Process for producing a mixed lithium transition metal oxide usable as an active positive electrode material in lithium batteries, wherein i) a transition metal oxide, and/or a transition metal hydroxide and/or a transition metal oxyhydroxide and a pyrogenically produced zirconium dioxide and/or a pyrogenically produced mixed oxide comprising zirconium are subjected to dry mixing by means of an electric mixing unit to obtain a coated precursor compound, wherein the mixing unit has a specific electrical power of 0.05-1.5 kW per kg of the coated precursor compound; ii) the coated precursor compound is mixed with a lithium containing compound; and iii) the mixture of the coated precursor compound and the lithium containing compound is heated at a temperature between 500 and 1400° C. to obtain the mixed lithium transition metal oxide.

The present invention relates to a lithium-nickel composite oxide, wherein the lithium-nickel composite oxide is represented by a following general formula: Li.sub.1+uNi.sub.xCo.sub.yA.sub.sB.sub.tO.sub.2+α, wherein u, x, y, s, t and α in the formula satisfy 0≤u<0.3, 0.03≤x≤0.93, 0.03≤y≤0.50, 0.04≤s≤0.6, 0≤t<0.1, 0≤α<0.3 and x+y+s+t=1, wherein an element A is at least one selected from Mn and Al, and an element B is at least one selected from Mg, Ca, Ti, V, Zr, Nb, Mo, Sr and W, and wherein a content of Fe is less than 10 ppb, and a content of Cr is less than 10 ppb.

An anode material for a secondary battery is provided. The anode material for the secondary battery includes a metal oxide containing four or more than four elements, or an oxide mixture containing four or more than four elements. The metal oxide includes cobalt-copper-tin oxide, silicon-tin-iron oxide, copper-manganese-silicon oxide, tin-manganese-nickel oxide, manganese-copper-nickel oxide, or nickel-copper-tin oxide. The oxide mixture includes the oxide mixture containing cobalt, copper and tin, the oxide mixture containing silicon, tin and iron, the oxide mixture containing copper, manganese and silicon, the oxide mixture containing tin, manganese and nickel, the oxide mixture containing manganese, copper and nickel, or the oxide mixture containing nickel, copper and tin.

A method of making highly an active mixed transition metal oxide material has been developed. The method may include sulfiding the metal oxide material to generate metal sulfides which are used as catalyst in a conversion process such as hydroprocessing. The hydroprocessing may include hydrodenitrification, hydrodesulfurization, hydrodemetallation, hydrodesilication, hydrodearomatization, hydroisomerization, hydrotreating, hydrofining, and hydrocracking.

A positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries contains a lithium transition metal composite oxide that contains not less than 80% by mole of Ni relative to the total number of moles of metal elements other than Li; and Ti is present at least in the surfaces of particles of the composite oxide. With respect to this positive electrode active material, if particles having a volume-based particle diameter more than the 70% particle diameter (D70) are taken as first particles and particles having a volume-based particle diameter less than the 30% particle diameter (D30) are taken as second particles, the molar fraction (A2) of Ti relative to the total number of moles of metal elements in the surfaces of the second particles is higher than the molar fraction (A1) of Ti relative to the total number of moles of metal elements in the surfaces of the first particles.

A method of producing a positive electrode active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, the method includes preparing nickel-containing composite oxide particles having a ratio .sup.1D.sub.90/.sup.1D.sub.10 of a 90% particle size .sup.1D.sub.90 to a 10% particle size .sup.1D.sub.10 in volume-based cumulative particle size distribution of 3 or less; obtaining a raw material mixture containing the composite oxide particles and a lithium compound and having a ratio of a total number of moles of lithium to a total number of moles of metal elements contained in the composite oxide in a range of 1 to 1.3; subjecting the raw material mixture to a heat treatment to obtain a heat-treated material; subjecting the heat-treated material to a dry-dispersion treatment to obtain a first dispersion; and bringing the first dispersion into contact with a liquid medium to obtain a second dispersion.

A positive electrode active material for a lithium ion secondary battery contains a lithium metal composite oxide. The lithium metal composite oxide includes lithium (Li), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and an element M (M) in a mass ratio of Li:Ni:Co:M=1+a:1−x−y:x:y (wherein −0.05≤a≤0.50, 0≤x≤0.35, 0≤y≤0.35, and the element M is at least one element selected from Mg, Ca, Al, Si, Fe, Cr, Mn, V, Mo, W, Nb, Ti, Zr, and Ta), wherein a thickness of a NiO layer is 200 nm or less when a particle of the lithium metal composite oxide during charging at 4.3 V (vs. Li.sup.+/Li) is observed by STEM-EDS, and wherein an index [(d90−d10)/mean volume particle diameter] of spread of a particle size distribution is 1.25 or less.

A method of forming an inorganic nano-material by thermally treating metal-infused organic polymers to remove the organics to leave an inorganic nano-material where the metal-infused organic polymer precursor may be formed by a polymer synthesis reaction of organic monomers with a metal-containing precursor and by combining a metal containing precursor with at least one organic monomer to obtain a mixture and initiating a polymerization reaction of the mixture to form a metal-infused organic polymer precursor.

This positive electrode for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery is provided with: a positive electrode active material including lithium composite oxide particles containing not less than 80 mol % but less than 100 mol % of Ni with respect to the total number of moles of metal elements other than Li; and a conductive material, wherein the lithium composite oxide particles include particles each having a step-like structure with three or more stacked flat surfaces having an outer edge length of 1 μm or more, and the average particle size of the conductive material is 30 nm or less.

A positive electrode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries that can achieve a high output characteristic and a high battery capacity when used in a positive electrode of a battery and that can achieve a high electrode density, and a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery that uses such a positive electrode active material and can achieve a high capacity and a high output. A lithium-manganese-cobalt composite oxide includes plate-shaped secondary particles each obtained by aggregation of a plurality of plate-shaped primary particles caused by overlapping of plate surfaces of the plate-shaped primary particles, wherein a shape of the primary particles is any one of a spherical, elliptical, oval, or a planar projected shape of a block-shaped object, and the secondary particles have an aspect ratio of 3 to 20 and a volume-average particle size (Mv) of 4 μm to 20 μm as measured by a laser diffraction scattering process.