A secondary battery negative electrode according to the invention includes: a three-dimensional current collector formed of a self-supporting sponge-like structure of carbon nanotubes; a metal active material contained inside the three-dimensional current collector; and a plurality of seed particles contained inside the three-dimensional current collector and made of a material different from the metal active material, in which the secondary battery negative electrode does not include a foil of the metal active material.

The weight and size of a lead-acid battery is reduced and the energy density per mass by forming base members of components of the lead-acid battery is improved by using aluminum or aluminum alloy and forming multiple plating layers on a surface of each base member. In order to prevent formation of pinholes in the multiple plating layers, the surface of the base member 22 is subjected to flattening processing, a solder plating layer with a film thickness of 10 μm or more is formed, or many layers of group 4 metals with similar chemical properties are laminated. Moreover, in a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate, an active material layer 24 is formed on the outermost lead plating layer by an electrolytic formation treatment to improve the charging and discharging efficiencies of the lead-acid battery and to greatly reduce fall-off the active material layer 24.

Aspects disclosed herein include an electrochemical cell comprising: an anode comprising: a first surface comprising aluminum metal or an aluminum alloy; a liquid metal on the first surface, the liquid metal being in liquid state during operation of the battery and the liquid metal having a different composition than that of the first surface; and aluminum-rich dendrites extending from the first surface and in contact with an electrolyte; a positive electrode; and the electrolyte between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, the electrolyte being capable of conducting ions.

Presented are electrochemical devices with copper-free electrodes, methods for making/using such devices, and lithium alloy-based electrode tabs and current collectors for rechargeable lithium-class battery cells. A method of manufacturing copper-free electrodes includes feeding an aluminum workpiece, such as a strip of aluminum sheet metal, into a masking device. The masking device then applies a series of dielectric masks, such as strips of epoxy resin or dielectric tape, onto discrete areas of the workpiece to form a masked aluminum workpiece with masked areas interleaved with unmasked areas. The masked workpiece is then fed into an electrolytic anodizing solution, such as sulfuric acid, to form an anodized aluminum workpiece with anodized surface sections on the unmasked areas interleaved with un-anodized surface sections underneath the dielectric masks of the masked areas. The dielectric masks are removed to reveal the un-anodized surface sections, and the anodized aluminum workpiece is segmented into multiple copper-free electrodes.

A battery electrode composition is provided that comprises a composite material comprising one or more nanocomposites. The nanocomposites may each comprise a planar substrate backbone having a curved geometrical structure, and an active material forming a continuous or substantially continuous film at least partially encasing the substrate backbone. To form an electrode from the electrode composition, a plurality of electrically-interconnected nanocomposites of this type may be aggregated into one or more three-dimensional agglomerations, such as substantially spherical or ellipsoidal granules.

A battery electrode composition is provided that comprises a composite material comprising one or more nanocomposites. The nanocomposites may each comprise a planar substrate backbone having a curved geometrical structure, and an active material forming a continuous or substantially continuous film at least partially encasing the substrate backbone. To form an electrode from the electrode composition, a plurality of electrically-interconnected nanocomposites of this type may be aggregated into one or more three-dimensional agglomerations, such as substantially spherical or ellipsoidal granules.

Self-lithiating battery cells include an anode having a current collector, a host material applied to the current collector comprising graphite, silicon particles, and/or SiO.sub.x particles, wherein x is less than or equal to 2, and lithium foil in contact with the current collector. Methods for pre-lithiating battery cells include charging and discharging the battery cell to deplete the lithium foil by causing lithium ions to migrate from the lithium foil to the cathode and/or the anode. The methods can further include subsequently iteratively charging and discharging the battery while the depleted lithium foil remains within the battery cell. The lithium foil can be pure elemental lithium metal or a lithium magnesium alloy. The lithium foil can include 10 wt. % to 99 wt. % lithium and 1 wt. % to 90 wt. % magnesium. The anode current collector can include perforations.

Provided is a positive electrode active material for a lithium ion secondary battery having favorable cycle characteristics and high capacity. A covering layer containing aluminum and a covering layer containing magnesium are provided on a superficial portion of the positive electrode active material. The covering layer containing magnesium exists in a region closer to a particle surface than the covering layer containing aluminum is. The covering layer containing aluminum can be formed by a sol-gel method using an aluminum alkoxide. The covering layer containing magnesium can be formed as follows: magnesium and fluorine are mixed as a starting material and then subjected to heating after the sol-gel step, so that magnesium is segregated.

The present invention relates to a negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery and a lithium secondary battery including the negative electrode, wherein, since the negative electrode of the present invention includes a silicon oxide (SiO.sub.x, 0<x<2) composite containing magnesium (Mg) in a negative electrode active material and optimizes a type and an amount of a conductive agent, the lithium secondary battery including the negative electrode may improve a decrease in early-cycle capacity and high-temperature storage performance.

To provide an electrode for non-aqueous electrolyte batteries, which traps hydrogen sulfide gas, generated from the inside thereof for some reason, in the electrode, and suppresses the outflow of hydrogen sulfide gas to the outside of the battery. An electrode for lithium ion batteries includes a coating material which contains a silanol group and is present on at least a surface of an active material layer. The active material layer contains a sulfur-based material and a resin-based binder. The sulfur-based material is an active material capable of alloying with lithium metal or an active material capable of occluding lithium ions. The coating material containing the silanol group is a silicate having a siloxane bond or a silica fine particle aggregate having a siloxane bond as a component.