Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, Ltd.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toho Gas Co., Ltd.

Hiroyuki Toya

Atsushi Fukui

Toshiyuki Osako

Kensaku Mori

Kazuomi Ryoshi

Shin Imaizumi

Kenji Ikeuchi

Katsuya Inoue

Hiroki Nagai

Shuhei Oda

Taira Aida

Yasutaka Kamata

Masahiro Morita

Tetsufumi Komukai

Yutaka Oyama

Katsuya Kase

Yuki Furuichi

Syuhei Oda

Shoji Futaki

Toshiaki Aihara

Satoshi Matsumoto

Tetsutaro Hayashi

Yoshinari Makimura

Hideyuki Saka

Tetsuro Kobayashi

Kenji Ukai

Norimichi Yonesato

Tai Ito

Yasunobu Mizutani

Kouji Hisada

Misuzu Yokoyama

Provided are a cathode active material having a suitable particle size and high uniformity, and a nickel composite hydroxide as a precursor of the cathode active material. When obtaining nickel composite hydroxide by a crystallization reaction, nucleation is performed by controlling a nucleation aqueous solution that includes a metal compound, which includes nickel, and an ammonium ion donor so that the pH value at a standard solution temperature of 25° C. becomes 12.0 to 14.0, after which, particles are grown by controlling a particle growth aqueous solution that includes the formed nuclei so that the pH value at a standard solution temperature of 25° C. becomes 10.5 to 12.0, and so that the pH value is lower than the pH value during nucleation. The crystallization reaction is performed in a non-oxidizing atmosphere at least in a range after the processing time exceeds at least 40% of the total time of the particle growth process from the start of the particle growth process where the oxygen concentration is 1 volume % or less, and with controlling an agitation power requirement per unit volume into a range of 0.5 kW/mto 4 kW/mat least during the nucleation process.

Nickel composite hydroxide and manufacturing method thereof, cathode active material for nonaqueos-electrolyte secondary battery and manufacturing method thereof, and nonaqueous-electrolyte secondary battery

A cathode active material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery has improved output characteristics in low-temperature environment use. A lithium mixture includes composite hydroxide particles and a lithium compound calcined in an oxidizing atmosphere under a temperature rising time from 650° C. to a calcination temperature set to 0.5-1.5 hours and the calcination temperature set to 850° C.-1000° C. and maintained for 1.0-5.0 hours. The material has the general formula (A): LiNiCoMnMO, where −0.05≤s≤0.20, x+y+z+t=1, 0.3≤x≤0.7, 0.1≤y≤0.4, 0.1≤z≤0.4, 0≤t≤0.05, and M is selected from Ca, Mg, Al, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, Ta, and W. The material includes hexagonal lithium composite oxide particles. The ratio of the crystallite size at plane (104) to plane (003) is greater than 0 and less than 0.60.

Cathode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and manufacturing method for same, and non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery

Provided is a precursor of a positive electrode active material containing, in a reduced amount, impurities which do not contribute to a charge/discharge reaction but rather corrode a firing furnace and peripheral equipment and thus having excellent battery characteristics and safety, and production method thereof. A method for producing a precursor of a positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries having a hollow structure or porous structure includes obtaining the precursor by washing nickel-manganese composite hydroxide particles having a particular composition ratio and a pore structure in which pores are present within the particles with an aqueous carbonate solution having a carbonate concentration of 0.1 mol/L or more.

Precursor of positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries and production method thereof and positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries and production method thereof

A cathode active material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery including primary particles of a lithium nickel complex oxide represented by a general formula: LiNiCoMO, and secondary particles in which the primary particles aggregate, wherein a plurality of coated lithium nickel complex oxide particles are formed by disposing a compound containing tungsten and lithium on surfaces of the secondary particles and surfaces of the primary particles positioned inside the secondary particles, and wherein a relative standard deviation of a ratio of a number of atoms of tungsten to a number of atoms of a metallic component other than lithium contained in the coated lithium nickel complex oxide particles is 0.4 or lower.

Cathode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and method of manufacturing cathode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery

Provided are a cathode active material having a suitable particle size and high uniformity, and a nickel composite hydroxide as a precursor of the cathode active material. When obtaining nickel composite hydroxide by a crystallization reaction, nucleation is performed by controlling a nucleation aqueous solution that includes a metal compound, which includes nickel, and an ammonium ion donor so that the pH value at a standard solution temperature of 25&#xb0; C. becomes 12.0 to 14.0, after which, particles are grown by controlling a particle growth aqueous solution that includes the formed nuclei so that the pH value at a standard solution temperature of 25&#xb0; C. becomes 10.5 to 12.0, and so that the pH value is lower than the pH value during nucleation. The crystallization reaction is performed in a non-oxidizing atmosphere at least in a range after the processing time exceeds at least 40% of the total time of the particle growth process from the start of the particle growth process where the oxygen concentration is 1 volume % or less, and with controlling an agitation power requirement per unit volume into a range of 0.5 kW/mto 4 kW/mat least during the nucleation process.

