Abstract: A method of manufacturing an electrode active material particle for a rechargeable battery wherein a layer of an active material capable of being alloyed with Li is formed on a surface of a metal particle incapable of being alloyed with Li and then a heat treatment is conducted to diffuse the active material into the metal particle so that the resulting active material particle has a concentration profile in which a concentration of a metal element of the metal particle decreases from an interior toward the surface.

Abstract: An electrode for lithium batteries, in which a thin film of active material capable of storage and release of lithium, such as a microcrystalline or amorphous silicon thin film, is provided, through an interlayer, on a current collector, the electrode being characterized in that the interlayer comprises a material alloyable with the thin film of active material.

Abstract: In a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell including a positive electrode, a negative electrode and a non-aqueous electrolyte, the negative electrode includes a material capable of absorbing or releasing lithium and wherein the non-aqueous electrolyte contains a room-temperature molten salt having a melting point of 60° C. or less and a lithium salt.

Abstract: The invention provides a non-aqueous electrolyte battery characterized in that: an active material of the positive electrode includes lithium manganese oxide; the shut-down temperature of the separator is 162° C. or lower; and the area contraction ratio of the separator at 120° C. is 15% or less.

Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery in which the decomposition of an electrolyte solution is reduced exhibits high coulombic efficiency and excellent charge and discharge cycle performance, and has high energy density. This nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a negative electrode that is formed by depositing a thin film of active material on a collector by a CVD method, sputtering, evaporation, thermal spraying, or plating, wherein the thin film of the active material can lithiate and delithiate and is divided into columns by cracks formed in the thickness direction, and the bottom of each column is adhered to the collector; a positive electrode that can lithiate and delithiate; and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt in a nonaqueous solvent. The electrolyte solution contains a compound expressed by a general formula (I).

Abstract: A rechargeable battery includes electrodes containing particles of an active material capable of being alloyed with Li. A metallic element that is not alloyed with Li is distributed by its diffusion in particles of the active material.

Abstract: A battery has a positive electrode active material containing an olivine lithium phosphate-based compound having an elemental composition represented as LiMPO4, where M is a transition metal including at least Fe. The product of a separator thickness x (?m) and a separator porosity y (%) is controlled to be equal to or less than 1500 (?m·%). A porous layer containing inorganic particles and a binder is disposed between the separator and the positive electrode and/or between the separator and the negative electrode.

Abstract: A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode having a positive electrode active material layer containing a positive electrode active material, a negative electrode having a negative electrode active material, a separator interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, an electrode assembly comprising the positive electrode, the negative electrode, and the separator, and a non-aqueous electrolyte impregnated in the electrode assembly. The positive electrode active material contains at least cobalt or manganese. The positive electrode has an end-of-charge potential of 4.40 V versus the potential of a lithium reference electrode. The positive electrode active material layer is superficially coated with a polymer layer composed of a polymer having a partially cross-linked structure and a molecular weight of 800,000 or greater.

Abstract: The storage characteristics in a charged state are improved in a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery containing a lithium cobalt oxide as a positive electrode active material. The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode containing a positive electrode active material; a negative electrode containing a negative electrode active material other than metallic lithium; and a non-aqueous electrolyte. The positive electrode active material contains a lithium cobalt oxide as its main component. The non-aqueous electrolyte contains 0.1 to 10 volume % of a compound having an ether group. The positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material are contained so that the charge capacity ratio of the negative electrode to the positive electrode is from 1.0 to 1.2 when the battery is charged until the potential of the positive electrode reaches 4.4 to 4.5 V (vs.

Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode containing a positive active material, a negative electrode containing a negative active material and a nonaqueous electrolyte. Characteristically, the positive active material comprises a mixture of a lithium transition metal complex oxide A obtained by incorporating at least Zr and Mg into LiCoO2 and a lithium transition metal complex oxide B having a layered structure and containing at least Ni and Mn as the transition metal.

