There is a general consensus in the lead acid battery industry for the use of carbon additives as a functional component in the negative paste to boost the battery performance with regards to charge acceptance and cycle life especially for upcoming automotive and energy storage applications. Several mechanisms are discussed in the scientific literature and the affinity of the carbon surfaces to lead species seems to play a key role. With a set of experiments on model carbon electrodes we gave evidence to the fact that some carbon materials promote spontaneous nucleation of lead crystals. We propose a mechanism such that the carbon, as soon as in a lead containing environment, immobilizes some lead on its surface. Such immobilized lead acts as nucleation seed for the deposition of lead when a current is passed through the material. It is therefore possible to differentiate and select the carbon materials based on their ability to form nucleation seeds. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.