Provided is an anode particulate, having a dimension from 10 nm to 300 m, for use in an alkali metal battery, the particulate comprising (i) an anode active material capable of reversibly absorbing/desorbing lithium or sodium ions, (ii) an electron-conducting material, and (iii) a lithium or sodium salt with an optional polymer or its monomer, but without a liquid solvent, for an electrolyte, wherein the electron-conducting material forms a 3D network of electron-conducting pathways in electronic contact with the anode active material and the lithium or sodium salt is in physical contact with the anode active material (so that the salt, when later impregnated with a liquid solvent, becomes an electrolyte forming a 3D network of lithium or sodium ion-conducting channels in ionic contact with the anode active material). The particulate can be of any shape, but preferably spherical or ellipsoidal in shape. Also provided is a cathode particulate.

The present disclosure relates to a nano-cubic polyanionic electrode material, a preparation method therefor, and use thereof. The electrode material of the present disclosure comprises NasV.sub.2(PO.sub.4); @M; where M is a block polymer containing disulfide bond; further, a nano-cubic NVP@M@PDA material can be formed by using coupling between PDA and NVP. The conductivity performance and cycle performance of the material obtained in the present disclosure are greatly improved, and the present disclosure well solves the problems associated with matching with a hard carbon negative electrode.

A sulfur-carbon composite and a lithium secondary battery including the same are discussed. More specifically, a network-shaped coating layer including a conductive polymer is formed on a surface of the sulfur-carbon composite, and thus the conductivity of the sulfur-carbon composite is enhanced and also, lithium ions move freely, and accordingly, when applied to lithium secondary batteries, the sulfur-carbon composite can enhance the performance of batteries.

The present invention concerns the use, as an active electrode material, of compounds comprising at least one entity of formula (I): in which the phenyl group is substituted with one to four identical or different substituent(s) R, chosen from a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom chosen from fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine, a C(S)SC+ group, an OC+ group, an SC+ group, C+ being an alkali cation chosen from Li+, Na+ and K+, a (C1-C12) alkyl radical, a (C2-C12) alkenyl radical, a (C6-C14) aryl or heteroaryl radical; or two vicinal substituents R that can, if appropriate, be linked to each other to together form a 3- to 7-membered ring optionally including another heteroatom chosen from N, O or S; in the base or salt form; and the tautomeric forms of same. It also concerns an electrode material, an electrode and a lithium, sodium or potassium secondary battery, obtained from these compounds.

Provided is a polythiophene derivative including a repeating unit represented by general formula (1) below. ##STR00001## In general formula (1), Z represents a group of atoms forming a 5-through 9-membered heterocycle containing a chalcogen element as a ring member. When the group of atoms contains a plurality of chalcogen elements, the kinds of the chalcogen elements may be the same or different. Ar represents an aromatic ring or aromatic heterocycle that may contain a substituent. n represents a natural number of 2 or greater. m represents 0 or a natural number of 2 or greater.

An object of the present invention is to provide a lithium-ion secondary battery having a large charge and discharge capacity and excellent cycle characteristics irrespective of kind and shape of a current collector. The lithium-ion secondary battery comprises an electrode comprising a primer layer for protecting a current collector and a crosslinking agent layer comprising a compound being capable of crosslinking an aqueous binder contained in the primer layer, the both layers being disposed between a current collector and an active material layer comprising a sulfur-based active material.

This invention relates to polymer-based electrodes comprising at least one layer containing: a continuous, solid and porous electroactive polymer material, and liquid electrolyte present in the pores of the electroactive polymer material. As a result of the modified morphology of the polymer layer thin-film charge-storage devices using these polymer-based electrodes exhibit improved charge-storage and current output and enable manufacturing of a gradual continuum between batteries and supercapacitors. In addition, the invention relates to methods of producing the above polymer-based electrodes and thin-film charge-storage devices.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a high capacity lithium ion battery device by safe and simple doping operation. A method of manufacturing a lithium ion battery device comprising a positive electrode and a negative electrode which are laminated with each other, wherein an active material used on the positive electrode is a sulfur-based active material having a total sulfur content of not less than 50% by mass measured by an elementary analysis, the method comprising: a step of forming through-holes penetrating in a thickness direction of the positive electrodes and the negative electrodes, a step of laminating the positive electrodes with the negative electrode and disposing a lithium ion feeding source on at least one side of a laminating direction, and a step of allowing lithium derived from the lithium ion feeding source to be carried on the positive electrode and the negative electrode.

Improved anodes and cells are provided, which enable fast charging rates with enhanced safety due to much reduced probability of metallization of lithium on the anode, preventing dendrite growth and related risks of fire or explosion. Anodes and/or electrolytes have buffering zones for partly reducing and gradually introducing lithium ions into the anode for lithiation, to prevent lithium ion accumulation at the anode electrolyte interface and consequent metallization and dendrite growth. Various anode active materials and combinations, modifications through nanoparticles and a range of coatings which implement the improved anodes are provided.

The present invention includes an apparatus and method of making and using a composition that includes the replacement of electrochemically inactive additives with a conductive and electrochemically active polymer that is attached so as to make an electrical contract to the redox couples of the electrochemically active oxide particles into/from which Lithium is reversibly inserted/extracted in a battery discharge/charge cycle.