Abstract: In a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery having a positive electrode containing a positive electrode active material, a negative electrode containing a negative electrode active material, and a nonaqueous electrolyte, as the positive electrode active material or as the negative electrode active material, a mixture containing molybdenum dioxide and lithium titanate in a weight ratio (molybdenum dioxide:lithium titanate) of 90:10 to 50:50 is used.

Abstract: An electrode having a current collector and, formed thereon, a thin film comprising an active material, characterized in that a thin alloy film (such as Sn—Co) comprising a metal which can form an alloy with lithium (such as Sn) and a metal which can not form an alloy with lithium (such as Co) is formed on a current collector such as a copper foil. It is preferred that the above metal which can form an alloy with lithium and the above metal which can not form an alloy with lithium can not form an intermetallic compound with each other.

Abstract: An electrode for a rechargeable lithium battery characterized in that thin films of active material capable of lithium storage and release, i.e., microcrystalline or amorphous silicone thin films are deposited on opposite faces of a plate-form current collector.

Abstract: An electrode for a lithium battery having a thin film composed of active material capable of lithium storage and release, e.g., a microcrystalline or amorphous silicon thin film, provided on a current collector, the electrode being characterized in that the current collector has a surface roughness Ra of 0.01 ?m or greater.

Abstract: In an electrode for a lithium battery having a lithium storing and releasing active thin film provided on a current collector, such as a microcrystalline or amorphous silicon thin film, the electrode is characterized in that the thin film is divided into columns by gaps formed therein in a manner to extend in its thickness direction and that the columnar portions are at their bottoms adhered to the current collector.

Abstract: An electrode for a rechargeable lithium battery which includes a thin film composed of active material that expands and shrinks as it stores and releases lithium, e.g., a microcrystalline or amorphous silicon thin film, deposited on a current collector, characterized in that said current collector exhibits a tensile strength (=tensile strength (N/mm2) per sectional area of the current collector material×thickness (mm) of the current collector) of not less than 3.82 N/mm.

Abstract: A non-aqueous electrolyte battery is provided that achieves an improvement in safety, particularly an improvement in tolerance of the battery to overcharging, and also prevents discharge capacity from degrading, without compromising conventional battery designs considerably. The non-aqueous electrolyte battery has a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material-layer stack and a positive electrode current collector, a negative electrode including a negative electrode active material layer, and a separator interposed between the electrodes. The positive electrode active material-layer stack has two layers respectively having different positive electrode active materials. Of the two layers, a first positive electrode active material layer (11) that is nearer the positive electrode current collector (16) contains an olivine-type lithium phosphate compound as its positive electrode active material and uses VGCF (18) as a conductivity enhancing agent.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing an electrode having a current collector (1) and a plurality of active material layers (2, 3) formed on a surface of the current collector is provided. The method includes applying, one after another, a plurality of active material slurries in layers onto the surface of the current collector, each of the active material slurries containing a binder and a different active material from one another, to form the plurality of active material layers on the surface of the current collector, and thereafter, simultaneously drying all the active material slurries.

Abstract: An electrode for lithium secondary battery having a current collector and, deposited thereon, a thin film comprising silicon as a main component, characterized in that the thin film comprising silicon contains at least one of the elements belonging to the groups IIIa, Iva, Va, VIa, VIIa, VIII, Ib and IIb in the fourth, fifth and sixth periods of the Periodic Table (exclusive of copper (Cu)) at least in the surface portion thereof.

Abstract: A non-aqueous electrolyte battery and a method of manufacturing the battery are provided. The non-aqueous electrolyte battery has a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material-layer stack containing a plurality of different positive electrode active materials and formed on a positive electrode current collector surface, a negative electrode including a negative electrode active material layer, and a separator interposed between the electrodes. The positive electrode active material-layer stack includes two or more layers respectively containing different positive electrode active material components, and of the two or more layers, the layer nearer the positive electrode current collector is formed by coating the collector with a positive electrode active material having the highest resistance increase rate and a conductive agent contained in that positive electrode active material by cold spraying.