Provided is a secondary battery including an electrode assembly and an outer case configured to house the electrode assembly. The secondary battery includes a terminal member provided on the outer case with an insulating material interposed therebetween and connected to a tab of the electrode assembly. The outer case is provided with a cavity through which the tab passes, the terminal member is bonded onto a surface of the outer case with the insulating material interposed therebetween, the surface being positioned around the cavity, and a part of a width dimension of a bonding region provided to surround the cavity for the bonding is reduced.

A lithium-sulfur battery includes a casing having a length and a width, the casing including at least an anode and a cathode wound into a jelly roll oriented parallel to the length of the casing, an electrolyte disposed in the lithium-sulfur battery, a negative terminal extending along the length of the casing, and a positive terminal extending along the length of the casing, the positive terminal and the negative terminal parallel to one another.

A lithium-sulfur battery includes a casing having a length and a width, the casing including at least an anode and a cathode wound into a jelly roll oriented parallel to the length of the casing, an electrolyte disposed in the lithium-sulfur battery, a negative terminal extending along the length of the casing, and a positive terminal extending along the length of the casing, the positive terminal and the negative terminal parallel to one another.

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.

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.

A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using a silicon compound as a negative electrode active material, suppress deformation of a negative electrode. An embodiment includes a winding type electrode body in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are spirally wound with at least one separator interposed therebetween. In a negative electrode mixture layer, a silicon compound is contained as a negative electrode active material. A winding-start side end of the negative electrode mixture layer extends to a winding-start end side of the electrode body past a winding-start side end of a positive electrode mixture layer. A length Y (mm) of a portion of the negative electrode mixture layer extending from the winding-start side end of the positive electrode mixture layer and a rate X (percent by mass) of the silicon compound with respect to the total mass of the negative electrode active material satisfy a relationship of Y≥3X−15 (6≤X≤15).

A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using a silicon compound as a negative electrode active material, suppress deformation of a negative electrode. An embodiment includes a winding type electrode body in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are spirally wound with at least one separator interposed therebetween. In a negative electrode mixture layer, a silicon compound is contained as a negative electrode active material. A winding-start side end of the negative electrode mixture layer extends to a winding-start end side of the electrode body past a winding-start side end of a positive electrode mixture layer. A length Y (mm) of a portion of the negative electrode mixture layer extending from the winding-start side end of the positive electrode mixture layer and a rate X (percent by mass) of the silicon compound with respect to the total mass of the negative electrode active material satisfy a relationship of Y≥3X−15 (6≤X≤15).

A positive electrode active material for a lithium secondary battery, comprising a lithium-containing composite metal oxide in the form of secondary particles formed by aggregation of primary particles capable of being doped and undoped with lithium ions, each of the secondary particles having on its surface a coating layer, the positive electrode active material satisfying the following requirements (1) to (3): (1) the metal oxide has an α-NaFeO.sub.2 type crystal structure of following formula (A):
Li.sub.a(Ni.sub.bCo.sub.cM.sup.1.sub.1-b-c)O.sub.2  (A)
wherein 0.9≤a≤1.2, 0.9≤b<1, 0<c≤0.1, 0.9<b+c≤1, and M.sup.1 represents at least one optional metal selected from Mg, Al, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, In and Sn; (2) the coating layer comprises Li and M.sup.2, wherein M.sup.2 represents at least one optional metal selected from Al, Ti, Zr and W; and (3) the active material has an average secondary particle diameter of 2 to 20 μm, a BET specific surface area of 0.1 to 2.5 m.sup.2/g, and a value of 1.0 to 2.0 as a tamped density/untamped density ratio of the active material.

An apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to the present invention includes a conveyor configured to allow an electrode to travel; and a cutter configured to cut the traveling electrode to a predetermined size, wherein the cutter comprises: an upper cutting blade disposed above the electrode; an upper eccentric driver configured to eccentrically drive the upper cutting blade; a lower cutting blade disposed below the electrode in a direction corresponding to the upper cutting blade; and a lower eccentric driver configured to eccentrically drive the lower cutting blade.

An apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to the present invention includes a conveyor configured to allow an electrode to travel; and a cutter configured to cut the traveling electrode to a predetermined size, wherein the cutter comprises: an upper cutting blade disposed above the electrode; an upper eccentric driver configured to eccentrically drive the upper cutting blade; a lower cutting blade disposed below the electrode in a direction corresponding to the upper cutting blade; and a lower eccentric driver configured to eccentrically drive the lower cutting blade.