Patent ID: 8361658

Claim:
A negative electrode material for non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, which is configured for absorbing and desorbing lithium, wherein: said negative electrode material comprises a composite particle including solid phases A and B, said solid phase A being dispersed in said solid phase B, said solid phase A comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of silicon, tin and zinc, said solid phase B comprises a solid solution or an intermetallic compound, which contains: the constituent element of said solid phase A; and at least one element selected from the group consisting of the elements of Group 2 , transition, Group 12 , Group 13 and Group 14 which are listed in Long Form of Periodic Table, except for the constituent element of said solid phase A and carbon, and a ratio (I A /I B ) of the maximum diffracted X-ray intensity (I A ) attributed to said solid phase A to the maximum diffracted X-ray intensity (I B ) attributed to said solid phase B satisfies 0.001≦I A /I B ≦0.1, in terms of a diffraction line obtained by a wide-angle X-ray diffraction measurement of said composite particle.