An object of the present invention is to provide nickel cobalt manganese composite hydroxide particles having a small particle diameter and a uniform particle size distribution, and a method for producing the same. A method for producing a nickel cobalt manganese composite hydroxide by a crystallization reaction is provided. The method includes: a nucleation step of performing nucleation by controlling a pH of an aqueous solution for nucleation including metal compounds containing nickel, cobalt and manganese, and an ammonium ion donor to 12.0 to 14.0 in terms of the pH as measured at a liquid temperature of 25&#xb0; C. as a standard; and a particle growth step of growing nuclei by controlling a pH of an aqueous solution for particle growth containing nuclei formed in the nucleation step to 10.5 to 12.0 in terms of the pH as measured at a liquid temperature of 25&#xb0; C. as a standard.

Nickel-cobalt-manganese complex hydroxide particles and method for producing same, positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery and method for producing same, and nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery

A tungsten trioxide whose I/Iis less than or equal to 0.15 is provided. I/Iindicates a ratio of a peak intensity Iof a () plane of WOto a peak intensity Iof a () plane of WOin an XRD pattern.

Tungsten trioxide

Transition metal composite hydroxide particles as a precursor to a cathode active material for use in a non-aqueous electrolyte rechargeable battery, where the transition metal composite hydroxide has secondary particles formed by an aggregation of plate-shaped primary particles and fine primary particles, are described. The secondary particles have a center section formed by the plate-shaped primary particles, a layered structure with a low-density section formed by the fine primary particles, and a high-density section formed by the plate-shaped primary particles on the outside of the center section. The average value of the ratio of the center section outer diameter to the particle size of the secondary particles is 30% to 80%, and the average value of the ratio of the high-density section radial direction thickness to the particle size of the secondary particles is 5% to 25%.

Transition metal composite hydroxide particles and production method thereof, cathode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte rechargeable battery and production method thereof, and nonaqueous electrolyte rechargeable battery

Provided is a method for producing the positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, including a first step of mixing a Li-metal composite oxide powder which is represented by the general formula: LiNiCoMO(where 0&#x2264;x&#x2264;0.35, 0&#x2264;y&#x2264;0.35, and 0.97&#x2264;z&#x2264;1.30 are satisfied, and M is at least one element selected from Mn, V, Mg, Mo, Nb, Ti and Al) and constituted by primary particles and secondary particles, to an alkaline solution with a W compound dissolved therein, and immersing a resulting mixture, followed by solid-liquid separation, to obtain a W mixture with W uniformly dispersed on the surface of the primary particles of the composite oxide, and a second step of heat-treating the W mixture to thereby form a compound containing W and Li on the surface of the primary particles of the composite oxide powder.

Positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, method for producing same, and nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using said positive electrode active material

A positive electrode active material for lithium secondary batteries disclosed herein comprises a lithium transition metal oxide of a layered structure, represented by formula LiNiCoMnCaMO(where &#x2212;0.05&#x2264;&#x3b1;&#x2264;0.2, x+y+z+&#x3b2;+&#x3b3;&#x2245;1, 0.3&#x2264;x&#x2264;&#x2264;0.7, 0.1&#x2264;y&#x2264;0.4, 0.1&#x2264;z&#x2264;0.4, 0.0002&#x2264;&#x3b2;&#x2264;0.0025, 0.0002&#x2264;&#x3b2;+&#x3b3;&#x2264;0.02, and in a case where &#x3b3;&#x3e;0, M is absent or represents one, two or more elements selected from the group consisting of Na, Mg, Al, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, Ta and W). The tap density of the positive electrode active material ranges from 1.8 to 2.5 g/cm.

Positive electrode active material, and lithium secondary battery using same

Provided are a positive electrode active material for nonagueous secondary batteries, the material having a narrow particle-size distribution and a monodisperse property and being capable of increasing a battery capacity; an industrial production method thereof; and a nonaqueous secondary battery using the positive electrode active material and having excellent electrical characteristics. The positive electrode active material is represented by a general formula: LiNiCoMnMO(wherein, 0.05&#x2264;u&#x2264;0.95, x+y+z+t=1, 0&#x2264;x&#x2264;0.5, 0&#x2264;y&#x2264;0.5, 0.5&#x2264;z&#x3c;0.8, 0&#x2264;t&#x2264;0.1, and M is an additive element and at least one element selected from Mg, Ca, Al, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, and W), has an average particle diameter of 3 to 12 um, and has [(d&#x2212;d)/average particle diameter], an index indicating a scale of particle-size distribution, of 0.60 or less.

Positive electrode active material for nonaqueous secondary batteries, method for producing same, and nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using positive electrode active material

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Niihama, Japan

Hiroyuki Toya