A positive electrode material and a preparation method therefor, a lithium-ion battery, and an electric vehicle. The positive electrode material comprises: matrix particles, materials forming the matrix particles comprising at least one of a lithium-rich manganese-based material, lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide, lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide, lithium iron phosphate, lithium manganate, lithium nickel cobalt manganese aluminate, and lithium nickel manganate; and a housing, the housing covering at least a portion of the outer surfaces of the matrix particles.

What is claimed is a positive electrode active material for an all-solid-state lithium-ion battery composed of particles containing crystals of a lithium metal composite oxide,

wherein the lithium metal composite oxide has a layered structure and contains at least Li and a transition metal, and wherein, in the particles, in pore physical properties obtained from nitrogen adsorption isotherm measurement and nitrogen desorption isotherm measurement at a liquid nitrogen temperature, the total pore volume obtained from a nitrogen adsorption amount when the relative pressure (p/p.sub.0) of an adsorption isotherm is 0.99 is less than 0.0035 cm.sup.3/g.

Secondary batteries using lithium cobalt oxide as positive electrode active materials have a problem of a decrease in battery capacity due to repeated charging/discharging, for example. A positive electrode active material particle which hardly deteriorates is provided. In a first step, a container in which a lithium oxide and a fluoride are set is placed in a heating furnace, and in a second step, the inside of the heating furnace is heated in an atmosphere containing oxygen. The heating temperature of the second step is from 750° C. to 950° C., inclusive. By the manufacturing method, fluorine can be contained in the positive electrode active material particle to increase the wettability of the surface of the positive electrode active material so that the surface of the positive electrode active material is homogenized and planarized. The crystal structure of the thus manufactured positive electrode active material is unlikely to be broken in repeated high-voltage charging/discharging. Thus, secondary batteries using the positive electrode active material having such a feature have greatly improved cycle characteristics.

There is provided a method of synthesizing a porous carbon-sulfur composite comprising the step of carbonizing a carbon material having a metal-organic framework (MOF) at a temperature of 800-1000° C. to produce a porous carbon, mixing and heating the porous carbon with sulfur to infuse the sulfur (melt diffusion) into the pores of the porous carbon and removing excess sulfur not infused into the pores or present on the surface of the porous carbon. There is also provided a cathode comprising the porous carbon-sulfur composite and a method of preparing the cathode by mixing with conductive carbon and a polymer binder. The cathode finds use in an electrochemical cell comprising a sodium or lithium anode.

Disclosed are a cathode materials suitable for an aluminium ion battery, wherein the cathode materials comprise a main group element nitride, and an oxide of a main group element or an oxide of a element in Group 1 to 13. The nitride is preferably a 2-dimensional layered material. Preferably, the ratio of the main group element nitride to the oxide is between 5:95 and 95:5 (by weight).

The present invention pertains to a positive electrode active material for a lithium secondary battery, the positive electrode active material having a layered structure and containing lithium, transition metals, fluorine (F), and oxygen, wherein the layered structure includes a lithium layer consisting solely of lithium and a transition metal layer consisting solely of transition metals including nickel, the nickel includes Ni.sup.3+ and Ni.sup.2+ in terms of oxidation number, and the ratio (Ni.sup.2+/Ni.sup.3+) of Ni.sup.2+ to Ni.sup.3+ increases as the fluorine content increases.

A positive electrode active material having a crystal structure that is unlikely to be broken by repeated charging and discharging is provided. A positive electrode active material with high charge and discharge capacity is provided. A positive electrode active material including lithium, cobalt, nickel, magnesium, and oxygen, in which the a-axis lattice constant of an outermost surface layer of the positive electrode active material is larger than the a-axis lattice constant of an inner portion and in which the c-axis lattice constant of the outermost surface layer is larger than the c-axis lattice constant of the inner portion. A rate of change between the a-axis lattice constant of the outermost surface layer and the a-axis lattice constant of the inner portion is preferably larger than 0 and less than or equal to 0.12, and a rate of change between the c-axis lattice constant of the outermost surface layer and the c-axis lattice constant of the inner portion is preferably larger than 0 and less than or equal to 0.18.

A positive electrode active material having a crystal structure that is unlikely to be broken by repeated charging and discharging is provided. A positive electrode active material with high charge and discharge capacity is provided. A positive electrode active material including lithium, cobalt, nickel, magnesium, and oxygen, in which the a-axis lattice constant of an outermost surface layer of the positive electrode active material is larger than the a-axis lattice constant of an inner portion and in which the c-axis lattice constant of the outermost surface layer is larger than the c-axis lattice constant of the inner portion. A rate of change between the a-axis lattice constant of the outermost surface layer and the a-axis lattice constant of the inner portion is preferably larger than 0 and less than or equal to 0.12, and a rate of change between the c-axis lattice constant of the outermost surface layer and the c-axis lattice constant of the inner portion is preferably larger than 0 and less than or equal to 0.18.

A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte solution, wherein the positive electrode includes a composite oxide including lithium as a first metal, and a second metal X other than lithium; in the composite oxide, the second metal X includes Ni, Al, and Mn; the second metal X does not contain Co or the atomic ratio Co/X of Co to the second metal X is 0.02 or less; and the electrolyte solution contains a chain carboxylic acid ester having 2 to 4 carbon atoms, and a cyclic compound having a ring structure composed of 2 oxygen atoms and 3 to 5 carbon atoms.

Provided is a lithium secondary battery comprising: a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material; a negative electrode including a negative electrode active material; and a first functional layer between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, wherein the first functional layer includes plate-like polyolefin particles having an average diameter of 1 μm to 8 μm, and the positive electrode includes a positive electrode active material layer including a positive electrode active material and a flame retardant, or has a stacked structure including a positive electrode active material layer and a second functional layer including a flame retardant.