A method includes sintering a lithium-rich metal oxide (LRMO) material at a sintering temperature to form a sintered LRMO material and quenching the sintered LRMO material from the sintering temperature to room temperature in less than 500 milliseconds to form a quenched LRMO material represented by a chemical formula Li.sub.x(Mn.sub.yNi.sub.1-y).sub.2-xO.sub.2, where x is greater than 1.05 and less than 1.25, and y ranges from 0.95 to 0.1.

Nickelate cathode materials are provided, wherein said cathode material has an X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern comprising a first peak from about 40.0-41.6 2Θ, and a second peak from about 62.6-63.0 2Θ. Methods of preparing such cathode materials are also provided. Alkaline electrochemical cells comprising said cathode materials are also provided.

The present disclosure provides: a method for preparing a cathode active material precursor material by using a high-nickel-content waste lithium secondary battery; a method for preparing a cathode active material for a lithium secondary battery, including a cathode active material precursor material prepared by the method for preparing a cathode active material precursor material; and a cathode active material for a lithium secondary battery, prepared according to the method for preparing a cathode active material for a lithium secondary battery.

To provide a method of forming a positive electrode active material with high productivity. To provide a manufacturing apparatus capable of forming a positive electrode active material with high productivity. Provided is a method of forming a positive electrode active material including lithium, a transition metal, oxygen, and fluorine. An adhesion preventing step is performed during heating of an object. Examples of the adhesion preventing step include stirring by rotating a furnace during the heating, stirring by vibrating a container containing an object during the heating, and crushing performed between the plurality of heating steps. By these manufacturing methods, a positive electrode active material having favorable distribution of an additive at the surface portion can be formed.

A catalyst containing, as an essential component, molybdenum; bismuth; and cobalt, in which, with respect to a peak intensity at 2θ=25.3°±0.2° in an X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by using CuKα rays as an X-ray source, a changing rate (Q1) per 1000 hours of reaction time represented by the following formulae (1) to (4) is 16 or less.

Q1={(U1/F1−1)×100}/T×1000  (1)

F1=(peak intensity of catalyst before oxidation reaction at 2θ=25.3°±)0.2°/(peak intensity of catalyst before oxidation reaction at 2θ=26.5°±0.2°)×100  (2)

U1=(peak intensity of catalyst after oxidation reaction at 2θ=25.3°±0.2°)/(peak intensity of catalyst after oxidation reaction at 2θ=26.5°±0.2°)×100  (3)

T=time (hr) during which oxidation reaction is carried out  (4)

Process for making a particulate lithiated transition metal oxide comprising the steps of: (a) Providing a particulate transition metal precursor comprising Ni, (b) mixing said precursor with at least one compound of lithium and at least one processing additive selected from NaCl, KCl, CuCl.sub.2, B.sub.2O.sub.3, MoO.sub.3, Bi.sub.2O.sub.3, Na.sub.2SO.sub.4, and K.sub.2SO.sub.4 in an amount of from 0.1 to 5% by weight, referring to the entire mixture obtained in step (b), (c) thermally treating the mixture obtained according to step (b) in at least two steps, (c1) at 300 to 500° C. under an atmosphere that may comprise oxygen, (c2) at 650 to 850° C. under an atmosphere of oxygen.

Particulate electrode active material with an average particle diameter in the range of from 2 to 20 μm (D50) having a general formula Li.sub.1+xTM.sub.1−xO.sub.2 wherein TM is a combination of Ni, Co and Al, and, optionally, at least one more metal selected from Mg, Ti, Zr, Nb, Ta, Mo, Mn, and W, with at least 80 mole-% of TM being Ni, and wherein x is in the range of from zero to 0.2, wherein the Co content at the outer surface of the secondary particles is higher than at the center of the secondary particles by a factor of at most 5 or by at most 30 mol-%, referring to TM.

A process for preparing a lithium nickel metal oxide is provided. The process comprises a step of high-energy milling a mixture of a nickel source, a lithium source and at least one additional metal source to form a high-energy milled intermediate, and subsequently calcining the high-energy milled intermediate to form the lithium nickel metal oxide.

A positive electrode active material for a lithium ion secondary battery, includes lithium-nickel composite oxide particles and a coating layer that covers at least a part of surfaces of the lithium-nickel composite oxide particles, in which components other than oxygen of the lithium-nickel composite oxide are represented by Li:Ni:Co:M=t:1−x−y:x:y (where, M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Mg, Al, Ca, Si, Ti, V, Fe, Cu, Cr, Zn, Zr, Nb, Mo, or W, 0.95≤t≤1.20, 0<x≤0.22, and 0≤y≤0.15), the coating layer contains a Ti compound, and a Ti amount per 1 m.sup.2 surface area of the lithium-nickel composite oxide is 7.0 μmol or more and 60 μmol or less.

A method of separating and recovering a cobalt salt and a nickel salt includes a separation step of separating, by using a nanofiltration membrane, a cobalt salt and a nickel salt from a rare metal-containing aqueous solution containing at least both the cobalt salt and the nickel salt as rare metals, in which the nanofiltration membrane has a glucose permeability of 3 times or more a sucrose permeability, the sucrose permeability of 10% or less, and an isopropyl alcohol permeability of 50% or more when a 1,000 mg/L glucose aqueous solution, a 1,000 mg/L sucrose aqueous solution, and a 1,000 mg/L isopropyl alcohol aqueous solution, each having a pH of 6.5 and a temperature of 25° C., individually permeate through the nanofiltration membrane at an operating pressure of 0.5 MPa.