therefore be seen as being within the scope of the present invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.