In order to investigate the early stages of discharge-charge of the active materials for positive electrode in the lead-acid battery, a PbO
2 thin film was prepared by reactive sputtering, and then cyclic voltammetry on the PbO
2 film electrode was repeated 5 times in various H
2SO
4 solutions ranging from 0.1 to 2.0 kmol m
-3 in concentration at 303 K. The mass change of the PbO
2 film electrode was
in situ observed using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) technique. The mass of the active material of positive electrode, PbO
2 increases during the discharge reaction of PbO
2→PbSO
4 and it decreases during charge reaction of PbSO
4→PbO
2. A part of the discharge product, PbSO
4 was not restored to its original state, PbO
2 on 1∼3 cycles of discharge-charge, although the mass change curves had the loop shapes on 4∼5 cycles. The discharge-charge became steady-state and the current efficiency of discharge was nearly equal to that of charge on and after 4 cycle. On the other hand, the average grain size of the discharge product, PbSO
4 in 0.1 kmol m
-3 H
2SO
4 solution was about 0.35 μm and it was considerably smaller than those in 0.5∼2.0 kmol m
-3 H
2SO
4 solutions. Moreover, the utilization rate of PbO
2 in the former solution is approximately 6∼8% higher than those in the latter solutions. It may be concluded from the results that the utilization rate of PbO
2 depends on the shape of the PbSO
4 crystal produced by the first discharge. Therefore, it seems that refining the grain size of the first discharge product is of great significance for the improvement of the discharge-charge property of the active materials for positive electrode in the lead-acid battery.
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