A negative electrode material includes a composite of a silicon-based material (1), a polymer (2), and carbon nanotubes (3), where the polymer (2) contains a first group and a second group, the first group is chemically bonded to the carbon nanotubes (3), and the second group is chemically bonded to the silicon-based material (1). Both the carbon nanotubes (3) and the polymer (2) containing two groups are applied to surfaces of particles of the silicon-based material (1). The two groups of the polymer (2) are chemically bonded to the silicon-based material (1) and the carbon nanotubes (3) respectively, so that bonding force between the silicon-based material (1) and the carbon nanotubes (3) is enhanced and a uniform carbon nanotube (3) coating layer is formed. This can significantly improve conductive performance of the silicon-based material (1), thereby improving cycling performance and rate performance of an electrochemical apparatus.

Provided is a positive electrode for a secondary battery, which has a multi-layer structure including a first positive electrode active material layer and a second positive electrode active material layer, wherein the first positive electrode active material layer includes a first lithium composite transition metal oxide containing nickel, cobalt, and manganese, the second positive electrode active material layer includes a second lithium composite transition metal oxide containing nickel, cobalt, and manganese, the first lithium composite transition metal oxide and the second lithium composite transition metal oxide have mutually different nickel contents, wherein the positive electrode active material layer including a lithium composite transition metal oxide having a relatively high nickel content includes an electrolyte additive, and the positive electrode active material layer including a lithium composite transition metal oxide having a relatively low nickel content does not include an electrolyte additive.

A positive electrode material in one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a positive electrode active material; and a first solid electrolyte that covers the surface of the positive electrode active material. The first solid electrolyte contains Li, M1, O, and X1. M1 is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Nb and Ta. X1 is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Cl, Br, and I.

An irreversible additive contained in a cathode material for a secondary battery according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the irreversible additive being an oxide represented by the following chemical formula 1, wherein the oxide has a trigonal crystal structure,

Li.sub.2+aNi.sub.1−bTi.sub.bO.sub.2+c   (1) in the above formula, −0.2≤a≤0.2, 0<b≤0.2, and 0≤c≤0.2.

There is provided a method for collecting and reusing an active material from positive electrode scrap. The positive electrode active material reuse method of the present disclosure includes (a) thermally treating positive electrode scrap comprising an active material layer on a current collector in air for thermal decomposition of a binder and a conductive material in the active material layer, to separate the current collector from the active material layer, and collecting an active material in the active material layer, (b) washing the collected active material using a lithium precursor aqueous solution which is basic in an aqueous solution and drying, and (c) annealing the washed active material to obtain a reusable active material.

A positive electrode comprising a current collector and a positive electrode active material layer disposed on at least one surface of the current collector, and a lithium-sulfur battery comprising the positive electrode are provided. The positive electrode active material layer comprises a positive electrode active material and an additive, and the additive comprises a transition metal-ferrocyanide compound.

Various embodiments provide an electrolyte solution, a secondary battery, a battery module, a battery pack and an electric device. In those embodiments, the electrolyte solution includes an electrolyte, a solvent and an additive, the additive including sodium hydrosulfite. Various embodiments improve an overall performance of the secondary battery, for example, initial DCR, storage gas production, a rate performance, or the like.

A method of producing a positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, includes: providing a lithium transition metal composite oxide having a layered structure, having a ratio D.sub.50/D.sub.SEM of 1 or more and 4 or less, and having a certain content of nickel and a certain content of cobalt; bringing the lithium transition metal composite oxide into contact with a cobalt compound to obtain an adhered material; heat-treating the adhered material at a temperature higher than 700° C. and lower than 1100° C. to obtain a heat-treated product; obtaining a positive electrode composition containing the heat-treated product, a conductive auxiliary agent, and a binder; and applying and pressurizing the positive electrode composition onto a collector to form an active material layer having a density of 2.7 g/cm.sup.3 or more and 3.9 g/cm.sup.3 or less on the collector.

A lithium-sulfur battery includes a casing, a top lid circumferentially welded to the casing, a negative contact surface positioned opposite the top lid, a positive terminal disposed within the casing, welded to the top lid, and configured as a mandrel, a glass insulator circumferentially wound around the mandrel, and a jelly roll including at least an anode and a cathode wound around the mandrel. The jelly roll may also include a top surface not in contact with the top lid, a bottom surface partially in contact with the negative contact surface, and partially in contact with a plurality of non-hollow carbonaceous spherical particles disposed between the bottom surface of the jelly roll and the negative contact surface. At least some of the non-hollow carbonaceous spherical particles may provide one or more electrically-conductive pathways between the bottom surface and the negative contact surface.

The propose method of manufacturing a solid-state lithium battery consists of preparing an anode coated with a solid-state electrolyte precursor and a cathode unit coated with solid-state electrolyte, both precursors containing a predetermined amount of a redundant water. The thus prepared anode unit and cathode unit are pressed to each other through their respective electrolyte precursor layers in a closed chamber at a predetermined elevated temperature and under a predetermined mechanical pressure, whereby an integral pre-final solid-state battery unit is formed. The manufacture of the battery is completed by inserting the prefinal product into a casing that leaves parts of the metal current collectors of the prefinal product exposed for use as a battery anode and a battery cathode.