Electrode additives coated with electro conductive material and lithium secondary comprising the same

Abstract

Provided are an electrode additive coated with a coating material made of electrically conductive materials such as metal hydroxides, metal oxides or metal carbonates, and an electrode and a lithium secondary battery comprising the same. The electrode additive in accordance with the present invention can improve high temperature storage characteristics of the battery, without deterioration of performance thereof.

1 . An electrode additive for a secondary battery electrode in which electro-conductive material (“coating material”) is coated on the surface of material (“core particle”) that is added to electrode material so as to improve battery characteristics.  
     
     
         2 . The electrode additive according to  claim 1 , wherein the core particle is a material of Formula 1 that is added to battery electrodes for improving high temperature storage characteristics:  
         M x A y    (1)  
       wherein, M is a metal, A is selected from the group consisting of OH, O and CO 3 , and x represents the valence of M and y represents the oxidation number of A.  
     
     
         3 . The electrode additive according to  claim 1 , wherein the coating material is composed of one or more materials selected from the group consisting of carbon, an electro-conductive metal, an electro-conductive inorganic material and an electro-conductive polymer.  
     
     
         4 . The electrode additive according to  claim 3 , wherein the carbon is selected from the group consisting of carbon black, acetylene black and Super-P, the electro-conductive metal is selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ag, Pt and Ni, the electro-conductive inorganic material is selected from the group consisting of indium tin oxide (In 2 O 3 SnO 2 ), tin oxide (SnO 2 ), zinc oxide (ZnO), ruthenium oxide (RuO 2 ) and TiB 2 , and the electro-conductive polymer is selected from the group consisting of polypyrrole and polyaniline.  
     
     
         5 . The electrode additive according to  claim 1 , wherein the coating material has an electrical conductivity of more than 2.0×10 2 /cmΩ.  
     
     
         6 . The electrode additive according to  claim 1 , wherein the coating material has a particle size of 10 nm to 1000 nm.  
     
     
         7 . The electrode additive according to  claim 2 , wherein M in Formula 1 is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Al, B, Mg, K, Be, Ca, Sr, Ba, Na, Cr, Sn, Ga, Bi, Ni, Co, Fe, Cr, Y and Zr.  
     
     
         8 . The electrode additive according to  claim 1 , wherein the amount of the coating material is within the range of 0.01 to 20% by weight, relative to the core particle.  
     
     
         9 . An electrode fabricated by preparing an electrode slurry using electrode material containing the electrode additive according to claims  1  and electrode active material and applying the thus-prepared electrode slurry to a current collector.  
     
     
         10 . The electrode according to  claim 9 , wherein the electrode additive is included in the range of 0.05 to 10% by weight, relative to the electrode active material.  
     
     
         11 . A lithium secondary battery comprising the electrode of  claim 9.