NONAQUEOUS ELECTROLYTE SECONDARY BATTERY AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME

1 . A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, comprising:

a positive electrode including a positive electrode current collector and a positive electrode material mixture layer containing a positive electrode active material and a binder and provided on the positive electrode current collector;

a negative electrode;

a porous insulating layer interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and

a nonaqueous electrolyte, wherein

the positive electrode current collector contains aluminium, and

the positive electrode current collector has an average crystal grain size of 1.0 μm or more.

2 . The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the positive electrode current collector has an average crystal grain size of 2.0 μm or more.

3 . The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the positive electrode has a tensile extension percentage of 3.0% or more.

4 . The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein

the negative electrode has a tensile extension percentage of 3.0% or more, and

the porous insulating layer has a tensile extension percentage of 3.0% or more.

5 . The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the positive electrode is a positive electrode including the positive electrode current collector which was rolled after being coated with positive electrode material mixture slurry containing the positive electrode active material and dried, and than was subjected to heat treatment at a predetermined temperature.

6 . The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the positive electrode current collector contains iron and mainly contains aluminium.

7 . The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery of claim 6 , wherein an amount of iron contained in the positive electrode current collector is in the range from 1.20 wt. % to 1.70 wt. %, both inclusive.

8 . A method for fabricating a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery including a positive electrode including a positive electrode current collector and a positive electrode material mixture layer containing a positive electrode active material and a binder and provided on the positive electrode current collector, a negative electrode, a porous insulating layer interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and a nonaqueous electrolyte, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing the positive electrode;

(b) preparing the negative electrode; and

(c) either winding or stacking the positive electrode and the negative electrode with the porous insulating layer interposed therebetween after steps (a) and (b), wherein

step (a) includes the steps of

(a1) coating the positive electrode current collector with positive electrode material mixture slurry containing the positive electrode active material and the binder, and drying the slurry,

(a2) rolling the positive electrode current collector coated with the dried positive electrode material mixture slurry, and

(a3) performing heat treatment on the positive electrode current collector coated with the dried positive electrode material mixture slurry at a predetermined temperature after step (a2),

the positive electrode current collector contains aluminium, and

the positive electrode current collector has an average crystal grain size of 1.0 μm or more.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein in step (a3), the predetermined temperature is higher than a softening temperature of the positive electrode current collector.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the positive electrode has a tensile extension percentage of 3.0% or more.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the positive electrode current collector contains iron and mainly contains aluminium.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein in step (a3), a heated roll heated to the predetermined temperature and the positive electrode current collector coated with the dried positive electrode material mixture slurry are brought into contact with each other.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the positive electrode current collector contains no iron, and

in step (a3),

the predetermined temperature is in the range from 250° C. to 300° C., both inclusive, and

a period during which the heat treatment is performed is in the range from one hour to five hours, both inclusive.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the positive electrode current collector contains iron, and

in step (a3),

the predetermined temperature is in the range from 160° C. to 300° C., both inclusive, and

a period during which the heat treatment is performed is in the range from 0.1 second to 20 seconds, both inclusive.