Provided is an anode active material layer for a lithium battery. This layer comprises multiple particulates of an anode active material, wherein at least a particulate is composed of one or a plurality of particles of a high-capacity anode active material being encapsulated by a thin layer of elastomeric material that has a lithium ion conductivity no less than 10.sup.−7 S/cm (preferably no less than 10.sup.−5 S/cm) at room temperature and an encapsulating shell thickness from 1 nm to 10 μm, and wherein the high-capacity anode active material (e.g. Si, Ge, Sn, SnO.sub.2, Co.sub.3O.sub.4, etc.) has a specific capacity of lithium storage greater than 372 mAh/g (the theoretical lithium storage limit of graphite).

A facile method is based on a pack-cementation process using large-area copper foil instead of copper powder. By controlling a pack-cementation time and an amount of alloying element (e.g., aluminum), a hierarchical microporous or nanoporous copper can be created. When coated with tin active material, the hierarchical microporous or nanoporous copper can be used as an advanced lithium-ion battery anode. A coin-cell test exhibited a four-fold higher areal capacity (e.g., 7.4 milliamp-hours per square centimeter without any performance degradation up to 20 cycles) as compared to a traditional graphite anode.

Provided are battery electrode structures that maintain high mass loadings (i.e., large amounts per unit area) of high capacity active materials in the electrodes without deteriorating their cycling performance. These mass loading levels correspond to capacities per electrode unit area that are suitable for commercial electrodes even though the active materials are kept thin and generally below their fracture limits. A battery electrode structure may include multiple template layers. An initial template layer may include nanostructures attached to a substrate and have a controlled density. This initial layer may be formed using a controlled thickness source material layer provided, for example, on a substantially inert substrate. Additional one or more template layers are then formed over the initial layer resulting in a multilayer template structure with specific characteristics, such as a surface area, thickness, and porosity. The multilayer template structure is then coated with a high capacity active material.

In order to provide an inexpensive product composed of a porous carbon provided with electrochemical active material, said product being suitable particularly for use as a cathode or anode material for a secondary battery, a process comprising the following process steps is proposed: (a) producing a template from inorganic material by gas phase deposition, said template comprising a framework of pores and nanoparticles joined to one another, (b) coating the template framework with an electrochemical active material or a precursor thereof, (c) infiltrating the pores of the template with a precursor substance for carbon, (d) carbonizing the precursor substance to form a carbon layer, (f) removing the template.

Improved high energy capacity designs for lithium ion batteries are described that take advantage of the properties of high specific capacity anode active compositions and high specific capacity cathode active compositions. In particular, specific electrode designs provide for achieving very high energy densities. Furthermore, the complex behavior of the active materials is used advantageously in a radical electrode balancing design that significantly reduced wasted electrode capacity in either electrode when cycling under realistic conditions of moderate to high discharge rates and/or over a reduced depth of discharge.

The present disclosure concerns an electrolyte suitable for calcium-based secondary cells, comprising calcium ions and an electrolyte medium, wherein the electrolyte is not solid at standard conditions and wherein the electrolyte medium includes at least two distinct non-aqueous solvents.

A polymer including a first repeating unit including at least one carboxyl group substituted with a cation and a second repeating unit including at least one carboxyl group substituted with a moiety containing a dihydroxyphenyl group.

An anode material capable of obtaining a high capacity and superior charge-discharge efficiency, and an anode and a battery using the anode material are provided. An anode includes an anode material including an active portion including at least one of silicon and tin as an element and a coating portion of a metal oxide arranged on a part of a surface of the active portion. The ratio of the coating portion to the active portion is within a range from 0.01 wt % to 10 wt % inclusive. Thereby, a high capacity and superior charge-discharge efficiency can be obtained.

A secondary battery including: spirally wound electrode body in which positive electrode and negative electrode are laminated via separator and spirally wound, wherein the positive electrode includes an inner circumference side positive electrode active material layer and an outer circumference side positive electrode active material layer while including a single side active material layer formation region, the ratio A/(A+B) of an area density A (mg/cm.sup.2) of the inner circumference side positive electrode active material layer and an area density B (mg/cm.sup.2) of the outer circumference side positive electrode active material layer, an inner diameter C (mm) of the coil opening portion, and the ratio D/E of a thickness D (μm) of the positive electrode and a thickness E (μm) of the positive electrode collector satisfy the relationship expressed in Formula 1, and a length F (mm) of the single side active material layer formation region satisfies the relationship expressed in Formula 2.

The present disclosure refers to a lithium secondary battery comprising Li.sub.2NiO.sub.2 in a cathode active material so as to improve the phenomenon that the capacity retention ratio decreases at initial cycles when using an anode active material selected from the group consisting of Si, SiC, SiO.sub.x (0<x<2), Sn, SnO.sub.2, Sb, Ge and a mixture thereof. The lithium secondary battery according to the present disclosure can substantially improve the decrease of a capacity retention ratio during initial cycles.