Patent ID: 7604899

Claim:
A positive electrode active material for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising: primary particles of a lithium-metal complex oxide powder which is a lithium-metal complex oxide powder represented by Li z Ni 1-w M w O 2 , wherein M is at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Co, Al, Mg, Mn, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Ga; and w and z respectively satisfy 0<w≦0.25, and 1.0≦z≦1.1; and secondary particles which are formed by aggregating a plurality of the primary particles, wherein: the shape of the secondary particles is spherical or spheroidal; 95% or more of the secondary particles have particle diameters of 20 μm or less; a mean particle diameter of the secondary particles is between 7 and 13 μm; a tap density of the particles is 2.2 g/cm 3 or more; in a pore distribution measurement using a nitrogen adsorption method, a mean volume of pores having a diameter of 40 nm or less in average is between 0.001 and 0.008 cm 3 /g; and a mean crushing strength of the secondary particles is between 15 and 100 MPa.