A positive-electrode material according to the present disclosure includes a positive-electrode active material and a coating layer covering the positive-electrode active material, wherein the coating layer contains oxygen and lithium, the positive-electrode active material and the coating layer constitute a coated active material, and the ratio Li/O of the lithium content to the oxygen content in a surface layer portion of the coated active material is 0.26 or less based on the atomic ratio.

Compounds that can be used as cathode active materials for lithium ion batteries are described. In some embodiments, the cathode active material includes the compound Li.sub.xNi.sub.aM.sub.bN.sub.cO.sub.2 where M is selected from Mn, Ti, Zr, Ge, Sn, Te and a combination thereof; N is selected from Mg, Be, Ca, Sr, Ba, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and a combination thereof; 0.9<x<1.1; 0.7<a<1; 0<b<0.3; 0<c<0.3; and a+b+c=1. Other cathode active materials, precursors, and methods of manufacture are presented.

The present invention relates to a cobalt-free positive electrode active material having improved thermal stability and electrochemical properties, and a lithium secondary battery using the same.

Provided is a method of manufacturing MoS.sub.2 having a 1T crystal structure. The method includes performing phase transition from a 2H crystal structure of MoS.sub.2 to the 1T crystal structure by reacting MoS.sub.2 having the 2H crystal structure with CO gas. The phase transition includes annealing the MoS.sub.2 having the 2H crystal structure in an atmosphere including CO gas.

The present disclosure provides a porous carbon material having a core-shell structure, which comprises a core comprising a structure formed by stacking carbon sheets, and a shell comprising carbon surrounding the core, and a preparation method thereof, a sulfur-carbon composite comprising the same, and a lithium secondary battery comprising the same.

A method of making porous ceramic granules is provided. The method comprises heating pore-forming agent particles to a temperature above a glass transition temperature for the pore-forming agent particles; contacting the heated pore-forming agent particles with a ceramic material to form a mixture of pore-forming agent particles and ceramic material; heating the mixture to remove the pore-forming agent particles from the mixture to form a porous ceramic material; and micronizing the porous ceramic material to obtain the porous ceramic granules, wherein the porous ceramic granules have an average diameter from about 50 μm to 800 μm. The porous ceramic granules are also disclosed.

A nonaqueous electrolyte energy storage device according to one aspect of the present invention is a nonaqueous electrolyte energy storage device including a positive electrode having positive active material particles, in which the positive active material particles contain a lithium transition metal composite oxide having an α-NaFeO.sub.2 structure, the lithium transition metal composite oxide contains at least one of nickel and cobalt, and manganese, a content of lithium with respect to a transition metal in the lithium transition metal composite oxide exceeds 1.0 in terms of a molar ratio, a diffraction peak is present in a range of 20° or more and 22° or less in an X-ray diffraction diagram of the lithium transition metal composite oxide using a CuKα ray, and the positive active material particles contain aluminum.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of composite hexagonal ferrite materials formed from a combination of Y phase and Z phase hexagonal ferrite materials. Advantageously, embodiments of the material can have a high resonant frequency as well as a high permeability. In some embodiments, the materials can be useful for magnetodielectric antennas.

There is provided a method for collecting and reusing an active material from positive electrode scrap. The method of reusing a positive electrode active material of the present disclosure includes (a) thermally treating a positive electrode scrap comprising an active material layer comprising nickel, cobalt and manganese on a current collector in air for thermal decomposition of a binder and a conductive material in the active material layer, to separate the current collector from the active material layer, and collecting an active material in the active material layer, (b) washing the active material collected form the step (a) with a lithium compound solution which is basic in an aqueous solution and drying, and (c) annealing the active material washed from the step (b) with an addition of a lithium precursor to obtain a reusable active material.

According to one embodiment, provided is an active material including a crystal particle that includes a niobium-titanium composite oxide. A ratio A.sub.Nb/A.sub.Ti of a Nb abundance A.sub.Nb to a Ti abundance A.sub.Ti in the crystal particle satisfies 2.3≤A.sub.Nb/A.sub.Ti≤4.0. According to a powder X-ray diffraction spectrum using a Cu-Kα ray for the crystal particle, an intensity ratio I.sub.β/I.sub.α of a peak intensity I.sub.β of a peak β appearing at 12.5°≤2θ≤13.0° to a peak intensity I.sub.α of a peak α appearing at 8.5°≤2θ≤9.0° is within a range of 0.1<I.sub.β/I.sub.α≤2.0.