Lithium secondary battery

1. A lithium secondary battery comprising:

a negative electrode comprising a negative electrode active material layer,

wherein the negative electrode active material layer comprises a mixed negative electrode active material including graphite particles and low crystalline carbon-based particles, and

the negative electrode active material layer has an apex of an exothermic peak in a temperature range of no less than 370° C. and no more than 390° C., as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC),

wherein the differential scanning calorimetry measurement is performed by heating 6 mg of a specimen of the negative electrode active material layer to 600° C. at a rate of 5° C./min while feeding air to the specimen at a rate of 50 mL/min, and

wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles have a Raman spectrum R value (Id/Ig) of 0.9 or more.

2. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the negative electrode active material layer further has an apex of an exothermic peak in a temperature range of no less than 450° C. and no more than 510° C., as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

3. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein a heating value of the exothermic peak having an apex at a temperature of no less than 370° C. and no more than 390° C. is no less than 50 J/g and no more than 200 J/g.

4. The lithium secondary battery of claim 2 , wherein a heating value of the exothermic peak having an apex at a temperature of no less than 450° C. and no more than 510° C. is no less than 20 J/g and no more than 60 J/g.

5. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles are capable of adsorbing and releasing Li ions.

6. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles have a discharge capacity of 240 mAh/g or more for the second cycle when a negative electrode active material is used as the low crystalline carbon-based particles and a lithium metal is used as a counter electrode, and

wherein the discharge capacity is a discharge capacity determined under charging/discharging conditions at which, after charging is performed with a constant current at a rate of 0.1C, the charging is stopped when a current flows at a rate of 0.01C in a constant voltage mode until a constant voltage reaches 0.005 V, and discharging to 1.5V is performed with a constant current at a rate of 0.1C with a rest interval of 10 minutes.

7. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles are hard carbon particles.

8. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles have a D v 50 of 4 μm or less and a D n 50 of 1 μm or less, and

wherein the D v 50 represents a particle diameter when a cumulative volume from a small particle diameter accounts for 50% in measuring a particle size distribution using a laser scattering method, and the D n 50 represents a particle diameter when a cumulative particle number from a small particle diameter accounts for 50% in measuring a particle size distribution using a laser scattering method.

9. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles have a D v 10 of 2 μm or less and a D n 10 of 0.5 μm or less, and

wherein the D v 10 represents a particle diameter when a cumulative volume from a small particle diameter accounts for 10% in measuring a particle size distribution using a laser scattering method, and the D n 10 represents a particle diameter when a cumulative particle number from a small particle diameter accounts for 10% in measuring a particle size distribution using a laser scattering method.

10. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles have a D v 90 of 8 μm or less and a D n 90 of 2.7 μm or less, and

wherein the D v 90 represents a particle diameter when a cumulative volume from a small particle diameter accounts for 90% in measuring a particle size distribution using a laser scattering method, and the D n 90 represents a particle diameter when a cumulative particle number from a small particle diameter accounts for 90% in measuring a particle size distribution using a laser scattering method.

11. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the mixed negative electrode active material comprises 5% by weight or less of the low crystalline carbon-based particles, based on a total of 100% by weight of the mixed negative electrode active material.

12. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein the negative electrode has a total pore area of 3.0 m 2 /g or less, as measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry when the negative electrode is pressed at an electrode density of 1.6 g/cc.

13. The lithium secondary battery of claim 1 , wherein a rate of increase (A) in the total pore area of the negative electrode is less than or equal to 3.4:

A =( V a −V b )/0.2

wherein V a represents a total pore area (m 2 /g) of the negative electrode measured at an electrode density of 1.7 g/cc by mercury intrusion porosimetry, V b represents a total pore area (m 2 /g) of the negative electrode measured at an electrode density of 1.5 g/cc by mercury intrusion porosimetry, and 0.2 is calculated from the equation: 1.7 g/cc-1.5 g/cc.

14. A lithium secondary battery comprising:

a negative electrode comprising a negative electrode active material layer,

wherein the negative electrode active material layer comprises a mixed negative electrode active material including graphite particles and low crystalline carbon-based particles, and

in three or more points having an area of 80 μm×20 μm optionally selected from sections of the negative electrode active material layer, an area of the low crystalline carbon-based particles accounts for no less than 0.5% and no more than 8% with respect to the total area of the sections, and

wherein the low crystalline carbon-based particles have a Raman spectrum R value (Id/Ig) of 0.9 or more.

15. The lithium secondary battery of claim 14 , wherein, in the three or more points having an area of 80 μm×20 μm optionally selected from sections of the negative electrode active material layer, the area of the low crystalline carbon-based particles having a long diameter of 8 μm or less accounts for no less than 0.5% and no more than 8% with respect to the total area of the sections.

16. The lithium secondary battery of claim 14 , wherein, in the three or more points having an area of 80 μm×20 μm optionally selected from sections of the negative electrode active material layer, a ratio of a diameter of the low crystalline carbon-based particles to a diameter of the graphite particles is less than or equal to ½, and

wherein the diameter of the graphite particles and the diameter of the low crystalline carbon-based particles are the highest value selected from the long diameters of the graphite particles and the highest value selected from the long diameters of the low crystalline carbon-based particles, respectively, in the optionally selected points having an area of 80 μm×20 μm.