Anode material for lithium secondary battery, process for production thereof, and lithium secondary battery

1. An anode material for lithium battery comprising graphite particles, having an average particle diameter of 100 μm or less, and wherein each of said graphics particles comprises a crystalline carbon coating layer formed thereon, and wherein the inside of each of said graphite particles has one nearly spherically bent laminate structure which is curved along the circumference of a surface of each of said graphite particle toward the graphite particle center and a crystal plane at each graphite particle surface is approximately an AB plane.

2. The anode material according to claim 1 , wherein each graphite particle has a length-to-breadth ratio of 1 to 4.

3. The anode material according to claim 1 , wherein the graphite particles comprise natural graphite particles.

4. The anode material according to claim 1 , wherein the graphite particles have a lattice constant Co (002) of 0.670 to 0.672 nm as measured by an X-ray diffraction analyzer.

5. The anode material according to claim 1 , wherein the graphite particles have an average particle diameter of 5 to 50 μm.

6. The anode material according to claim 1 , wherein the graphite particles have a tap density of 0.6 to 1.4 g/cm 3 .

7. The anode material according to claim 1 , wherein the proportion of the crystalline carbon in the anode material is 1 to 14% by mass.

8. An anode material according to claim 1 , wherein the anode results in an electrode density of 1.40 to 1.70 g/cm 3 when under a pressure of 100 to 400 kg/cm 2 .

9. The anode material according to claim 1 , which when formed by intercalation of lithium ion, provides a 7 Li-nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum, using lithium chloride as a standard substance, that shows two peaks in the spectrum, and wherein the two peaks respectively represent (a) a lithium intercalated into graphite, showing a chemical shift at 40 to 50 ppm, and (b) lithium intercalated into crystalline carbon, showing a chemical shift at 10 to 20 ppm.

10. An anode material mixture for lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material of claim 1 wherein the anode material is contained in an amount of at least 10% by mass.

11. A process for producing the anode material according to claim 1 , which comprises:

a first step of grinding a graphite of 5 mm or less in average particle diameter, using an impact grinder to produce graphite particles of 100 μm or less in average particle diameter, and wherein the interior of each particle comprises a bent laminate structure, and

a second step of subjecting the graphite particles produced in the first step, to chemical vapor deposition in a fluidized bed type reaction furnace to form a crystalline carbon coating layer on the graphite particles.

12. The process according to claim 11 , wherein in the first step, the graphite of 5 mm or less in average particle diameter is fed into the impact grinder together with a gas current.

13. The process according to claim 11 , wherein in the second step, the chemical vapor deposition is conducted at a temperature of 850 to 1,200° C.

14. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 1 .

15. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 2 .

16. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 3 .

17. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 4 .

18. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 5 .

19. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 6 .

20. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 7 .

21. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 8 .

22. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material according to claim 9 .

23. A lithium secondary battery, comprising the anode material mixture according to claim 10 .