A battery cell includes a negative electrode and a positive electrode. The battery cell also contains a thermally expandable graphite intercalation compound.

A positive active material composition for a lithium secondary battery includes a positive active material that allows intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions, a binder, and a conductive agent. The conductive agent includes a first conductive agent having an average particle diameter (D50) ranging from about 20 nanometers (nm) to about 40 nm and a second conductive agent having a D50 ranging from about 1 micrometer (μm) to about 5 μm.

A negative electrode active material layer containing at least one selected from silicon and a silicon compound as a negative electrode active material is formed, and an amount of lithium exceeding an amount corresponding to a theoretical capacity of the negative electrode active material layer is brought into contact with the negative electrode active material layer so as to prepare a negative electrode. A positive electrode containing a lithium-absorption material capable of irreversibly absorbing lithium is prepared. The positive electrode, the negative electrode, a separator, and a nonaqueous electrolyte are enclosed inside an outer enclosure. A chemical conversion treatment of the negative electrode active material is performed with the lithium brought into contact with the negative electrode active material layer.

A lithium battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode containing lithium, and a nonaqueous electrolyte having lithium-ion conductivity, wherein the positive electrode contains at least one selected from the group consisting of manganese oxide and graphite fluoride, and a powdered or fibrous carbon material is attached to at least part of the surface of the negative electrode opposite the positive electrode. Further, the nonaqueous electrolyte includes a nonaqueous solvent, a solute, a first additive, and a second additive, the solute contains LiClO.sub.4, the first additive is LiBF.sub.4, and the second additive is a salt having an inorganic anion that contains sulfur and fluorine.

A lithium ion secondary battery includes at least a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte solution. The negative electrode includes a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode mixture layer. The negative electrode mixture layer is formed on a surface of the negative electrode current collector. The negative electrode mixture layer includes graphite particles, inorganic filler particles, lithium titanate particles, and a water-based binder. The inorganic filler particles have an average primary particle size that is ½ or less of an average primary particle size of the graphite particles. The lithium titanate particles have an average primary particle size of 1 μm or less. A ratio of an average primary particle size of the lithium titanate particles with respect to an average primary particle size of the inorganic filler particles is one or less.

An electrochemical cell that converts chemical energy to electrical energy includes a cathode with an active material of fluorinated carbon on a perforated metal cathode current collector, a lithium anode on a perforated metal anode current collector, a stepped header, a stable electrolyte, and a separator. In various embodiments, an anode current collector design, a cathode current collector design, a stepped header design, a cathode formulation, an electrolyte formulation, a separator, and a battery incorporating the electrochemical cell are provided.

Provided is pouch battery including an electrode assembly, and a case in which the electrode assembly is sealed and housed; the electrode assembly including a stacked structure of a sheet cathode, a sheet separator, and a sheet anode; the sheet cathode including a positive electrode active material disposed on a current collector; the sheet anode is thin conductive sheet on which lithium metal reversibly deposits on a surface thereof during discharging; the sheet anode being made of a conductive material other than lithium and having a surface substantially free from lithium metal prior to charging the battery. The pouch battery design is flexible and lightweight and provides high power density, making it a suitable replacement for conventional lithium-ion primary batteries and thermal batteries in many applications. Power can be further increased by the application of external compression. Additives and formation conditions can be tailored for forming a solid-electrolyte interface (SEI).

A method of fabricating a battery electrode includes forming a mixture including an electrode material and a binder; forming an electrode blank from the mixture; heating the electrode blank at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time to form an annealed electrode blank; and laminating the annealed electrode blank to a current collector. The current collector may include a conductive carbon coating. In such event, the method may further include heating the current collector at a selected temperature for a selected time prior to laminating the annealed electrode blank to the current collector.

A secondary battery which comprises a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolytic solution, wherein the electrolytic solution comprises water, a lithium salt, and an additive, the additive including at least one of alkaline-earth metal salts, dicarboxylic acids, carboxylic anhydrides, and organic carbonates, and the negative electrode comprises a negative active material, the negative active material having a silane coupling agent adherent to the surface thereof.

An electrochemical cell having a casing housing an electrode assembly of a separator residing between a lithium anode and a cathode comprising silver vanadium oxide and fluorinated carbon is described. The electrode assembly is activated with a nonaqueous electrolyte comprising a lithium salt dissolved in a solvent system of propylene carbonate mixed with 1,2-dimethoxyethane, dibenzyl carbonate (DBC), lithium bis(oxalato)borate (LiBOB), and fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC). Preferably DBC is present in an amount ranging from about 0.005 moles (M) to about 0.25M, LiBOB is present in an amount ranging from about 0.005 wt. 5 to about 5 wt. %, and FEC is present in an amount ranging from about 0.01 wt. % to about 10 wt. %. This electrolyte formulation is more conductive than the conventional or prior art binary and ternary solvent system electrolytes while being chemically and electrochemically stable toward Li/SVO cells, Li-SVO/CF.sub.x mixture cells, and Li-SVO/CF.sub.x sandwich cathode primary electrochemical cells.