Recently, I went through the details of the initial version of Gaston Plante's lead acid cell. Most of the historic texts along with his original submission (in french) states that
"Gaston Plante's lead acid cell (1859) was the first rechargeable cell consisted of a spiral roll of two lead sheets separated by a linen cloth, immersed in a glass jar of sulphuric acid solution".
Commercial lead acid cell, use lead as anode and lead oxide as cathode. The reaction of this cell is pretty straightforward. However, I am quite bewildered by the fact the Plante made a symmetrical cell using two lead sheets and was able to observe a potential difference between them and was able to re-charge it. How it is possible?
if it is possible what were the redox reactions involved in the earliest version of Plantes cell?
Attached you can find the original version of Plantes work in french.
"His original version of the lead-acid battery consisted of two sheets of lead (used as electrodes), separated by cloth which is rolled into a spiral (used as separator), and immersed in a 10% sulfuric acid 90% water solution (used as electrolytes). His invention is sometimes referred to as “lead-acid accumulator”. During his experiment using a switch, Planté discovered that when the switch is off, the current still flows through the acid. At this point, he noticed that one of the electrodes became coated with lead oxide (PbO2) while the other retained its natural lead surface. When the switch is turned on, the electric current flows from the electrodes going to the system (or load). "
https://www.upsbatterycenter.com/blog/gaston-plante-1834-1889/
According to the above sentences, the charge-discharge reactions were the same with Pd/H2SO4/PdO2 lead-acid battery.
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