Nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide and method and device for producing same, cathode active material for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and method for producing same, and non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10141571-B2
Application number	US-201314431995-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2013
Priority date	Sep 28, 2012
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

To improve cycling characteristics of a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery by obtaining a nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide having a sharp particle size distribution as a precursor, a slurry including a nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide obtained by continuously supplying an aqueous solution that includes at least nickel and cobalt, an ammonium ion donor aqueous solution and a caustic alkali aqueous solution to a reaction vessel and reacting, is continuously extracted and separated into a large particle size portion and s small particle size portion by classification, and the small particle size portion is continuously returned to the reaction vessel. As a result, a nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide is obtained that is expressed by the general formula: Ni 1-x-y Co x M y (OH) 2 (where, 0.05≤x≤0.50, 0≤y≤0.10, 0.05≤x+y≤0.50, and M is at least one kind of metal element selected from among Al, Mg, Mn, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zn and Ga, and that satisfies the relationships (D50−D10)/D50≤0.30, and (D90−D50)/D50≤0.30 among D10, D50 and D90 of this composite hydroxide.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide and a production device for producing the nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide, the combination comprising:
the nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide comprising
a general formula: Ni 1-x-y Co x M y (OH) 2 (where, 0.05≤x≤0.50, 0≤y≤0.10, 0.05≤x+y≤0.50, and M is at least one kind of metal element selected from among Al, Mg, Mn, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zn and Ga,
an average particle size of within a range from 10 μm to 30 μm, and
(D50−D10)/D50≤0.30, and (D90−D50)/D50≤0.30 among D10, D50 and D90 of the nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide; and

the production device comprising
a reaction vessel;
a constant volume pump for continuously supplying an aqueous solution including nickel and cobalt, an aqueous solution including an ammonium ion donor, and a caustic alkali aqueous solution to the reaction vessel;
a constant volume pump for with an extraction nozzle for continuously extracting nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide generated by a reaction inside the reaction vessel from the reaction vessel by way of the extraction nozzle;
a separation apparatus separating the extracted nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide into a large particle size portion and a small particle size portion by classification; and
a reflux apparatus continuously returning the small particle size portion separated out to the reaction vessel.

2. The combination of claim 1 , wherein the nickel-cobalt composite hydroxide has a tap density of 2.0 g/cm 3 or greater.

Assignees

• Sumitomo Metal Mining Co

Inventors

• Kase Katsuya
• Kamata Yasutaka
• Ryoshi Kazuomi

Classifications

• C01G53/00

  Compounds of nickel · CPC title

• C01G53/42

  containing alkali metals, e.g. LiNiO2 · CPC title

• H01M4/049

  Manufacturing of an active layer by chemical means · CPC title

• B01J19/24

  Stationary reactors without moving elements inside (B01J19/08, B01J19/26 take precedence; with stationary particles B01J8/02) · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title